The Gift of War [bxb]

Sweet tooth

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...

Amber's words rang and resounded in his head as he made his way to the prince's chambers.

Was she speaking the truth, or was the truth heavily exaggerated?

The prince had truly seemed harmless. Having being on the forefront of receiving it, Ryan was no stranger to Perion cruelty. He really wasn't.

Then why was he so adamant in believing that the crown prince was not as bad as the rest of them?

The more he thought about it, the less his own thoughts made sense to him, and so he decided to turn them off. It was his only option, if he was to go about his duties today.

Deal with a situation as it happens.

"My lord." He knocked twice, waited a moment and then entered.

He stopped in his tracks. The figure on the bed moved beneath their covers, and Ryan contemplated if he should run away and respect the man's privacy. The rational part of him reminded him that waking up the prince was a part of his duties now.

Surely the prince wouldn't kill him for disrupting his beauty sleep?

He cleared his throat and prepared for another address, but just then the prince kicked off his covers, revealing a bare torso and a birdnest of hair.

"My lord." He greeted with a bowed head.

"Rafael?" Prince Nusrat muttered as he ran a hand over his face. "Is it morning already?" He groaned, his deep voice reaching deeper octaves after a good night's sleep. "I seem to have slept past my usual waking time."

He looked at Ryan for a moment, as if noticing his presence for the first time despite addressing him prior.

"What are you doing here so early?"

Ryan was perplexed, scrambling for a response and trying not to sound too incredulous. "Am I not supposed to report to you every morning? To wake you up and bring you tea?"

"Wake me up and bring me tea?" Nusrat repeated, pronouncing each word with increasing bafflement. He scoffed, pushing his covers aside and standing up. "What am I, a child?"

"No..." Ryan lost his voice as the crown prince got out of the bed fully naked, back turned to him, without an ounce of shame. He averted his eyes very quickly, but not before noticing the man's well muscled pair of buttocks.

He cleared his throat. "My lord."

Nusrat picked up a discarded robe from his armchair and pulled it over his frame and tied it. He turned to Ryan.

"Really, does it work like that in Sythia? Did you work for your prince the same way? Wake him up and bring him tea every morning?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Ryan replied, watching the prince fuss with his hair in front of the dresser.

"Well, what did you do then?" The man asked back, looking at the younger man behind him through the looking glass. "Or maybe you were a prince yourself, huh?"

The crown prince's voice was teasing, but Ryan's blood had ran cold. Amber's words swirled around his head once again. It was getting hare for him to regulate his breathing with his pacing heart as he felt his knees turn into liquid. Only the pinch of his nails against his skin if his forearm reminded him that silence was often more suspicious than admission itself.

"No, my lord." He gritted out. "I was a healer."

It was the truth. The prince had inquired his profession, not his status.

"Healer, huh." Nusrat turned to him. His voice had gotten uncharacteristically soft, and yet his eyes were softer, the warmest shade of brown in the morning sun barely shielded by the curtains. "You must have seen a lot."

Ryan swallowed as his throat felt scratchy yet again. "War raises havoc on both sides, my lord. I am sure I've seen no more than a Perion healer."

Nusrat scoffed again. "Diplomacy has no place in this room, Rafael. This is not my father's court." He drawled and then muttered under his breath, "Not that diplomacy has much influence over him anyway."

"Forgive me, my lord, I didn't mean to be... presumptuous, but I speak the truth." Ryan defended, and he actually believed in it. "War is war, and death is death. Death on this side, or death on that side, it is just as devastating, and... useless. The only difference, I suppose, is that death in Sythia is greater than life itself."

"You seem wise beyond your years, Rafael." Nusrat commented, and the younger man hadn't even noticed when the distance between them had shrunk. The crown prince's brown orbs stared directly into his blue ones. "You should never be afraid of speaking your mind in front of me."

Ryan nodded, his voice lost somewhere above the scratch in his throat. His advantage of height over the prince's had never seemed quite so useless before.

Nusrat's broadness more than compensated for his length.

"How..." Ryan's voice cracked when he spoke after a beat of silence, and the embarrassment of behaving like a teenager forced blood into his cheeks. He was suddenly envious of the other man's deep complexion, it hid more complex emotions away.

He cleared his throat once again.

"How should I be of service today, my lord?"

"Ah, yes." Nusrat sagged visibly, going back to his armchair. "It's why you're here."

"Yes." Ryan confirmed.

"Well, Rafael, I don't require tea." The prince proclaimed, leaning back into his seat. "In fact, I abhor it. You may however, bring me some chocolate from the kitchen, please and thank you."

"Chocolate, my lord?"

"Yes, chocolate." He affirmed. "Dark brown in colour, mostly solid, smells heavenly-"

"I know what chocolate is." Ryan interrupted.

"Well then get to it my man!" The older man gave him a pointed look, gesturing towards the door.

"Is is the most... appropriate option for breakfast though?" Ryan was running his mouth, and he knew it, but the prince was incredulous beyond belief. It made him itch with irritation.

"You see, I was in the middle of acquiring it last night, when a certain someone intruded upon me." Nusrat smiled, and his eyes crinkled with mirth. "And since you are ever so dutifully devoted to me, I am sure you have no qualms in procuring some measly blocks of chocolates for me."

He put a finger to his forehead in mock comprehension.

"But of course if you do not wish to, I suppose I shall make do with your abhorrent tea and find someone else to-"

"Coming right away, my lord!" Ryan rushed out before the sentence was over.

...

"Rafael!" A hand grabbed his arm as soon as reached the kitchen, and feminine voice reached his ears.

"What- Fredericka?" He recognised. "You have kitchen duty today?"

"No, I snuck away from the washing room!"

Ryan could not respond to that and stared at the girl, bewildered. She smiled nervously and shook her head.

"It's about Amber." She wrung her hands into the folds of her skirts, chewing on her lip in anxiousness.

"She's been put into prison."

...

Woah what happened? Drop your theories!

Man girls be getting into all sorts of troubles I swear...

I'm girls btw.

Vote and Comment please! <333