PeaceMaker

"Your highness, you need to be more careful, you haven't fully recovered yet!" Axel scolded as he eyed Dominic checking for any injuries on him. "Do you feel hurt anywhere? Does anything feel numb? Anything that's bugging you that you need to fix or want to be attended to?"

Dominic smiled, shaking his head as he patted Axel on the shoulder. "You do realize it's 1 pm and I woke up at around 9 am in the morning right?" Dominic stated as he walked forward, ignoring Axel's quick steps behind him. "We've been here for the past 4 hours seating in one place and talking."

"Yes?" Axel responded 

"And we didn't have breakfast yet," Dominic sighed, nodding at the guards to open the doors of the room, "4 hours, no food, sitting down the entire time. It makes sense that I got dizzy, doesn't it?"

Axel's lips opened to refute Dominic's words before he closed them, nodding his head in agreement. "It does…"

"So now you know that you were overreacting?" Dominic chortled, "just because I get dizzy once or twice doesn't mean that something fatal is happening to me you know?"

Axel nodded. "But it doesn't mean that we can't be careful, because it might happen again. Your health is-"

"-doing perfectly fine," Dominic interjected, cutting off Axel's sentence. He turned around to face Axel, emerald eyes peering into his, "I'm doing perfectly fine, Axel. Right?"

Axel twitched, his lips wanting to lash out in reply but he held back, nodding his head in reply. "Of course, your highness!" Axel responded, "but we can never be too careful."

Boris' eyes switched from Dominic to Axel, observing the expression on his face. There was not a shade of emotion that seemed to go against his words but his eyes and the way Dominic peered down at him. 'He's lying…' Boris pondered, his fist tightening, 'Why is he lying?' 

He continued to follow closely behind Dominic, walking in the line behind him with Kalmin on his left, Axel on his right, then Litian, and then Desilva while the other council members followed behind them. 

Dominic pressed forward, nodding his head in response. "Of course, as long as you don't do too much overreacting again," he teased as they turned the corner, "I don't remember worrying excessively being a part of your job."

"If it's for his royal highness, then I gladly will," Axel responded with a smile. 

"Kalmin," Dominic stated, "do the maids know about us coming to eat?"

"Yes your highness," Kalmin nodded, "Marquess Falls stopped for a bit to talk to one of them and inform them. He should be joining us in a bit after the conversation."

Dominic grinned. "Good then!"

Kalmin nodded his head, his fingers brushing against the piece of paper he had placed at the bottom of the stack in his arms. He looked up at the golden waves of Dominic's hair before looking back down at the ground. 'I need a chance..' he thought to himself as they walked down the hallway leading to the dining chamber, 'just a few minutes of time…' 

They walked towards the dining chamber's doors, stopping in front of it as Kamin stepped out and along with Feline, pulled open the doors to the room. 

Dominic peered into the dining chamber, glancing at the empty long table with chairs lining the sides and one chair at the end, the chair for himself. "It looks like we got here before the maids. It should take them a while before they finish making the meals too," Dominic muttered as he stepped into the room. 

'Just a moment…' Kalmin thought to himself as he followed Dominic in, the rest of the council flowing in.

The room was small in comparison to the normal size of a dining room and even smaller in comparison to the large dining hall used for celebrations in the palace. It was one of the many mini dining chambers that were placed on each floor of the castle, this one being the only one on the third floor. It was usually used for small business meetings that involved dining too so it had some exquisite decorations but not as large as those in dining rooms and the dining hall. 

Dominic continued in, walking towards the chairs. "Take your seats, everyone," he exclaimed as the council members walked forward, sitting in random order. "We'll have to wait a while before the food gets to us."

'Just one moment…' Kalmin pondered as he followed Dominic, watching as each council member took their seats starting at the end of the table and slowly filling the seats up to the front. 

Kalmin waited for the last council member to take their seat and for Boris to get seated at the last seat before the seat for Dominic's on the left side of the table. 'Just one…' he mused. Dominic reached forward, about to pull out the chair for him when Kalmin reached for his arm, pulling him back. 

"Huh?" Dominic murmured, turning to look back at Kalmin. 

They locked eyes with each other for a moment. "Yes, Kalmin?" Dominic asked to which Kalmin glanced at the council members before looking back at him. When they locked eyes, he understood what he was trying to say.

"May I have a moment of your time, your highness?" Kalmin asked, releasing his grip on Dominic's sleeve.

Dominic nodded immediately. "Of course," he nodded before turning to face the council members, "please excuse us for a moment."

Boris immediately stood up as they turned around and began to walk out the door, following behind them quietly. 

Kalmin stopped to look at Boris, Dominic stopping too when he noticed Kalmin's break. "Your honor…" Kalmin muttered lightly, his eyes shifting from Boris' to Dominic's. 

Dominic looked back from Boris to Kalmin, his eyes being sucked into the look in Kalmin's eyes. 'Without him?' Dominic asked non-verbally as he and Kalmin exchanged gazes. 

'Yes,' Kalmin replied with a slight nod. 

Dominic turned back to Boris, hesitating before letting out a little apologetic smile. "I think he wants it to be in private, Boris," he urged. 

"But I'm your guard," Boris pressed, golden eyes set on following. 

"But I don't need a guard right now," Dominic spat back. 

"You need to be protected at all times, your highness," Boris retorted, "I don't think I'm allowed to let you a few feet away from my sig-."

"But I'm ordering you to," Dominic refuted, his tone hard and certain, shutting down Boris' words.

"But-"

"Will it be better if Commander Litian follows then?" Kalmin spoke up, interrupting the conversation as he shot Dominic another look of urgency.

Boris flinched, his eyebrows furrowing beneath his long black curls. "Commander Litian?" he repeated, his eyes skirting to Dominic for his reaction.

Dominic clenched his fist slightly, taken by the look in Boris' eyes. He turned to Kalmin. 'I thought you wanted it to be private? Why bring Litian?' he asked with his gaze. 

'Just follow along,' Kalmin replied, his eyes turning to Boris.

Dominic's eyes switched from Boris to Kalmin before sighing. "I think that might be better then if you are worried I won't be protected," he remarked. He faced the room of staring council members and met eyes with Litian. "Mind following along, Litian?" he called out. 

Litian shot up from her seat and immediately walked towards Dominic and Kalmin. "Yes, your highness," she replied.

Dominic turned back to Boris and nodded his head, "Is that better?' he asked, resisting the urge to bite back on his words. 

Boris' eyebrows fluctuated in perplexion and frustration before taking a step back, his eyes falling to the ground. "Yes, your highness."

Dominic ignored the slight pang in his heart from Boris' reaction and turned back to Kalmin. "Lead the way."

They turned around and left the room with Lititna following closely behind them, the doors slowly shutting Boris in with the rest of the council members. He looked up at the closed doors for a moment before stepping back again and turning around, walking to his seat. 

"Looks like his highness is doing better with Litian now," Hendrickson commented snidely, gaining a few chuckles from some of the members on the late king's team.

"Silence," Anateniz snapped, her voice speaking over the laughter in the room. She turned to Hendrickson, her lips laying in a firm thin line of no emotions. "I'd suggest keeping your thoughts to yourself, Earl Hendrickson. In the end, his honor has had control over the kingdom and is still of a higher rank than any of us in the room despite his low official title. I'd hold myself back from making rude comments if I were you."

Hendrickson rolled his eyes, leaning back into his chair as Boris walked back to his seat and sat down quietly, ignoring Hendrickson's presence. 

Adia glanced at Boris before standing up from her seat. "Excuse me."