A kingdom or this? This.

The Story of the King of Akielos and the King of Vere

Years had passed.

It had been years since the death of the Regent of Vere; it had been years since the murder of Kastor; it had been years since the union of two kingdoms –two long lost friends reunited once again- and two kings; it had been years since the King of Vere and the King of Akielos's first kiss; it had been years since they first started courting each other; it had been years since their wedding and it had been years since the birth of their child –the only heir to both thrones-.

Damen had imagined life as a king his whole life, he had imagined the way he would walk through his castle, the way he would greet his people and the way he would be seen as a king. He had yearned for it all. He had yearned for a life that never came.

He did become King, but all the scenarios his imagination had once created and longed for were long forgotten. A kingdom felt like so little compared to the knowledge that the man he loved, loved him back. That the man he loved wanted to spend the rest of his days irrevocably entangled with him, just as much as he wanted it.

He had once asked himself, many years ago, a kingdom or this?.

It had felt wrong, to even be asking that question to himself. Wrong, because his people were suffering the misleading decisions taken by an ambitious and selfish man. A man Damen had once considered his brother, a man who had admired and would have protected with his own life.

But even then, the answer had always been on the tip of his tongue, it had been a strong feeling around his lips, urging him to say the words that would have changed everything. It had been a pain, a suffering, to think of what could happen if he lost the person. Worse, if he lost both.

So it had taken them both kings some time to adjust to their new life. A life they got to share together. It had been exhilarating, terrifying and overwhelming. They were head over heels for each other, but they had been hurt so much in the past, they had hurt each other so much in the past; that the sparkling possibility and reality of their love was a fragile thing. Something that couldn't be rushed or forced. And it had been terrifying, the fearful feeling of what they might loose, of what the future would uphold for them. There had been days when all those feelings had been too much, when those feelings were eating their way through their minds and bodies, when the only thing able to calm them down was the presence of the other.

And it was exactly that realization that made them strong enough to keep going, to stand up even when the number of things they could loose what too high.

But they were worth it. Their love would always be. This.

So years had gone by, and it was all those years the proof of their hard work as an only force. Years had gone by, and the two kingdoms had intertwined each other's cultures efficiently. Years had gone by, and the mere fact of being lovers was suddenly not enough; so years had gone by, and the wedding of the century had been held. Years had gone by, and two husbands wanted to start a family, and the people wanted an heir. So years had gone by, and an heir was born.

A little boy. A boy with blonde hair and olive skin. A boy with blue eyes and a brown ring around its pupils. A boy with a mind for tricks and the perfect body for fighting. A boy who grew up loved by his parents. A boy who grew up listening about his uncle, whom he had been named after. A boy named Auguste, future king of Vere and Akielos.