PeaceMaker

Lusinda was almost done with her dance. Her last steps were as beautiful and tasteful as the first. There was not a drop of sweat on her face as her hair wrapped sound her small waist as she did her last turn. 

She made two little leaps towards the king and the royals before making her final pirouette and falling on one knee, her ribbon fluttering to the ground beside her. She bowed her head before the king, her face in a calm restful expression. 

Theodore peered down at her. He hated seeing her. He hated seeing her so calm. He wanted to see her cry, to see her fail the dance, to see her fail to impress the audience, to see her fail to capture them. Like she did to him. He hadn't always thought like this. 

He hadn't always hated her, he hadn't always wanted to see her end. But soon, those feelings twisted into hate and now her downfall was all he craved from her. 

Lusinda's head remained parallel to the ground. "Long life and prosperity to your graciousness!" she announced, her voice booming throughout the room. 

The people were still staring at her for a moment, her voice hitting them again and again and tossing them into more bliss. They smiled, they grinned, and soon they all rose from their seat and claps filled the room, echoing back and forth off the walls. It thundered throughout the castle. It was congratulations to a beast for finishing her dance like a swan.

A wrongly deserved praise.

"The exciting part will be coming soon," Antonio grinned as he looked down at them, "how do you think they're going to react to her? Do you think they'll kick her out? Demean her until she cried? Make a mess of her family and reputation?"

Justin stared down at them. "No…" he muttered. "They're going to accept her. At least the king will."

Antonio turned to Justin, surprise echoing from his expression. "Really?!" he chuckled. 

"Hmm," Justin nodded. 

Antonio smiled. He was surprised by that comment himself but rather that Justin had figured it out. He was surprised at his ability to adjust to Antonio. To both of his sides even though the other is very well unexplored by him. 

"Then do you think it's going to go completely smoothly?" Antonio asked. 

"Between her and the king, yes it will. Between her and the other royals, on the other hand, nothing will go right there," Justin replied as he observed the scene. "Whatever she did just can't and will not be overlooked by them."

Antonio chuckled as he observed the scene. "I beg to differ," He replied as he peered down at Lusinda and looked up to the king. "The king is the only one whose thoughts really matter in the situation, isn't it?" Antonio smiled. 

Justin looked up at Antonio, cocking his head to the side slightly. "Are you saying it's going to go well?"

Antonio chuckled as he looked at the scene. "Of course not. No one can decide that," he muttered, his laugh reducing to a smile. "I'm saying it all depends on the king."

Justin stared at Antonio in confusion. He flinched when his head turned and they locked eyes. 

"Whether or not this goes well or whether or not this entire thing burnt to the ground, depends on the king," Antonio smiled. "He's the one in the highest seat afterall."

Justin finched, blushing slightly as he looked into Antonio's eyes. 'That gaze….' he thought to himself as he looked into Antonio's light eyes. 'God they're beautiful,' he shivered, 'she's going to love them.'

He smiled and looked up at the royals, then down to Lusinda. His shoulders relax. 'It all depends on the king?" he thought to himself. 'Then what is the king going to do?'

"Him?" Antonio muttered. "He's going to let her pass of course." 

Justin jumped, turning to Antonio, his eyes had been fixed on Justin the entire time They had been watching him watch them. He had a smile on his face. It was both charming and chilling at the same time. 

Justin let out a long sigh as he turned back to the king and Lusinda. 'God he's pretty,' Justin thought to himself. 'She's really going to love him.' He peered down at Lusinda and then remembered what Antonio had said. 

His head swiveled to Antonio and he stared at him in disbelief. "He's going to do what?!" Justin gasped, slight anger showing in his voice. 

Antonio looked behind them and then turned back to Justin. "Please reduce your volume," Antonio shushed. 

Justin touched the back of his neck nervously, a guilty smile appearing on his face. "Ops.. right," he nodded. He locked eyes with Antonio, his eyes longing for an explanation. "Why would the king do that?"

Justin squinted his eyes, catching a whiff of the type of stare Theodore was giving Lusinda. It was a glare. Though the air above the royals was stiff and tense, he was the only one that clearly showed his displeasure through his eyes. 

"His son, Prince Theodore seems to hate her," Justin muttered, "shouldn't that mean that he should dismiss her? A member of the royal family cannot be unhappy, especially not at a celebration for their wife."

Antonio stared at the king, his eyes lowering in understanding. "Do you think that's the only reason why a King rules? For his offsprings?"

Justin shook his head. "Of course not. He rules for his kingdom and his people. Not just the princes and princess." 

"Look around the room," Antonio advised, Justin quickly following his bidding. When Justin turned back to him with a confused expression, he continued. "Most of the people in this room look astonished and happy right?"

Justin takes another look at the audience, now noticing what Antonio wanted him to see. "Hmm," He nodded. "I see happy faces, awed, and simply stunned. 

"Ok, and then try and see the other royal's expressions,�� Antonio asked. 

Justin's eyes traveled up to them and he inspected their expressions. He turned back to Antonio again. "They look… bland? Not really angry like the first prince but neither are they happy. They have this tense look on their face."

"Now if you go out for a meeting with your friends and there is a split decision on where they want to go for the outing, more than half of the group pick to go to the riverside while just one chooses to go to the market," Antonio muttered, creating a scenario off his head. He turned to Justin who was looking down at Lusinda. "Where would you go?"

"The riverside of course," Justin immediately replied. "It has more votes and more people want to go there. We can simply go to the market on another day-"

Justin flinched, realizing what Antonio was trying to get across. His eyes widened in realization.

"Ah… so he's going to pick the side that has the more vote rather than just one person's point of view," Justin muttered. 

Antonio nodded his head in agreement. "Exactly."

"Then, in that case, he's going to let Lusinda pass without much drama?" Justin muttered. "That's not fun at all. I would hate to pick like that."

"If it was fun don't you think there'd be a long line of people wanting to become a king then? There would be no need to have offsprings as the people would just volunteer to do it."

Justin chuckled. "True true," he nodded. 

"Are you satisfied?" Antonio asked, looking down at Justin.

"Satisfied?" Justin cocked his head to the side in confusion. 

"Did I give you an answer that you liked?" Antonio asked. 

Justin grinned, nodding. "Of course you did. 

Antonio stared at Justin for a moment, his head tilting to the side. "I never expected it to be like this."

Justin turned to him, a smile on his face. "What do you mean?"

Antonio smiled back. "I mean, the way we���re talking back and forth to each other," he chuckled. 'And the way you decided to test me,' he thought to himself. 

He had known somewhere along the line that Justin was just acting. Pretending to not understand, pretending to be a student under Antonio's care. It wasn't that hard to figure out. Neither was it hard for him to entertain. 

What was hard for him to figure out was why he would do that. 'It doesn't seem like he's trying to curry favor, neither does it seem like he's trying to reduce himself so that I'm not worried about anything while talking to him,' Antonio thought to himself. 'There was another reason there. One that would explain why Justin decided to reduce himself to the level of a student for me.'

He glanced at Justin with curious eyes 'I want to know.'

Justin noticed Antonio's honest stare. He was asking for answers, begging to know what was going through his mind. He liked the expression on his face. 'She will like that too,' Justin thought to himself, a happy smile forming on his face. 'Nobody can resist a cute smile afterall. He was going to resist this time around though. 

When he acted like that, what he wanted to see Antonio do for him, Antonio can figure it out on his own. 

He was like Justin afterall.