The Gift of War [bxb]

My father

...

"I may die in a few months."

Ryan resisted the urge to throw up the grapes he had just consumed. He smiled tightly at his father and shook his head like it was a silly dinner joke.

"I'm serious, Ryan."

"You're not going to die, father." Ryan finalised, resisting the urge to look over at his husband for support on his statement.

The Perion crown prince, seated at the dinner table with his back stiff as a board and eyes concentrating on the foreign food in front of him, was none the wiser to the father-son's dilemna.

"Xavier will not make a good king, Ryan." You know this.

The room had been cleared out, save for the three of them, in lieu of private reunion. Two idle guards stood outside the closed doors, deaf to the world.

"He will. Trust in him." Ryan tried to soothe. "And you're not dying."

"Every person born on earth will die on it." King _ took a sip of his water. Sythians were not a fan of consuming alcohol with their food. "When I die, I want Sythia to be in responsible, worthy hands. You do understand what I'm saying?"

"I do, father." Ryan looked down at his hands. "But what you are asking of me is too steep of a price. I have already done my duty."

"But, Ryan-"

Ryan stood up abruptly, startling Nusrat out of his trance who looked at him in confusion. It only irked him further.

"No, father!" He looked at his husband and then back at the king. "Look at this!" He shouted, pulling back the loose sleeve of his tunic, revealing the burnt skin of his arm that carried the Perion insignia. "This is who I am now. Don't you see it father? I belong to him."

The acidic tone of his voice made the king flinch.

"So anything that you bestow on me goes to him! Do you see it, father? Do you understand me?"

"I..." The old man trailed off, hesitating. He coughed, looking at the silent man still sitting beside him. "I don't see the problem."

"You're unbelievable!" Ryan shouted, unashamed, pointing at his husband with a vindictive finger. "You'd choose him over your own son! You'd choose Period blood over your own!"

"No, I'd like to choose my son Ryan, over my son Xavier."

"I don't understand you at all! I just told you-"

"Ryan." The king demanded his attention with a stern voice. He then lowered his voice to a whisper that carried omnious levels of melancholy in it. "Xavier is planning a coup d'etat."

Ryan fell silent in shock, but Nusrat's eyes had hardened into premonition.

"It can't be... He cannot..." He uttered, falling back into his seat.

"He has." King - sighed heavily. "And best believe that he absolutely will, Ryan." He ran a hand through his thin, grey hair. "And once the throne is his, he will march Sythians back to war once again, with the army of Perions at his beck."

"I can't believe this..."

"We barely managed against Perions for so many years. A nation like Marais or Helenus will absolutely crush us."

"Everything that I did, on his whim... Everything... For him to lead us right back into hell again..."

"This is why I ask you this, Ryan."

"Am I to be nothing more than a bargaining chip, ever?" Ryan whispered, head titled down. Tears had escaped his eyes at his own bleak future, his dreams of being a scholar and a healer and an archer slipping away from him by every moment he sat there.

The cost of a crown was too heavy on his shoulders.

"Let him."

His and his father's face snapped up at Nusrat's first input in the conversation.

"What?" He demanded.

"Let him." Nusrat repeated. "He will not succeed. My father will not support a man on a suicide mission, my husband's brother or not."

"Your father will not support Sythia?" Ryan narrowed his eyes. He felt ire rising up in him again. What was the use of this peace if the Perions refused to stand beside Sythia in times of need?

"My father does not like your brother." Nusrat waved the concern away. "He doesn't even like me much, when it comes down to it. He barely tolerates me." He shrugged, looking pointedly at the Sythians as if to say, 'We're not like you'.

"Why'd he agree to the peace treaty then?" Ryan asked, frowning. "Why'd he agree to Xavier's terms?"

"It doesn't matter now." The Perion crown prince stood up, wiping his hands on a handkerchief. "Sythia has Perions behind them in times of need, but not for actions of greed."

King Frost nodded mutely.

"I shall leave you both to... your discourse." Nusrat nodded his head at his husband and bowed to the king. "Good evening."

...

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