34As the hall doors opened, all noise abruptly left the room. Everyone became quiet. The rumors had gone out that the Emperor's new advisor had disappeared and the ice lord from Zionen had apparently thawed overnight: he was seen sleeping with a mysterious man that nobody knew of. So naturally everyone quieted down to watch the spectacle.
As expected, Lord Darian and his 'lover' walked through the doors. Holding hands. That was unseemly. The Lords and Ladies that were married did not do it in public. Because it was not heard of. It defied with etiquette. It looked like Lord Darian did not care.
They walked the length of the carpet, aware that everyone's eyes was on them. Tristan was not making it easy for them. But Lord Darian rationalized, his brother, the Emperor was going to hold his annual ball and right now was one of those times that everyone got together before it. And naturally, the Emperor had to make and entrance. When they were five feet from Tristan and Nikolai, both bowed simultaneously.
"Who are you?" the Emperor demanded of Calen the minute they were done with their obeisance."A spy?"
Lord Darian lifted an eyebrow up. The crowd was going to get a shock. Calen did not stand for ceremony. And he was sure that Calen did not when he was Constantine, at the rate he kept disappearing around the monarch and his son.
"No," Calen told him. "But you know me from yesterday, and I daresay you'll know who I am again, before the day is done, Your Majesty."
Nikolai who had been watching Calen and Darian suddenly sat up straighter and narrowed his eyes at him. "Where's Constantine? Apparently his disappearance is related to you. So where is he? You'll regret it if you've injured him."
"I haven't done anything to him," Calen said. "The gods have. I AM Constantine. But you know me as well, from the stories Darian has told you. To most, if not all, I am Calen Shikkart, Your Majesties. Back from the dead, as the gods allow."
Gasps and mutterings started behind him.
Tristan turned to Darian. "Is this true?"
And Darian answered him, grinning happily, "Wouldn't I have noticed if it was not him. No, he is my love alright. You did not recognize his fighting style from anywhere, but I do. And only one person out of this whole world was supposed to have it. And I thought him dead."
"I'm happy the gods has decided to grant me my wish," Darian quietly told his brother and nephew.
There was a very long moment of silence where everyone took it all in. The Ladies that had been vying for Lord Darian's attention were disappointed. They had hoped that one day, Lord Darian would take one of them as his wife to get an heir. Now, the possibility was gone. The Lords just took it in stride.
Tristan beckoned Darian and Calen nearer to him as he stood up. "Come," he said. "We will take this elsewhere, away from prying ears."
All four of them left the Great Hall and left the nobles to speculate on their own about what they would be talking about.
A/N: And there you have it. I'm not sure if I should write more to this. I think that this is enough. sighs and sits back Seriously though. I'm sorry it has take this long but I got to this point and didn't like how the chapter was going. I was going to delete it and rewrite it all again. So tell me how you liked this one? It just wasn't right for me. I had it differently in my head but it came out different too. My original outline turned out differently from the final thing. Believe me, it really did. But all in all, I think it was well done by me. ...All spelling and grammar errors aside (that's because I haven't edited yet). It's my first story that I finished so far.