Here it is! Sequel to Once Upon A Dream! Unfortunately this story can't be read as an independent story since it's literally a follow up of its previous installment so if you're reading this and you haven't read OUAD then go back to my profile and read the story from the beginning.
Anyway, like I promised at the end of OUAD this story takes place five years later. So Princes Kurt and Blaine are back in Bellezza after finishing their studies at the University of Padavia. Their somehow perfect world turns upside down when they are forced to attend Remora's annual horse races. Since this story (at least at the beginning) takes place in a different city you'll see a lot of description about not only the city's skyline, but Remorans' bizarre traditions and you'll learn a lot more about the Smythe's and their family. Most of the characters that appeared in OUAD are back in this story, some with more important roles than others, but do not worry, you'll get to see what happened to all of them. Also, we have new original characters plus a new itinerante in town to spice a bit this story. Btw, for the new itinerante I decided to bring a familiar character that in my opinion could have been a great addition to the show if he had stayed for more episodes.
Buckle up and join me on this ride. I've been writing all these weeks and so far the story has around 20 chapters though I have the feeling that it's going to have more. Anyway, like I did with OUAD I will be doing multi-chaptered updates and hopefully that will push me to finish the story quickly. I really hope you like it and please don't forget to comment and let me know what you guys think! I love to read all your opinions! (More notes at the end of CH3)
Disclaimer: I do not own Kurt, Blaine or any of the characters mentioned in this story. Like its previous installment this story was based on the parallel world used in the book series, Stravaganza by Mary Hoffman.
Prologue
Two old men were seated in front of a wooden table. One of them was shuffling a deck of cards and placing them one by one on the table above a black silk. The other one had his eyes fixed on a set of three mirrors that hung on the wall beside him.
"I'm not liking this reading." The first man, who wore dark velvet robes, said.
"What?" The other man replied, distractedly. He had been looking at a scene in the mirrors. A young man was resting next to a beautiful gray mare. His brown hair was turning blond with all the straw-dust he had managed to accumulate in these past days. The young man, Carlo, had hardly left the stables. His favorite mare, Starlight, was heavy with foal and until she gave birth, his place was with her. He even slept in the straw in the empty stall beside her.
"Is everything okay?" The first man asked.
The other man, who wore colorful red and yellow robes, nodded. "I just think the time is near." He said, pointing to the first mirror. "See?"
The first man stopped what he was doing for a minute and looked at the mirror. The young man was grooming the gray mare, he seemed to be whistling softly to her between his teeth. The mare's mane was silver in the twilight and, as the young man brushed it, she huffed at him through her nostrils and stirred restlessly in her stall.
"She's restless." The man pointed out. "Definitely not long now, my friend."
"I know...what were you saying?"
"I don't like what my cards are revealing. The lecture is not bad, I've seen worse, but definitely the times are changing...see?" He pointed to the Wheel of Fortune. "The ruota della fortuna next to the Moving Stars."
"You should know better by now, Ray." The man said, quickly scanning the arrangement. "Fortune telling is not always an exact science."
"Is it not?" Ray asked back. "If I recall correctly the cards have saved you once or twice in the past years, my dear Cesare."
"True, but I don't trust them completely. Much less when the Stellata is so near. The future is always uncertain during this part of the year. Yesterday I was-" He was saying, but a disturbance in the scene he had been paying close attention to, distracted him. "It's time." He added, standing up.
Ray looked at the mirror and nodded. The young man was now asleep next to the mare unaware of what was happening, but all the signs were there. The other horses were unsettled in the Ram's stables—a clear signal that a time for a newborn was near. Even a curious gray cat was making her delicate way across to where the young man was sleeping.
The two men left the house in complete silence and walked the few steps that separated them from the stables.
Cesare, who was the Horsemaster of the Twelfth of the Ram, knew his way even in the dark, but he still grabbed a torch to light the path. They made their way to the stall, and Cesare opened the door with a soft kick, startling the young man awake.
"Father!" The young man, Carlo, exclaimed, springing lightly to his feet clearly surprised by his father's presence. He still didn't know how his father did it, but he always knew where he was needed and when.
Cesare put the torch he had brought with him into a bracket set high up in the wall so the sparks wouldn't set the straw on fire. Carlo stood there, watching at the man that had come with his father: the Royal Advisor. The Kingdom's most powerful man after the King—Signor Raymond Armati. The man was watching the scene with his piercing eyes.
Carlo had always admired his father's acquaintances. His father was a simple horsemaster, how he had managed to be friends with Bellezza's most renowned man? He had no idea, but his presence always made him nervous.
"What are you doing, Carlo?" Cesare asked, noticing that his son was frozen in place.
"Sorry." Carlo said, shaking his head and approaching the mare.
With the flickering light of the torch, father and son attended quietly to the mare, whose time had come. It was an easy delivery, not her first. But as the foal slipped out into Carlo's hands, he recoiled as if it had been burning hot.
"What is it?" Cesare and Raymond asked at the same time. The whole stable seemed to be holding its breath.
"I don't know," Carlo whispered back, "can't you feel it? Something's different about this one. When I caught it I felt a shock—like a bolt of lightning in the sky."
Cesare and Raymond shared concerned, but mostly intrigued, looks.
Starlight turned her beautiful head to lick her new foal. The filly was not just dark with the wetness of her birth, but black, black as the night outside, where the bells of the city's churches were announcing midnight. She staggered to her feet, her mouth blindly rooting for her mother's milk like any other newborn.
The stable door, left ajar by Raymond, moved in a sudden gust of wind. A shaft of moonlight fell across the stall and the three men gasped. With the silver light of the moon and the golden glow of the torch, they noticed that the foal that had just been brought into life was a creature of myth and magic.
The little long-legged filly was rapidly drying in the warm night air. Her coat was a glossy black and she was clearly going to be a first-rate racehorse, but that was not all. As she tried new muscles, gaining confidence in her spindly legs, she flexed her shoulders and spread out two small damp black wings about the size of a young swan's.
"By the lady!" Cesare and Raymond exclaimed on a sharp intake of breath, making the good fortune sign. Double tapping two fingers on their foreheads and kissing them quickly.
"It has happened! Here, in the Ram!" Cesare continued. "The winged horse has been born to us!"
Even the gray cat came over for a closer look. And Carlo was suddenly aware that every horse in the stable, even Arcangelo the horse they would be running in the Stellata this year, was awake and looking at the new foal.
The three men looked at each other. They didn't know whether to whoop for joy or burst into tears. They only knew that something magnificent had happened and whether it was for the best or not, times would definitely change.
Chapter 1
The sun began to peek through the windows of one of the rooms of the palace. The couple that was sleeping peacefully there started to stir, untangling their bodies and turning their faces to avoid the bright light. It was very early in the morning and neither of them had the intention to get up any time soon.
"Hmmm." Kurt protested. The sun was getting brighter with each passing minute. "Why did you leave the shutters open?" He complained, but Blaine, his husband, didn't reply. He was deeply asleep.
"B…" Kurt murmured again, though he knew it was pointless. His husband was a heavy sleeper; the entire Royal Guard could come in waving their weapons and blowing their trumpets, and the man would not budge.
Very reluctantly, Kurt stood up and walked to the nearest window to close the shutter, but as soon as he set his eyes on the magnificent view, he changed his mind. It had been five years since he had moved permanently to this world and the city and its beauty still managed to take his breath away. The lagoon looked extremely silent at this early hour, with its empty decks and silver crowned buildings. The commonly blue water was so still that it looked almost black, like that lake in the middle of Padavia.
Padavia was one of the twelve cities in the Anderson's Kingdom and although its beauty couldn't be compared to Bellezza's, Kurt couldn't deny that it had its own charm. During the three years he had spent there studying at the University, he had been able to see and discover a lot of beautiful places, being the Ricordi lake his favorite. He had spent almost every free afternoon he had gotten, sitting there in the shade of a tree, listening to his husband's voice as the latter read aloud the hundreds of books they had to study.
Now, they were back home and although he missed the adventures they had had in the City of Secrets, he was glad to be back. Bellezza had always been his favorite city. During these years Kurt had managed not only to learn more about this wonderful world, but to see and discover almost all its cities. He couldn't deny that every day, since the first time he had come to this world, had been like a dream come true. A dream from which he did not want to wake up.
Smiling, he walked back to their bed and lay down next to his husband. Blaine looked so young when he was asleep. Not that he was old, on the contrary, he and Kurt were still young, but they were certainly not the same kids who had met for the first time all those years ago at the Ceremonia di Sangue. They had grown together and Kurt was ready for all the adventures he was sure life had ready for them.
"Wake up, honey." Kurt whispered, leaving a kiss on Blaine's cheek, just where his long dark lashes touched his always beautiful olive skin.
"Hmmmm…" Blaine mumbled, but didn't open his eyes.
"Come on, wake up." Kurt insisted, now leaving a trail of kisses along his jaw and neck.
"No," Blaine complained, "go back to sleep."
"I can't go back to sleep, I'm already awake." Kurt said, still kiss-attacking his husband's neck. "Come on, B. Wake up."
"I'm going to file a grievance with your father." Blaine said, finally opening his hazel eyes. "When we got married, he warned me that you were not a morning person. He said, and I'm quoting, 'He's usually grumpy during the mornings, don't try to wake him up. He's not going to like it.' And ever since we started living in the same world you're always the first one up and I'm the one who doesn't like it."
"You don't like it when I do this?" Kurt teased, unbuttoning Blaine's pajamas top and kissing the exposed skin. "Or this?" He added, climbing on top of him.
"That's not what I meant." Blaine said, smiling sheepishly at his husband.
"I know what you meant, but I can't help it. I'm up with the sun." Kurt said, leaning over to continue kissing his husband's jaw. "First, because you forgot to close the shutters last night, and second, and most importantly, because I have a really good reason to wake up every day." He added, caressing Blaine's face.
"I love you." Blaine said, deeply touched by Kurt's words. "But, let's go back to sleep. Everything hurts." He complained.
"I'm glad it hurts," Kurt admitted, "because that only means that we had a great time last night."
"We did," Blaine agreed, smiling at the memory of the activities of the night before, "and I want to repeat the feat tonight, so I need to sleep." He said, closing his eyes.
"We can't go back to sleep, B." Kurt said, matter of factly. "Did you forget what day it is?"
Blaine's eyes snapped opened. He was suddenly afraid of having forgotten some special occasion. He made a mental list of important dates, but nothing relevant came to mind. Their wedding anniversary had been two weeks ago and they had celebrated it properly; their first meeting, first kiss and first time anniversaries were not in a couple of months, so he was really clueless about what day it was.
"Please tell me I'm not becoming a forgetful husband, I swear I have all our anniversaries and important days memorized by heart."
Kurt laughed. "I know, silly. It's not about us."
Blaine frowned.
"Jeff is back today!" Kurt exclaimed.
Jeff was one of Kurt and Blaine's best friends. Blaine had met him during his first sneak out of the palace when he had been only twelve years old, and although Kurt had met him just six years ago when he had first come to this world, they both loved him dearly and missed him terribly. Jeff had been away of the city completing his training as shipmaster in Classe, known as the City of Ships, due to its proximity with the most important merchant ports of the Kingdom.
"His vessel arrives today?"
Kurt nodded. "Weren't you paying attention when we visited Burlesca last week? Jeff's Nona clearly said that Jeff arrived today."
"Oh, that's right." Blaine said. "We should hurry then, but let's sleep until the servants are here. I don't want to move."
"Then you have like ten seconds...enjoy them." Kurt said, smiling playfully. No matter what his husband wanted, going back to sleep wasn't an option. They, as Princes of the Kingdom, had very busy schedules.
"What?"
"5, 4, 3, 2…" Kurt said, climbing down from Blaine and pointing to the door. In that precise moment there was a soft knock on the door.
"Good morning, Your Highnesses!" Agatha exclaimed, entering the room with Eloise following right behind her. "It's a beautiful day in the lagoon!" She said. Agatha and Eloise were both their personal serving-maids.
Kurt laughed and Blaine hid under the covers.
"We will prepare your baths and clothes for today, any attire you would prefer?" She asked. "It's a very sunny day, so maybe you would like to go out and enjoy the good weather." She added.
Agatha had always been very talkative, Eloise, on the other hand, was more reserved. In fact, the young serving-maid was already entering the attached bathroom to avoid the morning conversation.
"We are, in fact, going to town, Agatha." Blaine said, emerging from under the covers completely resigned to start the day. "So maybe prepare us some light clothes. No cloak, though. I can't stand the heat with it."
"As you order." She said, already opening the wardrobe and rummaging to get their clothes. "Also," she added, while taking out the clothes, "I thought you'd like to know that Your Highnesses, Prince Cooper and Prince Charlotte, are here, along with their little son."
"My brother is in town?" Blaine asked, excitedly. It had been a while since they had last seen Cooper. He was now living in Fortezza with his wife, Charlotte, goddaughter of Fortezza's former regent, Ludovico Ripole. They had married three years ago during the Spring and had had a son by the end of the same year—Mateo Anderson. When little Teo was born nearly two years ago, Ludovico gave Cooper full control of Fortezza naming him its new regent. Since then, Cooper had been ruling the city and helping his father get new territories without forgetting his responsibilities as Prince of the Kingdom.
"Yes, they arrived just a few hours ago. They are waiting at the dining room for you to join them for breakfast. They are staying for a couple of weeks until the sacrifici, so we settled them in their old room."
"Really!?" Kurt exclaimed excitedly. "Tell them we will join them immediately." He added. "Come on, Blaine. Let's hurry, I want to see Teo."
"Teo, Teo, Teo." Blaine pouted. "I'm starting to get jealous of that tiny human being."
"Don't be ridiculous." Kurt said, laughing at his husband. "He's a baby."
"But you love him."
"I do, as much as you love him, so don't start again." Kurt said. It was not a secret that they both had fallen in love with their little nephew the first time they had laid eyes on his tiny face, but Kurt was bewitched by him.
"Okay, okay, but I get to carry him first."
"Deal." Kurt said, locking lips with his husband and standing up from bed. The day had officially started and they had to hurry. They had a busy schedule ahead of them.
o-o-o-o-o
In the Twelfth of the Twins in Remora, Riccardo, the Horsemaster, was expecting some illustrious guests: Rinaldo and Francesco Smythe, the Reman Ambassador and the Pope of the Kingdom, both heads of the powerful Smythe family. Remora and it's Twelfths were the official center of the Smythe family.
Rinaldo, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandson of the founder of the Smythe's dynasty, had four living children—three of them sons—and was the most ambitious man in all the Kingdoms of Talia. Under his direction the Smythe family had spread their network through all the major cities in the land and now they held power in five of them, and expected to increase that number until the twelve cities of the Kingdom were under their belts.
Riccardo, the Horsemaster of the Twins, was bursting with pride the moment he saw the Smythe brothers making their ways into the stables. They were in a very good mood, so that was a good sign.
"Your Grace, Your Holiness." Riccardo said, making a bow in front of his guests. The Pope and Reman Ambassador were there to inspect the horses.
"Good morning, Riccardo." Rinaldo said. "We would like to see the horse you're running in the Stellata."
"Of course," Riccardo said, making his way to the stall where the horse was resting "this, Your Grace, Your Holiness, is the one we shall run in the Stellata. His name is Duilio ."
"A fitting name." Rinaldo said, looking at the highly-strung bay, who flared his nostrils and bucked slightly in his stall. Duilio was the Talian form of the Reman Latin Duilius meaning war.
"What's the competition this year?" Francesco asked as he stroked the horse's nose with his gloved hand and spoke soothingly to him.
"Well, Your Holiness, you know how secretive everyone is about their horses in the city." Riccardo began to say a little nervously.
Rinaldo fixed him with a cold stare. "But you're paid not just to tend horses but to find out such secrets, are you not?" He said.
"Yes, Your Grace." The Horsemaster muttered. "And I'll try my best to find out more about the other horses, but I'm sure the victory will be ours again."
"You better be right...you better be right." Rinaldo said.
o-o-o-o-o
When Kurt and Blaine made it to the dining table, they found the King and Queen fighting over who should be carrying Mateo. That always happened whenever the newest member of the family was in the palace. They all fought over him.
"I am his grandmother, I should be able to carry him whenever I wanted." Pamela was saying, trying to take Mateo from Cooper's arms.
"And I am his grandfather, I should be able to carry him whenever I wanted. Besides, I am the King." Richard was saying, knowing full well that he was, perhaps, the most important man in all Talia. "I think that gives me some kind of-"
"And what am I?" Pamela retorted. "A serving-maid? No, dear sir, I am the Queen. I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a King and just remember your father's words: 'If you want to be a King, you must first kneel before your Queen.' You would be nothing without me, I am this Kingdom's most-"
"Why don't you two stop fighting and I have Teo instead?" Blaine interfered, grabbing the little boy from his brother's arms and giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek.
"Impeccable timing, Lamb." Cooper said, smiling at Blaine and quickly greeting Kurt with a brotherly hug.
"How was your trip?" Kurt asked, now greeting Charlotte and quickly exchanging pleasantries with the King and the Queen. They kept arguing in hushed voices.
"Long." Charlotte said, she looked clearly exhausted. Having a two year old kid looked like a very demanding task.
"It wasn't that long, sweetheart." Cooper said, smiling at his wife. "You just felt it like that because Teo cried all the way here."
"You did that?" Blaine asked the little boy, who just nodded and giggled innocently, making the rest of the adults to smile in adoration.
Kurt and Blaine sat in their respective seats at the table while the servants started to bring all the silver trays with their breakfast and it was only then that Kurt noticed that there was an empty seat at the right side of the table.
"Where's Ray?" He asked his family.
"He's still in Remora dealing with certain matters of the Stellata." The King informed them.
"But he should have returned yesterday." Blaine said, putting little Teo in Kurt's arms.
"Yes, but he decided to stay with a friend of his for one more night. He sent me a note informing me about the Stellata and his sudden delay." The King shared.
"Did they finally decide on the jockey?" Kurt asked intrigued. He had never been to one of Remora's horse races, but he knew all about them.
"They did, apparently a young boy named Carlo is going to compete to run the race for the Ram."
"And the horse?" Cooper asked.
"I don't know much, Ray just said it was a very good horse named Arcangelo. He said this year the Ram has a very good chance of winning."
"When was the last time the Ram won, 10 years ago?" Blaine questioned. "I remember we weren't there, though. Wasn't that the year Cooper fell from his horse and stayed in bed for months?"
"Yes, it was that year." The Queen said. "My poor son, he was so mad about missing the race. I remember he threw a tantrum that lasted for days."
"Well, that explains Mateo's." Charlotte said.
"Like father, like son." Kurt agreed, letting Teo play with a strap from his doublet.
"Yes, yes, I was one of a kind and my son will be too." Cooper agreed. "Were any of you expecting any different?"
The whole table shook their heads and started to laugh. It was good to have the whole family together again. They saw each other frequently enough, but it wasn't the same. They missed living all together.
"And, are you planning on going?" Cooper asked once the laughter ceased.
"To the Stellata?" Blaine questioned, and Cooper just nodded.
"No." Kurt and Blaine replied at the same time, making everyone to look at them with curious eyes. They always were in sync, that wasn't unusual, but the way they both had said 'no' was what had his family wondering if there was something else behind their refusal to attend Remora's most important event.
"We've talked about this before," Kurt said as a matter of explanation, "and we agreed not to go to this year's Stellata."
"And, what about the past four years?" Cooper asked playfully.
"We decided not to attend too." Blaine said, sending his brother some killing eyes. Why was he always so curious about everything?
"But you can't keep declining the Smythe's invitations, you'll have to go eventually." The King said. "You're the Princes of this Kingdom, you both have responsibilities. As Dukes of Bellezza you should go to represent our city and show our support to the Ram."
"We know father, but maybe in some years." Blaine said. "We're just back, we don't want to leave Bellezza. This is our home."
"As you wish," The King said, firmly, "but you'll have to reconsider this decision someday."
"We will." Kurt and Blaine said in unison, but the quick look they shared among themselves said otherwise. Ever since they had gotten married it was an unspoken, yet adamant agreement between them that they would stay as far away from the Smythes as possible. They knew it was impossible not to be near them since they both belonged to the two most powerful families in the Kingdom, but Kurt and Blaine had tried to distance themselves from them. And now that they were back home they were not planning on leaving it anytime soon.
o-o-o-o-o
Sebastian was restless. He was walking around the place where the Stellata would take place while his father and uncle, Rinaldo and Francesco, visited the city. He didn't know what he was doing there. He would have much rather been in the palace continuing his studies.
If there was something Sebastian hated was to waste his precious time, especially when his father had just brought him to the official visit and left him behind. It didn't make any sense, but he had the growing feeling that his father had some plan that he wasn't sharing with him. Ever since the information he gave him all those years ago about the new Prince of the Kingdom being a itinerante had turned out to be somehow false, his father had been very cautious with him. Sebastian had the feeling that he didn't trust him anymore.
Not that he cared too much, though, when he was younger he had always cared about having his father's approval, but now that he had grown up that didn't seem like something important. In the past few years he had lost interest. He had learned the hard way that being part of one of the most important families in the Kingdoms of Talia wasn't easy. His father was at the center of so many plots and conflicts—always scheming how to get richer and more powerful. And to this point Sebastian wasn't interested in forming part of any of them. The truth was that he just wanted to be left to his books and to his own interest, like painting, and sculpture, and music; not caught in schemes for financing petty wars between city factions or forging alliances with other mercantile and princely families.
He had had enough.
But unfortunately, he was a Smythe and whether he liked it or not, his father had plans for him. It might have been different if he had been one of the older siblings, but he was one of the youngest and unfortunately, the last in line for anything. He had a younger brother, Marcus, but poor Marcus didn't really count. He had suffered a terrible accident when he was a kid that had left him useless for his father's plans, so therefore, no one ever talked about him.
And now he was anxious that his father's new plan might involve the church. Uncle Francesco would not live forever and since his father's attempts to marry him with one of the Andersons had failed, that left Sebastian available to replace his uncle as Pope at any time.
"Well, I won't do it." He whispered, kicking a rock he found in his path. "The church should be a vocation, not a political appointment. Why can't I just be left to my studies?" He wondered, but he already knew the answer to that.
All the Smythes had to work for the success of the dynasty; they all had to be prepared to marry whenever the head of the family decided they should. Their opinions and preferences didn't come into it. Receive this Princedom, marry this Prince or Princess, take an embassy to this city, be ordained—it was all the same.
Sebastian wondered if he could be the first Smythe in so many generations to say no.