The two cousins stood and glared at each other in silence, the king smirked at his cousin further annoying the youngster.
"Your Majesty" Stephen bowed and greeted the king.
"No need for formalities Steph, we are family" The king said in a sickeningly sweet tone.
"Dear cousin since we 'are' family as you have said, can I have my paper back" Stephen said through gritted teeth.
"What paper?" Gavriel feigned ignorance. "Oh this you mean" he pointed at the paper he was holding.
"Yes, please that one". Stephen didn't care if he had to plead to get that paper back. It was the only reason he had agreed to attend the ball which was the least of his interests.
"Okay, as you are truly family that I so much treasure l will give to you. After you answer my only question, no lies 'little brother' " Gavriel drawled.
Stephen already expecting this, he nodded.
"Why go through such trouble to simply hide a paper". Gavriel asked playfully
"I bought it from a certain merchant who said it can turn into something of value to whoever holds it". Stephen explained vaguely.
"A piece of paper?" Gavriel asked again twirling the small paper between his fingers.
"I believe I just answered your 'only question' your Majesty". Stephen quoted Gavriel's previous words
Softly chuckling, Gavriel walked to his cousin and handed him the paper. "Lunch is in a few minutes Steph, we should dine as a family" Gavriel uttered while walking away.
Opening the small paper, Stephen looked at the black line that had elongated since the last time he looked at it.
Deciding to put the paper back under the frame, he walked to the dining hall.
"Matt didn't tell me that the ornaments arrived early" Gavriel's deep voice rang across the room.
Roselinda and her daughters who were already seated at the dining table looked up to see the king leisurely walking down the stairs.
"Your Majesty" the three women stood up and bowed to greet the young sovereign.
He smirked looking at how the older woman bowed so little. "What are the formalities for loves, we are family. Such behavior wounds me" Gavriel touched his heart pretending to feel aggrieved.
'Because I wouldn't want to give you any reason to have our heads' Roselinda thought. Smiling lightly she said "You are the king first, dear nephew... we had to address you accordingly".
"Yes I am, aren't I" Gavriel replied to his aunt, which he knew pained her to acknowledge.
"Dear cousin, what ornaments arrived early" Stacey asked curiously.
Smirking he ignored his slow cousin's brain and went on to say, "I see Caroline must be your least favourite, Auntie".
"What do you mean by that, Gavriel?" Roselinda asked through her gritted teeth already annoyed by him calling them ornaments.
"Well when you two were playing dress up, you forgot to invite her" he said perplexed.
"Why don't you want to look like an ornament, dear cousin?" He asked Caroline.
Fighting back her laughter, Caroline said instead "The decorations for the ball look promising, cousin". She carefully diverted the conversation.
The mother and daughter sat to the left fuming at Gavriel's comment. "Yes, Matt is trying his best" the king said uninterested.
"Is the Duke not coming, Auntie" Gavriel went back to poking the older vampire.
"He will come the night of the ball, he is still finishing some matters" Roselinda answered.
"Good, it's been long since we last saw each other, I hope he hastens whatever matters he is handling, and you know we wouldn't want anyone questioning why the Duke and Duchess decided to travel separately" Gavriel said adorning a sinister smile.
"We wanted to travel early, so we can help out where help is needed". Roselinda quickly defended bowling her fingers into a fist under the table knowing what 'the brat' insinuated.
"Well that's helpful, you know the maids have been having trouble reaching the top of the columns to hang up the flowered banners". Gavriel drawled with a light smirk
'Did he just insinuate that we do a servant's work' Roselinda's fist tightened.
"Hahaha" Gavriel laughed.
"I was just humoring you Auntie, you do look alittle pale do you need a glass of water or rather blood" He asked feigning concern.
Looking among the maids present, he pointed to one on his left. "You come" he called.
The innocent maid obeyed and walked towards the king, "There you go Auntie, drink until you feel better" he referred to the maid.
"What is the meaning of this, Gavriel?" Roselinda asked her nephew trying to contain her anger.
" What is wrong Auntie, you look pale am trying to take care of you as my guest go on don't be shy. The little darling here doesn't mind" He said motioning to the terrified maid.
"Gavriel you know I cannot drink from her". Roselinda said almost snapping at the lunatic king.
"But I heard that you prefer 'drinking' like that, were the rumors perhaps misleading, or perhaps do you prefer a 'HE' " Gavriel asked feigning ignorance again. And he saw the woman's eyes widen slightly.
"Yes the rumors were wrong" Roselinda said trying to keep calm at all her nephew's taunting.
The door to the dining hall opened and several maids led by the headmaid started pouring in carrying various dishes to serve the royalty seated at the long table.
Caroline sighed in relief as the tension in the room was starting to get suffocating.
Just in time, Stephen also arrived at the table and sat beside his older sister.
Placing several dishes at the table, the maidservants scattered leaving the royals to themselves with a number of servants standing nearby to assist them whenever called upon.
"Did you see what you wanted, Steph" Gavriel asked breaking the silence.
"Yes I did" Stephen replied with a blank look.
"What were you looking for ?" Stacey asked her brother.
" Oh he didn't tell you?" Gavriel asked. "I think our little brother over there might be interested in ancient artifacts".
The three ladies glanced at Stephen in question as they had never heard of it.
"Well I did find him, looking at this interesting portrait of our great grandfather painted using dragon ash, and he seemed rather deeply intrigued" Gavriel chimed in.
The three women turned confused as they wondered how the king came to such a conclusion by Stephen simply looking at the portrait.
Stephen glared at his cousin, knowing what Gavriel as trying to do. "I found it interesting that Great grandfather actually slayed a dragon".
"Did you now" Gavriel drawled with a smile on his face.