The Herald at the door to the great hall froze in shock for a moment when the Cygnia delegation appeared a full fifteen minutes earlier than they were expected.
"Announcing The Second Prince of Cygnia, Archmage Alex Cygnus, the Kingslayer. Announcing the Ninth Princess of Cygnia, Alexis Cygnus."
"Announcing the Cygnia Royal Advisor, Lord Sorcerer Dominic Wavemates, the Butcher of Wistover."
Dominic smiled and the Dagos Nobles flinched.
{They’re not going to let that go. You must have really gotten under their skin.} Prince Alex whispered.
Dominic shook his head. "At least they’re nice to you."
Alexis rolled her eyes. "What was the point of trying to disguise you if they were going to just announce your name when we entered the room? But you’re right. They really are holding a grudge over a battle from ten years ago.
It seems a bit extreme, don’t you think?
Keep your guard up. They must be planning to use that status against you during the upcoming meetings, or perhaps even as an excuse to try to expel you from the meetings and demand your exile."
Prince Alex turned to whisper to the pair, who were lowering their voices, but not particularly concerned about being overheard.
{Just let it slide. They’ve been playing up the danger of the Dragon King’s lineage for a decade to justify their actions. If they suddenly started welcoming him now, everyone would wonder what was going on, and accuse the staff of being traitors.}
Dominic heard the muttering, shrugged, and then removed his hat to shake out his hair.
"If we’re not being subtle, then I might as well be comfortable. Your highness, would you like a beverage?" Dominic asked, while gesturing for a server to come over with drinks.
Out of habit, Dominic cast [Quality Kibble] his food and drink purification spell over the tray as the server approached, and noticed that every one of the drinks flashed a different colour.
"Wow, we really are popular." Prince Alex chuckled as he cast a spell of his own.
The server was sweating heavily as they approached, unaware of the fact that the two mages had both cleansed the poisons from the drinks on the tray.
"I should refrain from drinking." Princess Alexis declined, and Dominic realized that only he saw the lights as the toxins were identified and removed from the drinks.
Dominic took a glass of champagne, toasted the room and then downed half the glass before taking a second sip to savour the taste.
"That’s actually quite good. It’s got a bit of a spicy aftertaste. Was that an aphrodisiac? While I appreciate their effort, I’m hardly of an age to need such things." Dominic joked when he realized he could still taste the neutralized toxins in the drink.
The gathered Nobles simply stared at him.
"Did he notice that it was poisoned and then drink it anyhow?" One of the Dagos Nobles asked.
"I swear he did. Maybe he took an antitoxin in advance? But how would he know what was going to be in it?" One of the others asked.
Prince Alex smiled at Dominic and handed him another drink. "What is this one? How good are your taste buds?"
Dominic sipped the drink and frowned. "That one is sweet, not a great combination for champagne. Strange aftertaste. I don’t know that one."
A Dagos Royal steward came over with a bucked and dumped the remainder of the drinks, then bowed parallel to the ground.
"Please accept our apologies, Your Highness. It is not the will of the Crown that you should be harmed in any way." He insisted, raising his voice as a warning to the Nobles during the last part.
The Steward had to wonder if these Nobles had lost what few brain cells they once possessed. Attempting to kill the Second Prince when there was an entire Cygnia army camped within artillery range of the Palace?
Forget that the attempt would most likely fail with the Sorcerer and the Princess, who had holy magic, standing next to him. Just attempting would be suicidal for everyone in the building.
"Announcing the Fourth Prince of Bostoveria, Nathan Bostover. Announcing the Tenth Princess of Bostoveria. Announcing the Eleventh Princess of Bostoveria. Announcing the Twelfth Princess of Bostoveria." The herald at the door declared, breaking the tension.
The three Princesses were an instant attraction for all of the single Nobles in the room, and the attention was drawn away from the spectacle of the Cygnia delegation taunting the Dagos Nobles by deliberately drinking poisoned beverages.
With two groups of Royals already in attendance, the rest of the Nobles rushed to attend, leaving only two guests conspicuously absent.
The next to enter was Viscount Boscom, with Prince Kaizon right behind him, looking frustrated.
The Viscount stopped at the top of the stairs with an older Noble at his left shoulder, and Prince Kaizon on his right.
The man that Dominic didn’t know was the first to speak. "Welcome to Albroles, everyone. I know that I am new to the position, and many of you are not familiar faces to me, but I am the new Duke Albroles.
We have gathered you all for the coronation of the new King of Dagos, but as you may have gathered, that point is in some contention at the moment.
However, we anticipate that the situation will be resolved before the official coronation ceremony begins, so please, eat, drink, and enjoy your time in Albroles Castle."
It didn’t escape anyone’s notice that the Cygnia delegation, as small as it was with only three members, didn’t touch any more of the beverages or appetizers before the dinner started. That stopped a number of the other Nobles from indulging, as they were afraid of being the victim of an attack not meant for them, and the atmosphere in the room was becoming increasingly tense.
The man who had dumped all the drinks from the tray that Dominic had first sampled from made his way to the Duke to give a report, which clearly didn’t go over well, if the hushed shouting and the way that the Duke pinched the bridge of his nose were anything to go by.
Whatever the man had found was so bad that the Duke actually looked visibly relieved when the signal was given to head to the tables for the formal dinner.