A/N: Sweethearts, your response has once again been positively phenomenal! It really means a lot to me, and please keep it coming, I adore hearing your feedback. Sorry for the late post, I've tried to make it up for it with a longer more intense chapter!

5

After that fateful night whispers descended and swept through the castle like wildfire.

"I heard that Lord Kurt has insulted the King and refuses to leave."

"No, I don't believe that. I heard that the King suggested to Lord Kurt that he should leave as Kurt has taken a secret lover."

"Is it not the king who has a secret lover, but Lord Kurt discovered them together and now wishes to leave?"

"No, no, it is merely that the King disapproves of Lord Kurt's latest scheme in the search for his spouse."

"No you're utterly mistaken, Lord Kurt has merely become frustrated with the workload and refuses to speak to the King until he becomes more reasonable."

In that vague and contradictory manner the rumours flowed, some more discreet than the above, and some more vulgar and ludicrous. Few contained any grains of truth. And although no one in the castle knew with certainty what exactly the truth was, they were all well aware of what had prompted the rumours.

The morning after Sam had talked to Kurt, the King and Lord Kurt did not breakfast together. That was not entirely unusual in itself – occasionally one of them missed breakfast for unobjectionable reasons. But when the King did not speak to Kurt for the remainder of the day, even while they were seated in the same room, and Kurt pointedly looked away from his King, it raised some questions. These questions grew in volume when they did not wish each other good night, or give any other salutation for that matter. The following day, both men repeated the new ritual.

Although no one suspected the depth of feeling and love between Kurt and Blaine, they did know that a great friendship was now in crisis. But none could think of a way to help or find out what was truly happening. The King was unapproachable on his own personal matters at the best of times, and he was far too angry looking now for anyone to dare try. And Lord Kurt looked – well, at times he looked mournful and sad when he thought no one was looking, but the rest of the time he assumed a bland disinterestedness that was impenetrable. This behaviour continued for a week, with neither Blaine nor Kurt speaking a word to each other except at council meetings, where they were surrounded by others in a professional setting. And so the rumours spread and continued.

Of course what was really taking place was another catastrophic misunderstanding, feeding in from the previous one. Kurt, who had yet to speak to Blaine about what Sam had revealed, had come down to breakfast as usual on the morning the estrangement began, only to find that the King was not there. When he finally saw him that day, Blaine barely spared him a glance. Kurt came to the conclusion that Blaine was angry and upset at what Sam had revealed; the King was disgusted by Kurt's feelings.

And Kurt felt betrayed. He had thought that the King would be willing, eager even, to talk things through. Surely he would not cut someone out of his life merely because they had stronger feelings than they let on? But with each passing morning that Blaine did not deign to join him for breakfast, Kurt realized that Blaine could no longer consider him a friend. Kurt became angry for allowing himself to fall for a King, and was utterly devastated when he reflected that his relationship with Blaine was probably over forever. He began to make preparations to leave the castle as soon as possible, planning to depart one evening when he would not be missed. He could not remain there any longer.

And Blaine? Blaine was angry too. He was angry with himself for not bothering to confront Kurt long before this, for being oblivious and missing his chance. But he was also angry with others. He was furious with Sam for planning to take Kurt away, and he was furious with both for not bothering to tell him their plan to leave the castle. It was this secrecy that he hated the most. And deep underneath his pain, confusion and hurt fueled his anger and prevented him from seeing his own misunderstanding.

Avoiding each other took effort and energy. They were so used to each other's company that it was unusual to be without it. They only spoke for the first time two days after the overheard conversation in a council meeting. Kurt frostily suggested hosting another ball to narrow down Blaine's list of potential spouses, and Blaine just as coolly gave the go ahead. For the remainder of the week Kurt busied himself in preparations, and he was too swamped with work to do anything but organize the ball and his own secret departure.

The ball was a much smaller affair this time. Almost everyone in the kingdom had been to at least one of the two previous events, and the guest list had been narrowed down substantially. Blaine was almost tempted to call the whole thing off but he eventually decided to go through with it. He must marry for the sake of the kingdom, and if he couldn't have Kurt then he would have to try and find someone else to love, as impossible as that sounded. He wouldn't settle, but he wouldn't call of the search just yet, because then he would have to reveal his situation to his subjects. Needless to say Blaine wasn't holding out much hope by the time the day of the ball arrived.

Kurt did not attend, as was his usual custom. Blaine had not ordered him to go, which was the only reason he had attended the previous events. When Blaine entered the ballroom that evening, he told himself that he had decidedly not noticed Kurt's absence; he hadn't even looked around the room for him once when he first arrived. Blaine then realized that he wasn't a very good liar.

He did not enjoy the evening. He couldn't concentrate on his partners, always comparing them to Kurt and then feeling bitter as he thought of the other man. Half way through the evening he encountered Lord Sam for the first time since the revelation. They met in a secluded part of the ballroom during a brief interlude where the King was taking a few moments to himself. At first Blaine forgot his anger in his surprise at seeing the other man, and then he remembered himself.

"Lord Sam," he acknowledged stiffly.

"Sire," Sam bowed, "I trust you are enjoying your evening?"

"Tolerably well, I thank you. Though perhaps I may end the evening soon before it begins to drag."

"Sire, you must not!" A panicked tone was evident in Sam's voice that Blaine had never heard before.

"I beg your pardon?"

"That is – I did not mean – I -"

"Lord Sam, it rather sounded like you were giving me an order. Would you care to explain yourself?" Blaine's tone dripped ice.

"I merely meant that it would be a shame to end the evening so early," Sam replied lamely.

"I have a suspicion that you are not being entirely truthful with me, Lord Sam. Please join me outside for a moment."

Blaine led them out to the terrace overlooking the lake where he had spoken to Kurt about Karofsky at the previous ball. The memory made Blaine wince; another wasted chance. He turned to Sam, who looked rather pale, and spoke again with more anger now that they were alone. "Now, tell me the truth."

"I did not mean to order you Sire, it was not intended –"

"No," Blaine interrupted, "I do not mean about just now, although we will return to that. When were you going to tell me the truth about you and Kurt? I was in no humour to question you before this, but I will take the opportunity now it is presented to me."

Sam's face was the picture of confusion, and Blaine found himself even angrier with Sam's continued deception. "Sire, I do not understand, the truth about what?"

"Oh do not play dumb with me, I will not stand for it! Leave off the deception! Explain to me why the two of you think it acceptable to pretend to the whole castle that everything is well, but you intend to leave and refuse to inform anyone."

"Wh-"

"Perhaps if you had the courage to tell me I could be more lenient, but the two of you are in my employ and I will not stand for my own subjects to hide such plans and purposefully deceive me!"

"Sire, what plans? I am not leaving this castle."

"Do not lie to me!" Blaine shouted, anger bubbling over. "I am sick of it! First you and Kurt lie about his feelings, then you lie to me about the nature of your relationship! When will this end? I heard you," he continued, a bit more subdued and slowly descending in volume, "I heard you ask him to leave with you, so that he could escape. Do not deny it."

"My lord," Sam said cautiously, "You were listening to the conversation between myself and Kurt in his bedchamber? But if you think that we are leaving the castle together, might I suggest that you didn't hear the entire conversation?"

Blaine laughed, a cold one that was utterly devoid of humour. "I saw him kiss you. That was enough."

"No Sire!" Sam exclaimed, "you have it entirely wrong! Kurt kissed me as an expression of friendship, of forgiveness and thanks. Nothing more. Kurt turned down my offer."

Now it was Blaine's turn to feel confused. "What?"

"After he kissed me he told me that he could never be with another except you. He loves you. We are not leaving together."

"But then why has he not spoken to me?"

"Sire, he thinks that it is you who has not spoken to him. He thought that you were disgusted when you found out about his affection and now are trying to avoid him. He didn't feel like trying to force a conversation when he is rather afraid to address the issue himself."

Blaine sighed and placed his head in his hands. "Oh Sam. I have made another mess of things, haven't I?"

Sam did not reply.

"Let us – let us return to the ball. I cannot neglect my guests any longer, and I cannot reflect on Kurt at this moment without driving myself mad first because I am so surrounding by people."

"Perhaps we should go inside," replied Sam.

Blaine was about to go back inside when he was struck with another question. "Why was it that you were so anxious to not end the ball soon? It did not seem like you were entirely enjoying yourself either."

Sam shrugged his shoulders. "I do not know Sire. It seemed like the right thing to say."

Blaine scrutinized Sam before saying, "Lord Sam, you are lying to me again."

"No Sire – I. Let us return inside."

Blaine's curiousity was now thoroughly aroused and he tried to think of an explanation for Sam's strange behaviour. He was struck with another wild though, one that he didn't really believe until he voiced it. "It isn't something to do with Kurt, is it?"

Sam's guilty countenance immediately told him all he needed to know.

"Sam, what is happening? Why is…" And then Blaine understood and said slowly, "You said that you and Kurt were not leaving together. But you never said if Kurt was going to leave alone."

Sam said nothing and looked away from Blaine, seemingly anxious.

"Is Kurt planning to leave tonight while we are all supposed to be dancing and being merry? I order you to answer me." Blaine's voice choked when he voiced the command.

Sam looked close to tears. "I – yes Sire. Kurt intends to leave tonight when no one will miss his absence. He planned it all this week."

"Has he already gone?" Blaine asked urgently.

"I do not know Sire."

"Sam!"

"I do not know, I swear! He did not tell me the whole plan in case you questioned me!"

Blaine looked at him desperately for another moment, before deciding to run to the front entrance of the castle and from there to Kurt's room. He had never moved so swiftly, urgency making his feet fly across the loose gravel. Twice he nearly lost his footing, only regaining his balance at the last moment. He quickly reached the main entrance.

He was about to go inside when something caught his eye. He turned and looked down the main path that extended down to the front gate. A figure had nearly reached the other end; the slim figure of a man.

Blaine's eyes widened.

"Stop!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, almost a desperate scream wrenched out of his throat as he began to run. "Kurt, stop! Stop!"

A/N: You guys, was this okay? I was a bit worried by this chapter to be honest, I hope no one is disappointed by it. New chapter should be up in one/two weeks. This story will be over shortly (so sad right?) so I want to say thank you again to everyone for reading/alerting/reviewing. If you have particular ideas that you'd like to see in the story, maybe let me know? I can't guarantee I'll be able to incorporate them but I can certainly try and see if it works out. I've been thinking about possibly doing a sort of sequel fic to this in the same universe, it could be like a prompt fic that deals with Kurt's backstory before meeting Blaine along with stuff that happens after this story ends? Would anyone be down with that?

In any case, see you next time!