Even If The Gods Deny Us
“This is delicious,” Cody complimented across to Brett from where he sat, next to Ted who was on Brett’s right hand side. On his left, of course, sat his mother, and beside her sat his fiancée. She was pretty and had been friendly enough to them--- in truth Cody liked her because she hadn’t fawned all over them, merely given them thanks she thought they were due. And, as another bonus, not once did her eyes wander in a way he had seen in both women and men of court when they deemed someone more suitable to their appetites in their line of vision regardless of whether or not they had a spouse with them. She seemed to truly love Brett and Cody envied how she had settled so comfortably into a role as she had, even though her future was in potential uncertain peril and she could have been drawn into more harm than good should things have gone a bad way. Which, if Cody was not mistaken, was something that appeared to be a thought at the forefront for many of those around him at present.
A warm smile lit Brett’s face and once again Cody believed he was looking into Ted’s own countenance with a few years of age and wisdom taken from it, and yet a lifetime of sorrow contained in his eyes, “I’m glad you like it. The roasted boars were killed fresh in the forest, and the cows are some of the finest we have to offer. Ted was always partial to some boar,” he added on as an afterthought and Ted made a sound of protest… around a mouthful of boar meat.
“You make me sound like a glutton,” he pouted.
Somehow their mother heard them over the din and she levelled a smile at her two remaining sons. She still looked older, had experience more grief in a short period of time than some people would do in their entire lives, but there was a new vitality and radiance to her that was clearly born from having some semblance of her family granted back to her by the grace of fate, “Let’s face facts darling: you’ve always liked your food,” though even as she spoke her smile slipped just a fraction; though still far from too thin, emaciated, Ted had lost significant weight since he had last been home before the attack had taken place.
Ted made a sound of pained disbelief and looked at Cody, his face open and almost childlike in its pleading, “Don’t listen to a word they’re saying. Please, really, don’t listen to them.” Cody had to fight the urge to laugh too loudly at the way Ted was playfully needled and prodded by his family in a manner that reminded Cody of his own (before Dustin began to take the prospect of running the country much more seriously, seeming to laugh nowhere near as much as he once had, reacting sensitively to barbs that had once been made in playful jest) managing to give a chuckle that he hoped wouldn’t seem too much. It was difficult to remember that he should be acting as though they had little more than a passing acquaintance between them when he was getting to see Ted being so open and unencumbered -for the most part- in his natural environment around people who cared for him.
When talk turned to their travels Cody was eager to participate in conversation, commenting on the new things he had seen and experienced on the way. Of course, the topics for discussion were ones that it wouldn’t be impolite to mention… he and Ted kissing in the dessert, having lover’s spats and suchlike, he kept to himself. A fact that in its own was shocking since Cody was notorious for being unable to keep a civil or monitored tongue in his head at all times. He rarely ever said or omitted a trust in genuine malice, but he could forget himself quite often.
It wasn’t unusual for people to pay him attention when he spoke, but it was unusual for people to actually listen to him as opposed to just acting as though they were to keep up appearances or to try and make themselves seem like friends, and yet that was what happened as he sat at the high table with the royal family; they talked to him with genuine interest and further pressed for details and thoughts whenever he seemed like he might withdraw into himself. After a time though of course they were expected to converse with other diners and Cody found himself turning back to meet Ted’s eyes.
Behind the blonde prince, Alex was doing remarkably well at acting as though he’d eaten any of the food before him before (and some dishes he might have, though not to the degree with which they had been prepared in at that particular moment in time as that was far too grand a fare for a slave) and Cody momentarily wished Mike well on whatever game he was playing with the opportunity Ted had presented him before turning his focus to the prince in question. When he saw the slight smile playing around Ted’s lips and the darker shaded fraction his eyes had taken on he swore he felt his cheeks warming and hoped no one else could notice.
“What are you looking at me like that for?” he asked lowly, conscious of someone overhearing even if the odds were low.
“You seem to be enjoying yourself here.”
“Why shouldn’t I be? We may not have been here long and yet your people have treated up with every grace and hospitality you have, and your family have been most welcoming.” Almost as soon as he had said that though Cody wished he could call the words back; saying ‘your people’ just further accented the differences that they had between them (differences of culture if not so much background) and that soon enough it would be these differences that drew them apart for good…
Absently he wondered what Randy would say if he turned around and told his head bodyguard that he intended not to go back home, but that he intended to remain in Ted’s kingdom at the prince’s side, as his lover, for the rest of his days. Something told him that Randy’s complexion would become as red at the lobster that Mike was hacking into at his side, and his lips quirked into a lightly amused smile-but there was no missing that said smile was tinged with sadness.
~::~
“John,” Josh scolded lightly, “You’re supposed to be enjoying yourself!”
“I am enjoying myself.”
“You’ve barely touched your food,” Josh arched a brow, “And considering that suckling pig is one of your favourite dishes you and I both know that this means you’re thinking too hard to be taking in the moment.”
John had the momentary grace to look sheepish but then he sighed, “I’m sorry,” he knew he was being moody and introverted and that that couldn’t be much fun for his lover… and he really owed it to Josh to help him reacclimatise himself to their homeland since he had been the one to convince him to come with him on what had been a potentially dangerous wild goose chase. And whilst the chase might have actually yielded the prize they had sought the danger hadn’t been as fleeting on some level as John may have hoped, or had done his best to facilitate.
Underneath the covering of the table, careful not to jostle the courtier seated next to him, Josh’s foot rested atop his own. The gentle pressure brought forth the smallest of smiles to John’s lips, giving the ghost of his dimple a breath of air before his expression smoothed into a mildly perplexed one once more. Really, John could act and keep his emotions carefully hidden when it counted, but when he was just there, not really having to do or think about anything, you could see every emotion he felt as well as the priests could see into the flames and tell them their futures.
“Is it something you want to talk about?”
“It’s something we have talked about.”
“Oh…” Josh looked uncertain and John could have kicked himself; this was supposed to be a celebration and there he was sitting there as though Hades had just suddenly opened the Underworld for him and told him that he should hurry up and go down because he had other business to attend to. Recovering his resolve John then did his best to send his lover a more confident smile.
“It’s not anything that we can’t talk about later,” but he couldn’t say it wasn’t important.
Before Josh could respond a throat was cleared obnoxiously behind them and John almost snorted with laughter at the look of abject disdain that appeared across Josh’s face; he’d never tell him s such to his face, but he looked like a child who was being confronted with vegetables for the first time. Damien was an acquired taste and, fortunately, most people seemed to find that. However, unfortunately, there was at least one important person who had yet to peel past Damien’s outer layer and find out the malevolent treachery that was housed within his very soul.
“John,” Damien smarmed, John’s prestige and reputation in battle enough to make him a target of Damien’s interest now and again, “So nice to see you again. What an arduous journey you must have had,” the slimy smile hardened somewhat and Josh found himself pressing down on John’s foot underneath the table in panic; the flinty shade in his eyes was the same blackness that he had spotted earlier, when he had revealed his true face regarding Ted’s return. He had no idea if John had seen what he had seen, or acknowledged what his gesture had been indicating, as his eyes were still on Damien’s face as he added, “-to bring our tragically heroic prince back to us.”
It took all of Josh’s self-control not to just get up and smack Damien soundly across the mouth, disgracing him and outing his true intent before the entire court and their prince and king, but he couldn’t lower himself to Damien’s level. If he reacted with brute force when that wasn’t his forte then the oily trickster simpering over his head (maybe he should drape a cloth over his shoulder in case?) could simply turn things around until he was portrayed as the one with treason and harm in mind.
“Why tragic? The fact the prince has returned is joyous,” John said, not raising his voice but not bothering to lower it either, the way Damien had kept his so carefully monitored.
Damien’s cheek twitched and Josh’s teeth ground together as the urge to do something out of character and drastic roared through his veins. “Of course, I simply meant tragic as it is tragic that he had to go through such pain and devastation.”
John’s expression was dark then, eyes narrowing, “You could try to look less happy about that thought, Damien.”
@::~
Damien tried to look innocent, but it was an expression he’d never been able to master and he actually appeared to be suffering from mild concussion whenever he tried it. “I am far from happy for our prince’s suffering,” he said irritably. “I have always had faith that the gods would return Theodore to us and I am grateful that you have made it so, no matter that there are rumours throughout the court that your search for him was so thorough and so exhaustive because you have no faith in Brett’s ability to rule.”
“Rumours I imagine you did little to quell,” commented Josh dryly. “We have and always have had every faith in Brett. Has he not done well thus far, despite those who would petition him for their own selfish ends?” He knew he was pushing Damien a little there, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Politics may stop him from speaking as freely as he would like to but he would be damned if he was going to kowtow to the likes of Damien. “We sought Theodore because we love him and because our king loves him and whatever his highness wishes we shall seek to grant.”
“I see,” said Damien without inflection to give away his true feelings. “Then there is no truth in the talk you expect Theodore to seek his claim to the throne? He is after all, the older brother.”
“I do not believe Theodore wishes to rule the kingdom,” said Josh truthfully. “Although he would give every assistance in helping his brother do so. He merely wished to be home and with his family.”
“And a prince so easily injured and captured, one who has possibly been mistreated and enslaved, would perhaps have been proven not to have the strength of mind to rule the entire kingdom,” said Damien in a musing tone. Josh had to bite his tongue to give no reply and he could feel John quivering with rage beside him - but fortunately the man said nothing at all. Damien was looking for a reason to take back to Brett, something to prove that Theodore had an ulterior motive to return.
“I think that a prince’s experience, positive or otherwise, may shape their futures,” said Josh after a pause, trying not to say anything against either man.
Damien looked momentarily annoyed before the mask of neutrality fell over his face again - apparently looking pleased to see them was beyond his acting skills. “I should go and pay my respects to his highness,” he said smoothly. “Please excuse me.”
John barely managed to wait until the man was out of sight before he broke out into a furious whisper. “Who does he think he is-“
“Hush!” said Josh quickly. “He is obnoxious and that was very rude, but this is not the place.”
John lowered his voice still further. “He insults us, Theodore and Brett with his words!”
“He knows that change may be coming,” murmured Josh. “It would suit him if it were not amicable. History shows us that the court of the newly-crowned king is not kind to those who stood between him and the crown.”
“Brett is not like that-“
“Brett is not, but he may not have a choice but to make examples of people.” Josh looked around quickly. “We cannot discuss this here John. Take heart that Damien doesn’t seem to be the top of Theodore’s list of people he must speak to.”
John glanced over and smiled a little. Theodore was talking calmly to someone who had come to pay their respects, pointedly ignoring Damien’s presence as if he had not seen the man. It left Damien standing rather awkwardly, as if he had not noticed the snub. Josh found it amusing but he wasn’t sure he found it wise.
Then Damien smirked slightly, turning a little and speaking to the man at Theodore’s side. Both John and Josh stopped smiling immediately, John’s expression turning to a frown. Damien was known around the court, those who knew him knew better than to expect honour or discretion from him - but anyone from outside the kingdom wouldn’t know. And Theodore would not have mentioned the man to Cody, or at least neither man thought he would have done. It occurred to them both at the same time that there could be a problem here that neither one of them had seen coming.
~:~
Cody was having a wonderful time. The food was good, the wine flowing freely and the people around him were friendly and outgoing, asking about his home and his experiences, telling them a little of their own kingdom and the people there. None of the same dull stories he was so used to in his own home, none of the same dull people, the women that his brother or father would guide his way. He didn’t even feel the same pressure to be witty and charming as he did at home, where appearances were more important since he was of the royal family. He wanted to make a good impression but he didn’t feel the same silent judgement of his behaviour that he did in the presence of those who knew him. He felt liberated, free from his usual obligations and perhaps as a result he was even more witty and charming than he was at home...or maybe it was the one man he wanted to really impress that was causing that in him.
Of course Ted also had to attend to his own affairs, those people who wanted to speak to him, discover where he had been and what he had experienced. Ted was cagy about it for the most part, saying nothing at all about his brush with slavery and Cody could respect that. A man who had once been a slave might sound like a good ruler in literature but in reality this claim to commonality could cause issues. The two managed to exchange smiles and quick conversation but much of Ted’s attention was taken by those who accosted him and Cody himself also found that many people were interested in him. He talked to them and enjoyed the conversation but all the while he was very aware that Ted was beside him and that they would later on be meeting up...
He had taken advantage of a lull in the conversation and bitten into a large piece of suckling pig when a voice behind him said, “Prince Cody?”
He looked around and smiled at the man, trying to chew in a hurry. All he succeeded in doing was making a strange face - it had been a very big bite - and some odd noise, indicating to his mouth and trying to tell the man why he was being so rude through what was hopefully a universal charade.
The man chuckled. “Oh, I do beg your pardon your highness. I didn’t realise. How rude of me-“
Cody shook his head, managing to swallow the food finally. “Not at all. I apologise that I wasn’t immediately able to speak with you.”
Damien inclined his head a little, accepting the apology. “I am Damien, the king’s most senior advisor. We were almost introduced upon your arrival, however with the excitement of Theodore’s return I fear that my manners slipped somewhat.”
“I can certainly understand that.” Cody could hear something in the back of his mind, some warning bell. Hadn’t the name Damien come up in a conversation at some point? If it had, he didn’t recall what had been said. He seemed to remember it had been vaguely negative but although this man seemed something of a social climber, he didn’t seem particularly bad to Cody. There was nothing about him that seemed threatening. The man dressed well and hid most of his face behind a beard but then again, that seemed to be quite the fashion among some members of the court who wanted to be taken more seriously in his own kingdom and probably held true here as well. Although Brett seemed to have missed out on the artificially lightened hair that their own king preferred.
“It is good to have him home again,” said Damien. “Although I confess, I am curious as to how you realised he spoke the truth when he told you of his origins, or if you recognised them yourself.”
Cody mused for a moment - although he didn’t distrust Damien, particularly if he was head advisor to Ted’s brother, he knew that neither Ted nor Brett were anxious for the truth of Ted’s time away from home to be revealed. “There was a presence about him,” he said eventually. “He was well-spoken, intelligent, educated. And confident. That could not be faked by one who was not familiar with the workings of a palace. And of course, Ted was never caught in a lie, it was so clear he spoke the truth from the outset. We were debating our options when John and Josh arrived shortly after Ted did and told us they could guide him home.”
Damien nodded and Cody was relieved - he had stretched the truth quite a bit himself and he hadn’t wanted to be caught out in a lie either. “I have noticed that you call Theodore by uh, Ted,” said Damien. “Why is that? It is not a common thing surely.”
“We struggle with his name in our tongue,” said Cody shortly, uncertain if he was really hearing an accusation of not treating Ted with enough respect - what did this man know of it? “At his insistence, we shortened it to something we could manage more easily. And it is quite common in our kingdom that names are shortened as a sign of friendship or affection.”
“I see.” Damien smiled warmly. “It is less common here but it is known - Josh being the example you know of, although no one has ever shortened Theodore’s before. It’s merely a surprise, please don’t think it a criticism.”
“I won’t.” Cody couldn’t help returning the smile. “Do you enjoy being at court here?”
“More than I can express.” And while the words and the tone were genial, there was something in Damien’s eyes that told Cody he meant it wholeheartedly - and that he would fight for it. The memory of some conversation with the man’s name bobbed up again, the details remaining tantalisingly out of reach.
“I could not live in a better place,” added Damien, with slightly less intensity. “Although I’m sure you feel the same way about your own home. I imagine our prince enjoyed his time with you?”
Cody’s instinct was to laugh and say that might not have been the case, him being a slave and all. But he refrained. “I hope that he did. I would hate to think that he had been unhappy, although I know he was anxious to return.” There, that much was true. But there was something about the words that felt false and while he knew the reasons behind Ted’s desire to get home, it still made him sad to think about.
Damien might have said something more but at that moment Ted interrupted. “Cody, have you a sweet tooth? Wait, I know the answer to that question-“
“I may have a slight fondness for dessert,” said Cody, trying not to grin. Ted knew damned well that he did.
“The chef has been at work with some marvellous fruit pastries and I hope you’ll be interested in trying them.”
“I’d be delighted,” said Cody with a grin, leaning back a little and forgetting all about Damien. But Ted hadn’t. His eyes went to the other man for a moment, thinking it was a good thing he had managed to steer Cody from the conversation - Damien was manipulative and he might be able to talk information out of Cody if the man didn’t know what to expect. And Ted wasn’t really in a position to warn him away from his brother’s advisor right then. It would have to wait until later on, when Damien wasn’t standing so close to them and already trying to cause a rift between the brothers simply to further his own agenda.
~::~
“Something seems wrong,” Evan murmured softly as he paused in his food consumption momentarily, Randy’s attention immediately being drawn by his protégé. There was a certain strangeness at being sat alongside the royal family to dine but he wasn’t complaining; it’d be a very long time since he’d eaten this well and he was more than willing to take advantage of it because who knew how long it’d be before they got little more than a travelling meal when they headed off to return back to their own kingdom?
“I know they don’t cook the meat the same way we have back at home but-”
Evan looked briefly amused before shaking his head, “I didn’t mean the food, Randy,” his expression falling into a mask of careful neutrality once more although Randy could see that there was a certain light of concern in his eyes that was completely out of place given the circumstances of their current situation; they were safe (it seemed) and the wine and food was coming as readily as they wanted it to. What could possibly be wrong?
Leaning in closer to Evan, conscious that they could be overheard if he didn’t mind himself, Randy murmured, “What’s the matter?”
For a moment Evan hesitated and then gave an almost imperceptible incline of the head in John and Josh’s direction. The pair where eating once more but there was still a remarkable difference in their expressions than those around them, and after a few more minutes they seemed ready to leave. On one level Evan didn’t think they would just leave the feast-but then he remembered that Ted had said chances were they might not even appear at the feast in the first place so he doubted it’d be considered too rude or a mark of disrespect if they headed off now. Besides, as far as Evan could tell hardly anyone had even noticed they had left.
“They don’t seem happy.”
“So?”
“Randy,” Evan tutted lightly and then shook his head, “It was after that man who spoke to Prince Cody approached them…” as he had expected the mention of the Prince’s name had caught his… mentor, lover’s., attention almost immediately.
“What man?”
In the back of his mind Evan sincerely doubted that Randy wasn’t keeping close tabs on their highness despite the fact that they were seated on opposite ends of the table and they had several people between them. Randy always seemed as though he wasn’t especially paying attention but then he saw things that most people didn’t; his abilities had to have been what had kept him alive during so many battles, what had garnered him the reputation he had amongst their people.
“That one over there, with the beard,” said man was now seated at a table and looking down at the rather luxurious food on offer with a sour expression, as though he couldn’t see anything before him but rotting vegetables and spoiled meat. It was definitely an out-of-place expression. However, much to Evan’s growing unease, the expression was gone the second someone paid attention to him and he smiled as warmly and as widely as though he was right in the middle of the festivities and never wanted them to end.
“Do we know who he is?”
“Damien,” came a voice softly from Randy’s other side and he stiffened momentarily before turning to face the princess, Brett’s intended bride, Kaitlin. She was a very attractive woman, buxom (not that Randy was paying too much attention to things like that past an objective standpoint, really) and yet there was a definite definition of muscle to her body that you didn’t often see of ladies of court; it was more a type of definition you saw in women who worked the land alongside their husbands, or, even, in the young adolescent soldiers that came under his command. The idea of a woman fighter was laughable though; a barbarian practice that had been outlawed in their kingdom as long as Randy could remember. Women had their uses, but in his experience anything related to the battle-field was not one of them.
“Excuse me, your highness?”
A brief flicker of amusement crossed her face, “Call me Kaitlin, please, I’m not a member of the royal family yet,” though Brett and his mother had been treating her as such almost since forever, “But if you’re referring to the ridiculously ostentatious man with a bushy beard and questionable character his name is Damien.”
“You don’t sound very fond of him, ma’am,” Evan said politely; Kaitlin might have insisted Randy call her by name, but Evan was much lower in the social hierarchy (even if he was still higher up than he was when he had been a slave) and he wasn’t stupid enough to think that he’d get away unscathed should it be noticed; he would put Cody in an awkward position, and he didn’t want to do that to him. And, well the idea of being punished by Randy didn’t sit well with him. Well… not where the punishment was intended to hurt him, anyway.
Kaitlin’s eyes shuttered and Randy arched a brow slightly as she responded lightly, “I don’t. Actually, I’d like to talk to you about that later if I may?”
“Of course… where and when?”
“I shall come to your quarters later if that is permissible? You’ll have to excuse if I have an attendant though…” rumours and gossip were vicious and even though they’d attract less notice if she went to their room and they didn’t go to hers if someone saw and maliciously misunderstood then she could be in a lot of trouble with Brett… and that was the last thing she wanted, now more than ever.
“We understand, and shall see you then,” Randy said, his festive mood dying somewhat in the face of trouble.
A warm smile lit Brett’s face and once again Cody believed he was looking into Ted’s own countenance with a few years of age and wisdom taken from it, and yet a lifetime of sorrow contained in his eyes, “I’m glad you like it. The roasted boars were killed fresh in the forest, and the cows are some of the finest we have to offer. Ted was always partial to some boar,” he added on as an afterthought and Ted made a sound of protest… around a mouthful of boar meat.
“You make me sound like a glutton,” he pouted.
Somehow their mother heard them over the din and she levelled a smile at her two remaining sons. She still looked older, had experience more grief in a short period of time than some people would do in their entire lives, but there was a new vitality and radiance to her that was clearly born from having some semblance of her family granted back to her by the grace of fate, “Let’s face facts darling: you’ve always liked your food,” though even as she spoke her smile slipped just a fraction; though still far from too thin, emaciated, Ted had lost significant weight since he had last been home before the attack had taken place.
Ted made a sound of pained disbelief and looked at Cody, his face open and almost childlike in its pleading, “Don’t listen to a word they’re saying. Please, really, don’t listen to them.” Cody had to fight the urge to laugh too loudly at the way Ted was playfully needled and prodded by his family in a manner that reminded Cody of his own (before Dustin began to take the prospect of running the country much more seriously, seeming to laugh nowhere near as much as he once had, reacting sensitively to barbs that had once been made in playful jest) managing to give a chuckle that he hoped wouldn’t seem too much. It was difficult to remember that he should be acting as though they had little more than a passing acquaintance between them when he was getting to see Ted being so open and unencumbered -for the most part- in his natural environment around people who cared for him.
When talk turned to their travels Cody was eager to participate in conversation, commenting on the new things he had seen and experienced on the way. Of course, the topics for discussion were ones that it wouldn’t be impolite to mention… he and Ted kissing in the dessert, having lover’s spats and suchlike, he kept to himself. A fact that in its own was shocking since Cody was notorious for being unable to keep a civil or monitored tongue in his head at all times. He rarely ever said or omitted a trust in genuine malice, but he could forget himself quite often.
It wasn’t unusual for people to pay him attention when he spoke, but it was unusual for people to actually listen to him as opposed to just acting as though they were to keep up appearances or to try and make themselves seem like friends, and yet that was what happened as he sat at the high table with the royal family; they talked to him with genuine interest and further pressed for details and thoughts whenever he seemed like he might withdraw into himself. After a time though of course they were expected to converse with other diners and Cody found himself turning back to meet Ted’s eyes.
Behind the blonde prince, Alex was doing remarkably well at acting as though he’d eaten any of the food before him before (and some dishes he might have, though not to the degree with which they had been prepared in at that particular moment in time as that was far too grand a fare for a slave) and Cody momentarily wished Mike well on whatever game he was playing with the opportunity Ted had presented him before turning his focus to the prince in question. When he saw the slight smile playing around Ted’s lips and the darker shaded fraction his eyes had taken on he swore he felt his cheeks warming and hoped no one else could notice.
“What are you looking at me like that for?” he asked lowly, conscious of someone overhearing even if the odds were low.
“You seem to be enjoying yourself here.”
“Why shouldn’t I be? We may not have been here long and yet your people have treated up with every grace and hospitality you have, and your family have been most welcoming.” Almost as soon as he had said that though Cody wished he could call the words back; saying ‘your people’ just further accented the differences that they had between them (differences of culture if not so much background) and that soon enough it would be these differences that drew them apart for good…
Absently he wondered what Randy would say if he turned around and told his head bodyguard that he intended not to go back home, but that he intended to remain in Ted’s kingdom at the prince’s side, as his lover, for the rest of his days. Something told him that Randy’s complexion would become as red at the lobster that Mike was hacking into at his side, and his lips quirked into a lightly amused smile-but there was no missing that said smile was tinged with sadness.
~::~
“John,” Josh scolded lightly, “You’re supposed to be enjoying yourself!”
“I am enjoying myself.”
“You’ve barely touched your food,” Josh arched a brow, “And considering that suckling pig is one of your favourite dishes you and I both know that this means you’re thinking too hard to be taking in the moment.”
John had the momentary grace to look sheepish but then he sighed, “I’m sorry,” he knew he was being moody and introverted and that that couldn’t be much fun for his lover… and he really owed it to Josh to help him reacclimatise himself to their homeland since he had been the one to convince him to come with him on what had been a potentially dangerous wild goose chase. And whilst the chase might have actually yielded the prize they had sought the danger hadn’t been as fleeting on some level as John may have hoped, or had done his best to facilitate.
Underneath the covering of the table, careful not to jostle the courtier seated next to him, Josh’s foot rested atop his own. The gentle pressure brought forth the smallest of smiles to John’s lips, giving the ghost of his dimple a breath of air before his expression smoothed into a mildly perplexed one once more. Really, John could act and keep his emotions carefully hidden when it counted, but when he was just there, not really having to do or think about anything, you could see every emotion he felt as well as the priests could see into the flames and tell them their futures.
“Is it something you want to talk about?”
“It’s something we have talked about.”
“Oh…” Josh looked uncertain and John could have kicked himself; this was supposed to be a celebration and there he was sitting there as though Hades had just suddenly opened the Underworld for him and told him that he should hurry up and go down because he had other business to attend to. Recovering his resolve John then did his best to send his lover a more confident smile.
“It’s not anything that we can’t talk about later,” but he couldn’t say it wasn’t important.
Before Josh could respond a throat was cleared obnoxiously behind them and John almost snorted with laughter at the look of abject disdain that appeared across Josh’s face; he’d never tell him s such to his face, but he looked like a child who was being confronted with vegetables for the first time. Damien was an acquired taste and, fortunately, most people seemed to find that. However, unfortunately, there was at least one important person who had yet to peel past Damien’s outer layer and find out the malevolent treachery that was housed within his very soul.
“John,” Damien smarmed, John’s prestige and reputation in battle enough to make him a target of Damien’s interest now and again, “So nice to see you again. What an arduous journey you must have had,” the slimy smile hardened somewhat and Josh found himself pressing down on John’s foot underneath the table in panic; the flinty shade in his eyes was the same blackness that he had spotted earlier, when he had revealed his true face regarding Ted’s return. He had no idea if John had seen what he had seen, or acknowledged what his gesture had been indicating, as his eyes were still on Damien’s face as he added, “-to bring our tragically heroic prince back to us.”
It took all of Josh’s self-control not to just get up and smack Damien soundly across the mouth, disgracing him and outing his true intent before the entire court and their prince and king, but he couldn’t lower himself to Damien’s level. If he reacted with brute force when that wasn’t his forte then the oily trickster simpering over his head (maybe he should drape a cloth over his shoulder in case?) could simply turn things around until he was portrayed as the one with treason and harm in mind.
“Why tragic? The fact the prince has returned is joyous,” John said, not raising his voice but not bothering to lower it either, the way Damien had kept his so carefully monitored.
Damien’s cheek twitched and Josh’s teeth ground together as the urge to do something out of character and drastic roared through his veins. “Of course, I simply meant tragic as it is tragic that he had to go through such pain and devastation.”
John’s expression was dark then, eyes narrowing, “You could try to look less happy about that thought, Damien.”
@::~
Damien tried to look innocent, but it was an expression he’d never been able to master and he actually appeared to be suffering from mild concussion whenever he tried it. “I am far from happy for our prince’s suffering,” he said irritably. “I have always had faith that the gods would return Theodore to us and I am grateful that you have made it so, no matter that there are rumours throughout the court that your search for him was so thorough and so exhaustive because you have no faith in Brett’s ability to rule.”
“Rumours I imagine you did little to quell,” commented Josh dryly. “We have and always have had every faith in Brett. Has he not done well thus far, despite those who would petition him for their own selfish ends?” He knew he was pushing Damien a little there, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Politics may stop him from speaking as freely as he would like to but he would be damned if he was going to kowtow to the likes of Damien. “We sought Theodore because we love him and because our king loves him and whatever his highness wishes we shall seek to grant.”
“I see,” said Damien without inflection to give away his true feelings. “Then there is no truth in the talk you expect Theodore to seek his claim to the throne? He is after all, the older brother.”
“I do not believe Theodore wishes to rule the kingdom,” said Josh truthfully. “Although he would give every assistance in helping his brother do so. He merely wished to be home and with his family.”
“And a prince so easily injured and captured, one who has possibly been mistreated and enslaved, would perhaps have been proven not to have the strength of mind to rule the entire kingdom,” said Damien in a musing tone. Josh had to bite his tongue to give no reply and he could feel John quivering with rage beside him - but fortunately the man said nothing at all. Damien was looking for a reason to take back to Brett, something to prove that Theodore had an ulterior motive to return.
“I think that a prince’s experience, positive or otherwise, may shape their futures,” said Josh after a pause, trying not to say anything against either man.
Damien looked momentarily annoyed before the mask of neutrality fell over his face again - apparently looking pleased to see them was beyond his acting skills. “I should go and pay my respects to his highness,” he said smoothly. “Please excuse me.”
John barely managed to wait until the man was out of sight before he broke out into a furious whisper. “Who does he think he is-“
“Hush!” said Josh quickly. “He is obnoxious and that was very rude, but this is not the place.”
John lowered his voice still further. “He insults us, Theodore and Brett with his words!”
“He knows that change may be coming,” murmured Josh. “It would suit him if it were not amicable. History shows us that the court of the newly-crowned king is not kind to those who stood between him and the crown.”
“Brett is not like that-“
“Brett is not, but he may not have a choice but to make examples of people.” Josh looked around quickly. “We cannot discuss this here John. Take heart that Damien doesn’t seem to be the top of Theodore’s list of people he must speak to.”
John glanced over and smiled a little. Theodore was talking calmly to someone who had come to pay their respects, pointedly ignoring Damien’s presence as if he had not seen the man. It left Damien standing rather awkwardly, as if he had not noticed the snub. Josh found it amusing but he wasn’t sure he found it wise.
Then Damien smirked slightly, turning a little and speaking to the man at Theodore’s side. Both John and Josh stopped smiling immediately, John’s expression turning to a frown. Damien was known around the court, those who knew him knew better than to expect honour or discretion from him - but anyone from outside the kingdom wouldn’t know. And Theodore would not have mentioned the man to Cody, or at least neither man thought he would have done. It occurred to them both at the same time that there could be a problem here that neither one of them had seen coming.
~:~
Cody was having a wonderful time. The food was good, the wine flowing freely and the people around him were friendly and outgoing, asking about his home and his experiences, telling them a little of their own kingdom and the people there. None of the same dull stories he was so used to in his own home, none of the same dull people, the women that his brother or father would guide his way. He didn’t even feel the same pressure to be witty and charming as he did at home, where appearances were more important since he was of the royal family. He wanted to make a good impression but he didn’t feel the same silent judgement of his behaviour that he did in the presence of those who knew him. He felt liberated, free from his usual obligations and perhaps as a result he was even more witty and charming than he was at home...or maybe it was the one man he wanted to really impress that was causing that in him.
Of course Ted also had to attend to his own affairs, those people who wanted to speak to him, discover where he had been and what he had experienced. Ted was cagy about it for the most part, saying nothing at all about his brush with slavery and Cody could respect that. A man who had once been a slave might sound like a good ruler in literature but in reality this claim to commonality could cause issues. The two managed to exchange smiles and quick conversation but much of Ted’s attention was taken by those who accosted him and Cody himself also found that many people were interested in him. He talked to them and enjoyed the conversation but all the while he was very aware that Ted was beside him and that they would later on be meeting up...
He had taken advantage of a lull in the conversation and bitten into a large piece of suckling pig when a voice behind him said, “Prince Cody?”
He looked around and smiled at the man, trying to chew in a hurry. All he succeeded in doing was making a strange face - it had been a very big bite - and some odd noise, indicating to his mouth and trying to tell the man why he was being so rude through what was hopefully a universal charade.
The man chuckled. “Oh, I do beg your pardon your highness. I didn’t realise. How rude of me-“
Cody shook his head, managing to swallow the food finally. “Not at all. I apologise that I wasn’t immediately able to speak with you.”
Damien inclined his head a little, accepting the apology. “I am Damien, the king’s most senior advisor. We were almost introduced upon your arrival, however with the excitement of Theodore’s return I fear that my manners slipped somewhat.”
“I can certainly understand that.” Cody could hear something in the back of his mind, some warning bell. Hadn’t the name Damien come up in a conversation at some point? If it had, he didn’t recall what had been said. He seemed to remember it had been vaguely negative but although this man seemed something of a social climber, he didn’t seem particularly bad to Cody. There was nothing about him that seemed threatening. The man dressed well and hid most of his face behind a beard but then again, that seemed to be quite the fashion among some members of the court who wanted to be taken more seriously in his own kingdom and probably held true here as well. Although Brett seemed to have missed out on the artificially lightened hair that their own king preferred.
“It is good to have him home again,” said Damien. “Although I confess, I am curious as to how you realised he spoke the truth when he told you of his origins, or if you recognised them yourself.”
Cody mused for a moment - although he didn’t distrust Damien, particularly if he was head advisor to Ted’s brother, he knew that neither Ted nor Brett were anxious for the truth of Ted’s time away from home to be revealed. “There was a presence about him,” he said eventually. “He was well-spoken, intelligent, educated. And confident. That could not be faked by one who was not familiar with the workings of a palace. And of course, Ted was never caught in a lie, it was so clear he spoke the truth from the outset. We were debating our options when John and Josh arrived shortly after Ted did and told us they could guide him home.”
Damien nodded and Cody was relieved - he had stretched the truth quite a bit himself and he hadn’t wanted to be caught out in a lie either. “I have noticed that you call Theodore by uh, Ted,” said Damien. “Why is that? It is not a common thing surely.”
“We struggle with his name in our tongue,” said Cody shortly, uncertain if he was really hearing an accusation of not treating Ted with enough respect - what did this man know of it? “At his insistence, we shortened it to something we could manage more easily. And it is quite common in our kingdom that names are shortened as a sign of friendship or affection.”
“I see.” Damien smiled warmly. “It is less common here but it is known - Josh being the example you know of, although no one has ever shortened Theodore’s before. It’s merely a surprise, please don’t think it a criticism.”
“I won’t.” Cody couldn’t help returning the smile. “Do you enjoy being at court here?”
“More than I can express.” And while the words and the tone were genial, there was something in Damien’s eyes that told Cody he meant it wholeheartedly - and that he would fight for it. The memory of some conversation with the man’s name bobbed up again, the details remaining tantalisingly out of reach.
“I could not live in a better place,” added Damien, with slightly less intensity. “Although I’m sure you feel the same way about your own home. I imagine our prince enjoyed his time with you?”
Cody’s instinct was to laugh and say that might not have been the case, him being a slave and all. But he refrained. “I hope that he did. I would hate to think that he had been unhappy, although I know he was anxious to return.” There, that much was true. But there was something about the words that felt false and while he knew the reasons behind Ted’s desire to get home, it still made him sad to think about.
Damien might have said something more but at that moment Ted interrupted. “Cody, have you a sweet tooth? Wait, I know the answer to that question-“
“I may have a slight fondness for dessert,” said Cody, trying not to grin. Ted knew damned well that he did.
“The chef has been at work with some marvellous fruit pastries and I hope you’ll be interested in trying them.”
“I’d be delighted,” said Cody with a grin, leaning back a little and forgetting all about Damien. But Ted hadn’t. His eyes went to the other man for a moment, thinking it was a good thing he had managed to steer Cody from the conversation - Damien was manipulative and he might be able to talk information out of Cody if the man didn’t know what to expect. And Ted wasn’t really in a position to warn him away from his brother’s advisor right then. It would have to wait until later on, when Damien wasn’t standing so close to them and already trying to cause a rift between the brothers simply to further his own agenda.
~::~
“Something seems wrong,” Evan murmured softly as he paused in his food consumption momentarily, Randy’s attention immediately being drawn by his protégé. There was a certain strangeness at being sat alongside the royal family to dine but he wasn’t complaining; it’d be a very long time since he’d eaten this well and he was more than willing to take advantage of it because who knew how long it’d be before they got little more than a travelling meal when they headed off to return back to their own kingdom?
“I know they don’t cook the meat the same way we have back at home but-”
Evan looked briefly amused before shaking his head, “I didn’t mean the food, Randy,” his expression falling into a mask of careful neutrality once more although Randy could see that there was a certain light of concern in his eyes that was completely out of place given the circumstances of their current situation; they were safe (it seemed) and the wine and food was coming as readily as they wanted it to. What could possibly be wrong?
Leaning in closer to Evan, conscious that they could be overheard if he didn’t mind himself, Randy murmured, “What’s the matter?”
For a moment Evan hesitated and then gave an almost imperceptible incline of the head in John and Josh’s direction. The pair where eating once more but there was still a remarkable difference in their expressions than those around them, and after a few more minutes they seemed ready to leave. On one level Evan didn’t think they would just leave the feast-but then he remembered that Ted had said chances were they might not even appear at the feast in the first place so he doubted it’d be considered too rude or a mark of disrespect if they headed off now. Besides, as far as Evan could tell hardly anyone had even noticed they had left.
“They don’t seem happy.”
“So?”
“Randy,” Evan tutted lightly and then shook his head, “It was after that man who spoke to Prince Cody approached them…” as he had expected the mention of the Prince’s name had caught his… mentor, lover’s., attention almost immediately.
“What man?”
In the back of his mind Evan sincerely doubted that Randy wasn’t keeping close tabs on their highness despite the fact that they were seated on opposite ends of the table and they had several people between them. Randy always seemed as though he wasn’t especially paying attention but then he saw things that most people didn’t; his abilities had to have been what had kept him alive during so many battles, what had garnered him the reputation he had amongst their people.
“That one over there, with the beard,” said man was now seated at a table and looking down at the rather luxurious food on offer with a sour expression, as though he couldn’t see anything before him but rotting vegetables and spoiled meat. It was definitely an out-of-place expression. However, much to Evan’s growing unease, the expression was gone the second someone paid attention to him and he smiled as warmly and as widely as though he was right in the middle of the festivities and never wanted them to end.
“Do we know who he is?”
“Damien,” came a voice softly from Randy’s other side and he stiffened momentarily before turning to face the princess, Brett’s intended bride, Kaitlin. She was a very attractive woman, buxom (not that Randy was paying too much attention to things like that past an objective standpoint, really) and yet there was a definite definition of muscle to her body that you didn’t often see of ladies of court; it was more a type of definition you saw in women who worked the land alongside their husbands, or, even, in the young adolescent soldiers that came under his command. The idea of a woman fighter was laughable though; a barbarian practice that had been outlawed in their kingdom as long as Randy could remember. Women had their uses, but in his experience anything related to the battle-field was not one of them.
“Excuse me, your highness?”
A brief flicker of amusement crossed her face, “Call me Kaitlin, please, I’m not a member of the royal family yet,” though Brett and his mother had been treating her as such almost since forever, “But if you’re referring to the ridiculously ostentatious man with a bushy beard and questionable character his name is Damien.”
“You don’t sound very fond of him, ma’am,” Evan said politely; Kaitlin might have insisted Randy call her by name, but Evan was much lower in the social hierarchy (even if he was still higher up than he was when he had been a slave) and he wasn’t stupid enough to think that he’d get away unscathed should it be noticed; he would put Cody in an awkward position, and he didn’t want to do that to him. And, well the idea of being punished by Randy didn’t sit well with him. Well… not where the punishment was intended to hurt him, anyway.
Kaitlin’s eyes shuttered and Randy arched a brow slightly as she responded lightly, “I don’t. Actually, I’d like to talk to you about that later if I may?”
“Of course… where and when?”
“I shall come to your quarters later if that is permissible? You’ll have to excuse if I have an attendant though…” rumours and gossip were vicious and even though they’d attract less notice if she went to their room and they didn’t go to hers if someone saw and maliciously misunderstood then she could be in a lot of trouble with Brett… and that was the last thing she wanted, now more than ever.
“We understand, and shall see you then,” Randy said, his festive mood dying somewhat in the face of trouble.