Chapter 33: Black Lizard
Dylan opened his tent flap and was met with two pair of ferocious eyes glaring at him. Ahh right.. He remembered his friends having a crush on his fiance.
Closing the zipper, he huddled inside the small space to narrate the events but Ma immediately dialed his other friends and soon they all dragged him out.
"Was that all true?" Kyle was the first one to question.
Okay. They did realize that all of them proposing Isabella would be creepy. But they didn't expect Isabella to show such closeness with Dylan.
They felt that way because they hadn't never really seen Isabella and Dylan out of college.
Dylan sighed. "Nope. She was just bluffing... And I played along."
The boys were still a little suspicious. "Where were all this while?"
"Near the lake. We were star gazing." The boys nodded. They decided to believe their friend.
Dylan noticed they all visibly cheered up, and hence decided on finally dropping the bomb.
"I am going back tomorrow."
"Huh? Why?" Neil asked. Their trip has just started. Why did he suddenly decide to go back?
"I am getting married." Dylan replied and tried reading their expressions.
They didn't look shocked. More like unsure of what they heard. And finally George burst out laughing. Dylan pursed his lips looking at him.
"Hahahaha.. Married? Haha.. You found a bride pretty quickly huh? Haha.." He said laughing. Others too felt amused, but still waited for Dylan to explain more.
"I and Isabella are getting married."
George's laugh stopped, as if he had never laughed to begin with. This time Max spoke first.
"You mean you are getting married to someone and Isabella is getting married to someone else?" Max asked carefully.
His thought process was, they would have a chance to crash Isabella's wedding as long as the groom is not Dylan.
Dylan rolled eyes. "I am marrying Isabella in a week."
Silence...
Silence..
Silence..
Silence...
"So you decided to be the traitor." Liam mumbled as he glared at Dylan. They were right. Dylan was the silent killer in the group.
Dylan didn't know how to console their broken hearts. But he also knew that though his friends admired Isabella and developed a crush on her, it was from love.
Might be they would have a chance to develop something deeper had they got a chance, but that wasn't going to happen.
"I love her a lot guys. I really do. And I want all of you to be my witness next week."
The boys looked at him with complicated expressions. Now they were not worried about their crush anymore. They were genuinely thinking about Dylan.
"Isn't it too early. You both can wait till graduation right?" Kyle asked. George nodded his head.
"How does it matter? If we are however going to get married a few years later, why not just do it now?" Dylan presented his idea.
"A lot change in few years Dylan. What if you regret this decision later. You guys can date first, and then see if you really want to get married or not." Liam suggested.
Dylan couldn't blame them for thinking like this. Failed marriages were common now these days.
Many get divorced with in 2 years of their marriage because they found the person they once felt attracted too was not their ideal type after marriage. Or sometimes it was just passion that faded after a while.
He was also aware that things will change. But not his feelings for her.
"I know. And I don't have words to explain what I feel for her. But every time I thought of a family, it was only and only her I had in my mind. There can never be anyone else."
His friends looked at each other. Dylan never really spoke about his feelings for Isabella before. But they all knew he deeply he cared for her.
"Fine. If that is what you wish." they all relented. They were all aware that Isabella had been with Dylan for long enough to understand him inside out. There shouldn't be any major problems.
Dylan smiled gratefully at their acceptance. Soon.. soon Isabella would be his wife, and he, her husband.
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[Mythiopia]
The royal palace was busy for the past few days. The maids hurrying in the corridors. Wagons of grains transported in and out. Soldiers and Wizards training hard in the practice ground.
And it would only get more busy from now on. The ancestral festival was approaching, and many royal families and important officials would be visiting.
The festival was not held in the royal palace, but in the ancestral shrine. Even the guests were hosted there itself, allowing no one into the royal palace. But even the royal family would stay in the ancestral shrine for a while. So the arrangements should be no less than the royal palace.
Even the queen got extremely busy handling the arrangements and the kingdom affairs. It was weird because they hadn't seen their king attending the royal court for a while know. It was the queen managing everything.
While they would spot him here and there in the palace, mainly in the library, no one could guess the reason for skipping the court.
Currently, the king and the elf prince were busy translating new books in the hidden library which was not so hidden anymore.
They recently found another stack of letters in a box. Since there were many, Lawrence made Dexter learn that ancient language and help him translate the bundle.
"Did that kid go back?" Lawrence asked suddenly as he was reading the letters.
Dexter, who was seated on a nearby couch looked up at the busy kind. He understood who he was talking about.
"No your Majesty. The prince is still in the snowblood peaks. And his imposter snake in Vandrad." Dexter replied.
He knew this because he had arranged his people at all the borders of the mountains and also in Vandrad.
Lawrence simply nodded. But the king was quite surprised when he got to know that Calhoun actually managed to keep an imposter right under the beast king's nose.
The second prince did manage to catch all the rebels and deranges after quite a struggle, but the mess they had created angered and disappointed the beast king. This resulted in sending them both to conduct a secret inspection in every county and dukedom.
He must say that Calhoun got quite lucky this time since the beast king Jayen didn't himself see his importer and just sent his orders though a messenger. Had he seen that little white snake, he would have instantly know that it wasn't his eldest son.
"Your Majesty. This Sebastian in these letters seems to be a close friend to Amantha and Draphior." Dexter said as he read through the papers.
Lawrence nodded at his insight. "Hmm. And they seem to be childhood friends." The king said. The bunch of letters he translated were all filled with kid talks.
He noticed something else too. As kids, the letters were very chatty, with many spelling mistakes and strikings.
But they were all very lively, and didn't bother to use any formal language anywhere. But in many letters they would be mocking the deities in the heaven, writing about how they lost even before the fight started.
This made him wonder how could such strong personalities be completely wiped off the history.
"I noticed how Amantha keeps addressing Sebastian as black lizard."