The Misplaced Prince[COMPLETE]

Lion's den

His steps faltered the moment he entered inside.

The sound inside disappeared as if sucked by a giant creature. Thousands of eyes fell to him, it seemed, with eager surprise, judgement, expectation...

They all looked, as if they knew exactly who he was and at the same time craved to know who he had become, their necks straining with curiosity.

It was a huge contained amphitheater, and he was right in the center, displayed to everyone's advantage. A pair of men, who had apparently been fighting a few minutes back for the crowd's enjoyment pounded away unconcerned, even as the attention of the mass diverted one by one completely to rest on Joshua.

Joshua felt a squeeze at his shoulder, but when he turned, Shrader was walking away, his shoulders thrown back with command as he approached the line of fighters that Joshua hadn't noticed by the doorway.

Joshua turned back to the crowd and scanned it quickly. It would be impossible to pick out Kasey from the crowd, if indeed she were in there. The damned Knight had tricked him. His eyes fell to the far right of the amphitheater where a stage had been placed, separate from the crowd, holding soldiers surrounding dressed officials that sat at a step lower to an enormous throne. It held the man Joshua had seen last on a similar throne--a handsome dark haired, commanding form of a man, who was watching Joshua with keen blue eyes that seared across the room.

His grandfather?

His insides rebelled against the thought, his reality since childhood thrown into question. This was absurd. But the longer he stared at the man, the more it sank in that the man's interest in him felt wholly different from that of the rest of the crowd. And if this was his grandfather--and if he allowed his mind to accept this new reality--then this was also the man who had separated him from his mother and flung him to a far away land.

Joshua's eyes slowly narrowed, fixed defiantly at the man.

The crowd seemed to come alive, shifting in excitement at the display of his ire. There were nudges in the crowd, and smiles seemed to be splitting everyone's faces. Joshua glanced back at them, and the crowd seemed to freeze once more, as if stilled in the surreal moment of being subjected to his gaze, watching him fixedly.

Years of training at the hand of his brother--the man who he had believed was his brother--and the Earl's wife caused Joshua to assimilate his most haughty look under the crowds attention. Everyone seemed to hold their breaths. Keeping his face calm, aloof, he took a step forward.

The crowed burst into cheers. The sound was so deafening, Joshua almost faltered. They were hollering at him, yelling, and once his ears stopped ringing he realized what it was.

They were claiming him their Prince.

He scowled.

That seemed to excite them even more, and they yelled themselves hoarse, stomping their feet and throwing up their fists, their faces screwed up in passion.

Joshua glanced towards the throne. The King's eyes gleamed with pleasure on an otherwise impassive face, and when Joshua gave him a dark look, a small smile edged up his lips.

Having had enough, Joshua turned, thinking to stalk out and find Kasey himself. He would be damned if he let the King make a display of him. If anything, the moment he had the man to himself, he would punch the bastard for what he done to Joshua and to his mother that he would never know.

Movement at the corner of his vision halted him, and he tensed for a fight, his fists coming up--the crowd seemed to go insane, seeming to egg him on--but the silhouettes coming towards him were only Dick and Tony, their faces cheerful as they broke apart from the crowd, jumped over the fence and hurried towards him. Joshua lowered his fists slowly--he had developed a friendship with them, but in this new land, he wasn't certain what to make of them.