PeaceMaker

Dominic had 5 minutes till his next meeting with Falls and Grayson. The first not-3-minutes intermediate break he had gotten in 5 days after the flood of meetings he had gotten after Claudia's betrayal. 

His ex-fiance had been placed in one of the jail cells below the castles where she was to stay indefinitely. After a long meeting to decide whether her head will be slewn or if she would be let to live as a possible upper-hand, they'd have over her kingdom.

In a meeting only a few hours after her betrayal, the war had been decided. Claudia would be the piece of property held captive from her kingdom and would be traded back, if needed, for a peace treaty or her life used something to threaten her kingdom.

This had triggered the multitude of meetings Dominic had after. There were meetings upon meetings and at the end of the day, a meeting with Feline and Logan to schedule the meetings for the next day. He would meet with the top council members to start off the day and follow up with Feline to give him the list of meetings he would be having for the day, then to Helen for finance, and would finally get his breakfast after that. 

Right after that, he went to Connor for the overview of the health of the people in the palace and safety of all, then the second top councils meeting and right after that, left the palace to the kingdom to meet with Wattson, Arthur, and Phillip, spending five hours looking at the kingdom he would soon govern. With only an hour to eat lunch, he would then go to Limar for a meeting about the safety of the kingdom and then the war meetings with Falls and Grayson. 

Soon after was Frederick and Augustine, and after a brief dinner, was the full council meeting and at 12am was the meeting with Feline and Logan to plan for the next day. Finally, after that was Dominic's bedtime. This schedule repeated again and again over 5 days for Dominic and Boris followed him all through them, the only time he wasn't right behind Dominic was during his journey outside the castle walls because that was the time for his classes. 

It was unbelievably tiring for both of them as there was not a moment of the day when they were either not in a meeting, or preparing to be in one. With only about 6 hours of sleep each night, the two worked around the clock.

Dominic had just come back from his meetings outside the palace gates and with only 5 minutes to spare till the most important meeting of the week, he quickly walked to the training grounds on the palace where Boris would be sparring with some of the best guards in the palace. 

His steps were slightly heavy, dragging on the ground a bit as he reached the training grounds, his shoulder's heavy from stress and thoughts in a deep tangled mess of information. However, when he reached the high podium that looked over the long and large expanse of land where clangs of swords echoed, his dimmed eyes brightened, and as the couple hundred soldiers bowed to greet him, he spotted the gleam of golden from Boris. 

Quickly he stepped down the long stairs of the podium as the soldiers went back to their work and tip-toed over to where Boris practiced with a large heavy sword, soldiers bowing as he passed. He was about to jump out at Boris to scare him when his body froze and he just stood there, watching him practice. 

It had been like this a few times in a day. Times when Dominic would just stop and watch Boris move or when they would both be caught in each other for a moment. Somehow, they all seemed to either bring smiles to his face or send shivers down his spine especially when they touched. It was intense but all the more compelling. 

Dominic stood there standing for a moment, his eyes gleaming with awe when a swish of a sword flew into his ears. He immediately reached for the swords hanging off a long board of weapons and pulled a long silver sword out, immediately clanging against the approaching sword. 

"Trying to attack your prince?" Dominic smirked as he looked up at the tall figure before him whose sword pressed into his. 

Through a forest of black came the gleam of gold and a slight smile. Boris scoffed. 

"Only to keep you on your toes, my prince," Boris retorted, his thick black eyebrows rising teasingly. 

"Really now?" Dominic chuckled, his grip on his sword tightening, and seconds later, he pushed an incredible force into his sword, expecting to push Boris off. Boris didn't budge. 

A flicker goes off in his emerald eyes. 'There it is again..' Dominic thought to himself as he looked up into Boris' eyes. "Are you going to keep me here for the rest of the few minutes I have before my meeting?"

Boris shrugged, his force against Dominic not reducing in the slightest. "Maybe... maybe not."

Dominic chuckled, "Indecisive, aren't you?"

Boris pushed Dominic's sword with his slightly and with the bounceback Dominic gave, make a side step out of his hold with Dominic. "You have about 3 minutes till your next mee-"

SWISH

Boris ducked down, pulling his sword with him as he turned with a clean crescent, his sword raising up to the sword above him and with a strong swing, clashed into the silver sword, tossing it out of the wielder's hand. His left hand pressed into the ground for balance, his left knee landing on the ground lightly. Hiss sword continued its swing, curving with incredible force till an abrupt stop when its tip pointed to the ground, its body aligned with Boris'. 

A flash passed through Boris' eyes as he looked up through the strands of black that laid across his face. They locked eyes with the bright shine of emerald for a second before Boris flicked his wrist, his sword turning as he stood up and pointing straight to the ground when he was standing, his shadow looming over Dominic. 

His lips pressed against each other for a moment as he looked into emerald, then with one smooth movement, turned around and walked to an empty hook on the board, hanging his sword there. 

"Nice try, your highness," Boris muttered as he turned back to Dominic after placing down his sword and bowed. 

Dominic stared at him blankly for a moment. 'There it is again...' he thought to himself. A smile formed on his face as he nodded at Boris. 'He saw that coming, didn't he?' His emerald eyes gleamed, 'he saw the attack and fended it off beautifully even when it was from behind him.'

"We should get going now," Boris exchanged a glance with Kalmin who stood behind Dominic, and then to the other council members standing on top of the podium. "I'd hate to be the reason you're late to this meeting."

Dominic nodded with a bright smile, "Then... shall we?"

Boris nodded, following Dominic as he turned around and began walking towards the podium. "Yes, your highness."

Today was the most important meeting of the week. The day Dominic and the council would be deciding what and who will be in charge while Dominic was gone and Dominic, after that brief interaction with Boris, was sure of who to leave in charge. 

* * *

5 HOURS LATER

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!" Boris yelled. 

Dominic had picked Boris.

"Watch the volume Boris," Dominic replied as he walked towards his desk. 

Boris' teeth ground against each other as he stomped over to Dominic, his hand grabbing Dominic's wrist and yanking it, turning Dominic to him. "NO. You listen to me, Dominic."

Dominic shuddered, his hand throbbing from Boris' hold. They locked eyes and Dominic flinched, Boris' eyes gleaming with such anger, confusion, and frustration that he had never seen before. 

"What is it?"

* * *

 5 HOURS BEFORE

"This meeting is to figure who will be the Prince's stand-in while he goes out to battle in the war," Kalmin announced, grabbing the papers on the table and after organizing them, gave them to Feline. Slowly he walked back to his chair, "I'm sure everyone is well aware of the fact that Dominic, our prince, will be going to war in a mere 2 days. Meaning that the person who will be in his place will need to be chosen today in order for them to get their training over the course of these two days, while the prince works on the kingdom."

There is silence throughout the entire room as the tension slowly built up. 

"This person will have to be someone in which the prince fully trusts with the matters of the palace while he's out in war," Kalmin continued, "they will have to be someone who is experienced in both war and well knowledgable in matters of the kingdom, both on the streets and in the palace."

There are shuffles in the room, as people shifted uncomfortably. 

Kalmin slowly slid into his seat, his eyes scanning the faces of those seated around the table. "In addition to being trained in both war and being knowledgable, the prince must be able to trust each of this person's decisions and they must have been someone whom he has spent the most time around," Kalmin continued. "The prince needs to make sure this person will know him enough to make decisions that he, himself would make and decisions that the prince would understand too since they are both around each other for a majority of the time."

Silence once again. 

Kalmin smiled, his eyes piercing into those around the table. "Does everyone understand the starting rules?" 

The council members nodded their heads. 

"Great. Now, most of the stand-ins chosen are from the council itself and may be one person that is fully experienced and in cases where it is not, one person will be chosen but with a team of council members behind them," Kalmin explained, "in case of someone outside of the council being chosen, there will be tests held in place to show that that person is indeed fit to be the stand-in for the prince and upon agreement, a team chosen by the prince will be the people who look after that person and ensure that their power in the kingdom is accepted and to keep a close eye on them."

Kalmin turned to Dominic, locking eyes with him for a moment before turning back to the council. "With that said, first we shall have the qualities each of us wishes to be in the stand-in, then we shall hear from the prince himself with whom he chose."

There was silence around the table once again as the council members looked upon themselves. 

"Well then... since people seem reluctant to go, I will go first," Kalmin cleared his throat. He looked at Dominic and then back at the council members, his eyes gleaming harshly. "Loyalty," he uttered, his words sharp and heavy. He tilted his head to the left with a smile. "I'm sure you understand?"

Helen nodded her head. Kalmin continued, "It may seem like a normal thing to ask of someone, but then again this person is going to be the stand-in of the PRINCE which means why will have just as much power as he does for a small amount of time. With power comes responsibility and with power comes greed," Kalmin muttered, his tone low and frank, "for those here you might say that it's impossible but humans will always have greed in them and one never knows how they will react in the situation until they are there. Loyalty. An essential part of someone the prince is supposed to trust with the throne."

"Responsible," called out Anatinez, grabbing the attention from those in the room. "That applies to their actions, the way money is used, their connections with people, and how attentive they are."

"Resourceful," Hellen added, "sure the person might be new to stuff like this, but the experience isn't the same as being resourceful. They should be able to find things that will be good for the situation last minute and be able to plan ahead in case of mishaps."

"Hardworking and reliable," Falls muttered, turning to Dominic and the rest of the table, "someone who can't pull their weight is unnecessary for the right hand beside the throne."

"Stubborn," Grayson added to which eyes drew to him, "sure, it can be seen as a bad thing, but someone who is unable to stand their ground is as useful as a small nail trying to hold down a blanket in a storm."

"Good sportsmanship," Limar nodded, "though that person might be weak in some ways, if they able to make use of the other's around them, then that just makes them stronger."

"K-kind and caring, slow to anger," Feline muttered, her voice speaking up despite their first tremble, "a tyrant is not going to be good in power. They must be able to sympathize with all sides of a battle, weak and strong without always being biased to one side. Be good-tempered in times of frustration."

"Passionate and relentless," Wattson jumped in, "if there are unable to keep going in hard times, then no one else can in their place and will lead to the fall of the kingdom. They should also know when it's time to let go despite being so driven."

Kalmin nodded. "I'll like to add another one. Observant. A keen eye to spot ways out of issues will be necessary for all situations."

All the council members nodded their heads at Kalmin's comment. 

Kalmin smiled, his eyes surveying the council members. "Is that all?" he asked.

They all nodded. 

"Then... your highness, please consider all of these characteristics. Loyalty, a sense of responsibility, resourcefulness, hardworking and reliable, adequately stubborn with good sportsmanship and a caring, good-tempered mind. And finally, a passionate, observant, and overwhelmingly relentless with a good grasp of their limits," Kalmin muttered, turning to Dominic, "with these traits in mind, your highness, who do you think should be a stand-in and take a seat on your right-hand side, to serve you and the kingdom while you are in war?"

The tension in the room simply seemed to grow heavier as all eyes in the room turned to Dominic. Some held a sense of fear for the responsibility in their path if they are chosen, others with confidence like they were made for the job. Some held an arrogant smirk, expectantly waiting for their name to come out of Dominic's mouth and others simply sat in silence, patiently waiting for the result with neither expectancy in them nor nervousness.

Dominic smiled. "I've known most of you guys here for years. Some of you even got the chance to watch me grow from a young age. For that I thank you and regretfully say that I will not be picking you."

There were little gasps that left the lips of some council members and others a sigh of relief. They all froze as Dominic continued his talk, curiously looking at the younger council members around the table. 

"As for the younger generations of the council members, I must say it's nice to see some of you, some 10s of years older and other just a few years older. It's nice to see people from my generation to be in the council and working just as hard and some," Dominic turned to Kalmin, "and some even harder than the rest. However, you have all let me down in one way or another."

The room froze as Dominic's words slammed into their ears. 

"In the time of my father's death, a tumultuous time for me and the entire kingdom. None of you tried to reach out and help me. You all sat back, waiting for the day I victoriously wake up so you can pile work on top of me and tell me how useless I had been to the kingdom for the days I mourned," Dominic chuckled, "I'm sure a lot of you didn't explicitly say that to me, but none of you reached out to me to find out if I was ok. You simply went on with your business with a title on your back that you didn't even try to fulfill the power and responsibility that came with it. It's quite horrible for me to say I'll give a kingdom to someone who doesn't even know how to care for their prince, isn't it? You ruined my trust. Some more than the others, but together all the same. For that reason, I will be picking no one from the council."

Gasps ran through the room and just as quickly as they were let out, were sucked back into the whirlpool of tension in the room. 

it was a huge disgrace to the council members if the prince chose someone out of their group to lead. Even more of a disgrace when that person some from a lower level.

Dominic chuckled at their startled expressions and the fear in their eyes before he continued. "I will be giving my powers over the kingdom to someone who was able to help me in my bad times and has displayed the qualities of a leader in small and big ways. Though they might be a subject that no one would want to look up at or receive a command from, they are deserving of the trust they will receive."

"This would be a group of people, with one main person in charge," Dominic nodded. He slowly turned to his right and looked up at the figure standing above him. He smiled. "And this figure, would be Boris."

A wave of both silence and terrified gasps filled the room. Dominic turned to the council members, a bright smile on his face. "And the team of individuals who will help him in power will be, Kalmin, my most trusted advisor, Anatinez, the wisest of all, Helen, a powerhouse of intelligence, Limar, a great situationist, and well-rounded person, and Grayson, the most experienced soldier in the kingdom."

Kalmin turned to Dominic, only a slice of surprise in his eyes. "Is that your decision your highness?" he asked, his eyes brimming with trust. 

"It is my final decision."