GABRIELS POV,
For the last 2 days, Gabriel has been busy getting to know the city and its people. It is clear to him that there is a big difference between the poor and the rich. Unfortunately, everyone seems to be too scared to talk to him. He will have to talk to Angus tonight and figure out a strategy to learn more about what the people of Dandion actually think. He puts on some decent clothes for the dinner because Lord Midas has a dinner for the nobility of Dandion. Gabriel looks in the mirror and sighs, his eyes seem sad and not vibrant like normal. He really misses Noelle so much that it hurts.
It is hard to concentrate on his task here when all he can think of is his beautiful wife. He wants to know if she is okay and what she is doing right now. If only he could send her a mind message. Just hearing her sweet voice would already make him feel so much better. He takes another look in the mirror and sighs again, it is time to man up and focus. He straightens his posture and walks out to the dining room.
Lord Midas is sitting at the head of the table with on his left side Luna and next to her Javier, on his right side. Gabriel sits down with Julias next to him. The rest of the nobility sit on the remaining chairs. Gabriel decided to sit close to Lord Midas because he still hopes he can convince him in some way. Everyone except him and Julias looks very fancy. They are wearing silk materials with dashing colors and lots of jewelry. Luna looks lovely in a silver long dress and stars in her hair. He sees her and Julias exchange a lot of looks and smiles. Makes him happy to see Julias form a connection and he knows that Julias and Luna have spend a lot of time together the last 2 days. He hasn’t really talked much to Julias though because it seems dangerous to say anything at this place.
When everyone is seated servants come in with golden plates loaded with food. From a whole roasted pig to smoked salmon, every variation of potato you can think of and more vegetables than Gabriel has ever seen. Beautiful women wearing golden small dresses come in to pour everyone wine. A lot of the men touch the women when they walk past including Lord Midas. Gabriel feels disgusted by the lack of respect women apparently get in this sophisticated city.
Lord Midas stands up and clinks his glass to give a speech, “Welcome my dearest friends. I am delighted that you are here tonight to celebrate with us that my beautiful daughter will get married in a week. I couldn’t have wished for a better son-in-law. Huzzah to Luna and Javier.”
Gabriel feels shocked and looks at Julias while the rest of the nobility cheers. Julias his angry but not surprised expression tells him that he already knew. When the cheers have stopped Javier raises his glass and shouts, “looking forward to making lots of heirs for the Realm.” Then he leans into Luna and possessively kisses her neck while grabbing her leg roughly. Luna her body goes completely stiff, and her eyes fill with fear. Julias grabs his knife and looks like he is ready to throw it at Javier. Gabriel quickly puts Julias his arm under the table before anyone notices.
Julias looks at him with eyes filled with frustration and anger, but Gabriel just whispers, “The right moment will come, try to calm down.”
Before anything can escalate Lord Midas claps his hands and a band starts to play, and the guests dig into the food. Luckily that also means Javier backs off Luna for now. Luna hardly seems to touch her food afterward while all the men drink, laugh, and touch the women in golden dresses.
Gabriel has a hard time eating the food even though it is delicious, he just hates that he can’t help Luna or any of the other women right now. When everyone is about to start on the desserts Angus storms into the room.
Lord Midas stands up and shouts angrily, “What is the meaning of this? How dare you storm into my dinner celebration.”
Angus bows but he looks like he is full of adrenaline and speaks loudly, “I am sorry my lord, but I don’t think the news can wait. We have been receiving many alarming reports today of people disappearing and dead bodies found.”
A lot of the people gasp and look shocked, but Javier just asks, “Who are the missing people? Are they important?”
Angus seems annoyed by the question and grunts, “People from the working class sir.”
After that, the whole room seems to have lost interest and Gabriel swears he sees a small smile on Javier’s face. Lord Midas waves Angus away, “I will deal with it tomorrow, now go.”
Angus walks out angry but gives Gabriel a look and points his head in the direction of the corridor before leaving. Lord Midas claps his hands joyfully, “Come on people let’s go to the entertainment room. Our lovely ladies will dance for us and there will be whiskey.”
In the tumult of everyone leaving Gabriel sneaks out unnoticed and heads to the corridor. In the dark Angus is waiting for him. He whispers, “Meet me at the Inn at midnight.”
Then he walks away and Gabriels decides this is a good moment to do some research in the castle now that everyone is occupied. He managed to find out earlier where Javier’s room is located from the kitchen staff. There won’t be a better moment to go snooping in there than this. He walks swiftly without sound and tries to stay in the shadows as much as possible. The door to Javier’s room is of course locked but Gabriel came prepared with one of his famous bobby pins. It takes him a few minutes to open the door. He opens it softly and quickly steps inside. The room is filled with the most expensive furniture and materials. In the closet, he finds a lot of expensive clothes and jewelry but nothing else. He tries to not leave any traces while looking through the whole room. One of the floor planks is loose and Gabriel expects to find something there. He does find something but not what he is looking for. The space is filled with knives, handcuffs, and other torture objects, some even have blood on them. Gabriel quickly puts the plank back feeling even more disgusted by Javier than he already was.
He sighs and sits down on the floor because he looked through everything. He stands up to go to the bathroom to drink some water when he notices one of the tiles seems a bit loose. He takes the tile out and inside the dark small space, there is a piece of paper. His heart starts to beat because he feels like this is what he was looking for. He unfolds the paper and reads, “In this binding agreement is stated that Javier Bustamante, Midas Monett, Luna Monett, and 100 chosen nobilities will not be harmed and will be allowed to continue their lives and business in Dandion. In return, they will not act when The King of all the Realms Hades will do as he pleases with the rest of the people residing in the Mortal Realm.” Then there is a signature in blood that says Hades, and Javier his own signature.
Gabriel gasps and feels his breathing quicken; it is worse than he thought. Hearing that people are already disappearing means he has no time to lose. He puts the paper in his pocket and makes sure he leaves no traces before getting the hell out of there.