Tino's head snapped to the King, "Did you say...?"

The tall brutish party crasher stopped right in front of Tino, "Indeed he did, my name is Ivan, or as many of you call me, Ivan the terrible." His voice was smooth like silk, but there was something sinister to it, like venom.

"You are the one that cursed King Berwald then?!" Tino said and prepared to charge the man.

Berwald stopped him though and swallowed hard, "Why did you come here?" His voice was deep like thunder and dangerous like lightening.

Tino noticed with a frown that Berwald had placed himself between the sorcerer and the knight.

From the way Ivan studied Tino, it seemed he had notice too.

Suddenly the sorcerer was behind them. Tino spun and brandished his sword, only to have it knocked away by strong magic.

Tino frowned up at the man, who studied him like a science experiment.

Suddenly Berwald filled Tino vision, and with a feral growl he placed the knight fully behind him and even pushed him away a few steps. "You have yet to answer my question! What are you doing here?"

Ivan chose to ignore the King, instead he burst out laughing, "Oh this is rich, you the feared King, in Love? Oh, god! What a dilemma."

Tino studied the man, Ivan the terrible seemed quite unafraid that he was surrounded by guards, not to mention the strong Kings that were poised for battle.

Suddenly Ivan was directly in front of Berwald, their noses only inches apart.

Alfred and the other Kings grew closer, but dared not move any more.

The two tall men gazed at each other, one filled with hate, the other filled with amusement.

"Can you feel it?" Ivan asked quietly, "Can you feel his fear?" The sorcerer began circling the King, like a shark would with its prey. "How does it feel to know that he will never return your love?" Berwald's teeth gritted and his fists clenched, but he held himself back. "To know that you will never be loved," this was said from behind. The Sorcerer's breath brushed the back of the King's neck, making the hair stand on end.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Berwald spat.

Ivan giggled, "Oh, but I do," he pulled away.

"Get out," Berwald's thunderous voice roared.

"We'll see, I shall prove it too you," Ivan laughed then paused, almost in thought, "You know, I said much the same thing to your father when I cursed you." He stepped closer this time and Berwald swallowed heavily, "How did it feel... to know your own parents feared you." He took a step back, "They feared you more than me," another step back, "More than death!"

He clapped his hands and in a burst of purple and red smoke he was gone.

The dark aura that hung over the room disappeared, though no one spoke.

Tino stood on the edge of the crowd and watched as the sole man standing in the middle of the room, seemed to crumple before his eyes.

A hand came up to his face, as if to hid it from the world, and the King's broad shoulders dropped.

There was a moment of absolute silence, broken when Berwald took in a ragged breath. He squared his shoulders and turned to face the crowd.

"I regret to say, that the ball will be ending sooner than anticipated," his voice, like his expression was carefully neutral, "I thank all of you for coming and hope that you had a good time. Please excuse me," he said and walked away from them and out the door. His stride was calm but wide, showing his haste to leave.

Tino snapped out of his shock and hurriedly followed after his king.

No one moved, no one spoke.

"Ludwig, Will his Majesty be alright," Feliciano asked, breaking the silence.

King ludwig shook his head and turned to Alfred. The knight and head of the army stood, his sword still raised and his eyes ablaze with fury.

"How did this happen?" Ludwig asked him.

Alfred shook his head and sheathed his sword, "I don't know, but I intend to find out," he called his head knight walked off.

Lukas quickly took command as everyone began to recover from their shock, "Again, I thank you all for coming. Now, If you would please go to the main doors and you will be escorted out."

As everyone began leaving he ran to his own chambers. He opened one of his books and began reading. He had feared this would happen, so he had placed some of his own spells and barriers, but somehow they had been broken.

Ivan the terrible was a very powerful wizard indeed.

/?/

Tino went into the room, without hesitation and stopped dead in his tracks. The normally stoic King, his eyes revealing nothing of his inner thoughts, sat upon his floor. His head was bowed in his hands and his shoulders shook uncontrollably.

Tino ran to him and enveloped him in a hug. The King turned to him and sobbed into his chest. Tino ran a hand through his hair and down his back, making a soft sound as he did so.

"I-I d'n't 'nderst'nd why he w's here?" He sobbed, his speech more broken than usual.

"I don't know, but you handled it very well," Tino said,his voice a soothing lull.

"This w's a terr'ble 'dea!" Berwald moaned in misery. "I n'ver shoulda had this ball!"

Tino sat back and sighed, "I'm so sorry, Berwald," he said, his voice was only a slight whisper.

Berwald seemed to be collecting himself. He whipped his tears and faced Tino finally and took the young knight's breath away. Berwald's eyes practically glowed when rimmed by the red from his crying.

Tino reached up and cupped his King's cheek. Gently he leaned up and kissed Berwald.

The king melted into the kiss, with an appreciative sigh. "Y-You're not 'fraid of me are ya?" Berwald whispered to him, his voice awash with hope.

Tino shook his head and hugged the bigger man to him. "No. Never."

/?/

"But how could he have gotten in?!" Matthaius exclaimed.

Lukas shook his head, "Ivan is an extremely powerful wizard, he could have easily broken my shielding spells."

"Maybe he didn't have to, I mean he could've just used an impersonation spell and came into the party as someone else," Alfred said knowingly.

Both turned to him, "How do you know anything about magic?" Lukas demanded.

Alfred turned red, "I have my sources."

Just then Tino joined them and Alfred was thankful for the distraction.

"How is he," The Commander of the Army asked.

Tino sighed, "He's sleeping, but he was still pretty upset, as you can understand."

The other three nodded, "King Ludwig spoke to me personally, after everyone had left," Lukas said, "He wanted to compliment Berwald on his ability to keep his head, especially with a disruption like that. He also wanted to ask Berwald if he would visit to discuss better trading terms."

Both Tino and Alfred frowned, "I don't think that's such a good idea," Alfred said.

"Yeah, we know Ivan's out there, and his visit wasn't just for fun. Our guards won't be very effective against magic," Tino agreed.

Lukas shook his head, "I think it would be good for him, to get away."

Matthaius nodded, "I agree, he's too trapped here, he needs to get out."

Tino and Alfred both sighed and acknowledged the others as right.

"Fine, but we're both going with him," Alfred said stubbornly.

Lukas smiled faintly, "Good, you leave in three days."