A/N: I can't believe I did it again. I can't believe I took so long to update. So much has happened in my life since I last sat down to write, but one thing that didn't change is that I never forgot about this story. I just knew that I needed one more chapter before I got to where I really wanted to go and it just took me five months to figure out just what this chapter needed to be about. Talk about writer's block!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter eight: Tortall Princess, Jamie Lynn, On Top of Cloud 9, native wildmage, jasmineb, fanfictionfantom, kakima opalek, kokari, nutz nina, morwen 12, Catri Howlman-Carthaki spy.

Chapter 9: Summons

King Jonathon waived the palace page away and tucked the latest news form his ambassador in Tyra into his breast pocket. He wanted to rip open the carefully sealed note right then, but somehow he just knew that doing so would be considered incredibly uncouth in the middle of a banquet. So instead he kept his eyes on the crowd filling the tables and continued to eat the meal that had been placed in front of him (although it all seemed to taste like sawdust). Nothing could appear out of ordinary, not with the country teetering so close to war. It seemed that he had exhausted all of the possible ways to avoid the costly endeavor; Tyra just did not want to budge from their plans of gaining half of Tortall's lands.

He had not even realized that his thoughts had strayed so far into the dark realm of the looming war until a soft hand encased his. Looking over into his wife's warm eyes he brought her hand up to his lips and wished that all of eternity could be filled with moments like this, the simple one's shared between a man and a woman in love, the little moments when there were no such things as politics and war.

Finally he was able to excuse himself to use the privy during a lull in the festivities of the night. Slipping into the small room he reached into his pocket and pulled out the missive. Before he unfolded it he conjured a mage light to see by and then took a deep breath. This one letter held the fate of the entire country. Carefully he slit the seal and read the words carefully scribed onto the paper. What it said stopped his mind, he couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. Once more he read each line, and then had to do it again.

He read the missive ten times before he slammed his fist against the wall and left for his rooms, completely forgetting about the banquet taking place down the hall. His future looked decidedly too grim.

It took Kel two days before she worked up the courage to even be in the same room as Dom again. She still had not finished sorting out her feeling, but had a pretty good idea of how strong they were towards the man, but to be fair she knew she could not leave him in misery any longer and possibly ruin any chance for future happiness with him. So she finally gathered her courage and sat next to him during lunch.

Neither of them said a word. They just did not know were to start.

Finally, when they were clearing up their trays Neal decided to put a stop to it. He just dropped his tray in the middle of the room and looked at Kel. She reacted exactly how he expected her to. "Neal! What was that for! Clean that mess up right now, you better not leave a drop of it for the servants. Its not part of their job description to clean up after such a clumsy knight."

"Actually Kel that is their job description. But besides that I'm just glad to hear that you still have your voice. From the way you behaved throughout lunch I was beginning to fear you lost it. Now the only question is if Domitan still has his vocal chords since he was just as quiet as you."

Instead of any words in response to Neal's outburst, Dom just waited for his cousin to kneel down to pick up his tray and then shoved his face into the mashed potatoes that were splattered across the floor. When the young knight looked up the entire mess hall pealed with laughter, for he had what appeared to be a potato horn growing out of the middle of his forehead.

Before Neal had the chance to recover from the indignity of it all, Dom had grabbed Kel's hand and was pulling her out of the room. Neither of them noticed the fact that Neal was not chasing after them until they made it to the Own's stable. Turning a corner into an empty stall they collapsed onto the straw-strewn floor in fits of laughter. Not just over the look on Neal's potato covered face, but also because of relief. They were back together and everything messy was behind them. When Kel had finally recovered from the laughing, she turned to Dom and uttered three simple words, "I love you."

Before Dom had a chance to react to her statement or she had a chance to realize what it all meant for them to be in love with one another, a palace servant interrupted them. Kel took the note with her name on it and broke the seal as the servant walked away. "What does it say?"

"It's a summon to see the king and his advisors tomorrow at third bell."

I hope you enjoyed, please review!

SW