That optimism might have been misplaced, Dominic realized once they were seated.
The delegations were mixed between small round tables, intended for members of Royal Families to socialize freely during the dinner. However, the person who made the guest seating chart had either used outdated political alliances as their guide, or had done them strictly by national power rankings.
So, the Second Prince was seated at a table with Viscount Boscom, the Fourth Prince of Bostoveria and the Crown Prince of Skiple, plus a few Nobles that Dominic didn’t recognize.
Whereas he was seated at a table with Princess Alexis, and named as her fiancé on the place cards, while Prince Kaizon glared at them from the next table over, and the group of Dagos Generals and Advisors at their table looked increasingly nervous.
"Well, at the very least, we got the table with the best conversation. I can’t imagine how stuffy and fake some of the other tables are right now." Princess Alexis muttered.
The General on her left smiled.
"You speak the truth, Princess. I am General Wigin, son of Count Wigin, from the far north of Dagos. These are the Advisor Albroles, General Modbury and their wives."
As they were introduced, everyone gave the Princess a polite smile.
"If you didn’t already know, I am the Ninth Princess of Cygnia, Alexis Cygnus. This is Royal Advisor and Lord Sorcerer Dominic Wavemates." She replied.
Lady Modbury smiled at Dominic. "It’s a pleasure to meet you, Advisor. I must say, that when I heard of your fearsome reputation, I thought that at the very least, you would be a senior from the Second Prince’s Battle Mage Corps. I was not expecting a young bachelor."
The General coughed, and his wife winked at him.
"What? We both know that it’s unlikely our Waverly is going to remarry higher than a concubine. The Sorcerer is a wonderful choice. I can’t imagine that anyone would dare to bully her again if she were in his house." The woman, already far more tipsy than her polished appearance had let on, replied.
"Remarry?" Dominic asked.
"A war widow, sadly. There are a lot of them to go around, and the pressure to take concubines to salvage the dignity of the widows will be strong once the succession is settled." General Wigin explained.
Princess Alexis nodded. "I don’t think that the succession will take long. There are many wise men in this room, and I am quite certain that they will see sense.
Well, most of them. I will have someone look into who tried to poison us today. Perhaps a formal duel will remind them to behave."
Behind them, Prince Kaizon scoffed.
"And what if the person you find is someone of rank?" He asked, turning his chair to face the Princess.
Princess Alexis smiled serenely at him. "I believe that recent events have proven that Kings and Barons both fall just as easily in a duel. Even if it is someone of higher Rank, we won’t shy away from holding them culpable for the attempted assassination of visiting dignitaries under a diplomatic flag."
The foreign Nobles at Prince Kaizon’s table looked uneasy at the comment.
The attempt on the Cygnia delegation was not exactly subtle after Dominic and Alex not only found, but loudly and publicly began to identify, the poisons placed in multiple drinks on the tray brought to them.
They hadn’t taken any action yet, but it was only a matter of time before they did, and both men had reputations within Dagos which few would want to challenge.
Prince Kaizon slammed his hands on the table. "You think that you can just waltz in here and treat a Prince of Dagos any way that you please?"
Princess Alexis dabbed at her mouth with a napkin before answering. "Prince Kaizon, might I remind you that we have more artillery deployed around the city than you have adult males left within the walls?
It would behoove you to keep that temper of yours in check, and count yourself lucky that we have not deigned to stoop to your level. But don’t think that we won’t if it becomes necessary.
Even if we have to eliminate seven generations of the families of every Dagos Noble that wishes to continue hostilities against Cygnia, we will."
Prince Kaizon leapt to his feet, and Dominic stood to meet him, placing himself between the Princess and the Dagos Prince.
"Your Highness, if you value your good health, I recommend that you return to your dinner." Dominic insisted.
The room was full of hushed murmurs as the Cygnia Advisor openly insulted and threatened one of the leading candidates for next King of Dagos.
"I’m of half a mind to..." The Prince began.
"And if you were of more than half a mind, you would be sitting right now." Dominic retorted.
Two Noblemen came running from another table and grabbed the Prince by the shoulders to lead him out of the room before he could say anything that he couldn’t take back.
"My apologies for the interruption. Please, continue your dinner conversations." Dominic informed the room with a polite nod.
Then he returned to his seat, where the Dagos Generals sat silently, trying to decide just how serious the Dragonkin was about his challenge.
In their minds, there had still been a real chance that the Prince would win the popular support of the majority of the Dagos Nobles, and the throne. But with today’s humiliation, many would turn on him.
Followed by the revelation that Cygnia had huge amounts of artillery around the city, waiting to deploy, and it was becoming clear to even the most patriotic of Generals that the war was already lost.
The Coronation was a mere formality to decide what the next generation looked like.
General Wigin sighed. "The Prince has always had a short temper. A keen mind, but the moment that he gets upset, that all goes out the window."
Dominic nodded. "He drew a blade in the Cygnia throne room as well. Only the King’s mercy let him leave alive, but it seems he took that as a sign that he could do anything that he wanted."
Both Generals shook their heads in dismay.
The Prince had built a lot of support over the years, but now he was cracking under pressure. If they were going to make him King to keep the Army in control of the nation, they were going to have to bring him back in line.