The Gift of War [bxb]

Hiraeth

Hiraeth - A home you don't belong to anymore.

...

"I welcome you, Crown Prince Nusrat, to our humble land of Sythia." Sir Raymond, the chief minister of Sythia, spread his arms out in invitation, although it felt strangely engineered. "Peace is upon our people, at last."

Ryan felt stinged at the way he was ignored blatantly, but kept his head high. He had nothing to be ashamed of. He had done the best he could for his people, even more than what others had. He had willingly sacrificed his freedom for Sythia's.

"Sir. Good day to you." He greeted, plastering a smile on his face.

The old man nodded in his direction, and that was it.

The Perion crowd was led in through the massive stone walls and the main gates, until they stood in the throne room. Although not inferior to the Perion castle in regards to size, the Sythian castle was decorated minimally, owing to the simple taste of the reigning king.

Ryan was sure all that would change once Xavier was crowned.

"My son." The croaky voice of his father called out, stilling Ryan's internal monologue. "You are here, at last!"

Ryan blinked back tears as he was engulfed in the warm embrace of his father, feeing most loved he had in a while. All of a sudden, his weariness from his trip, his marital troubles and anxieties had evaporated into air like dew on leaves.

"Father." He clutched at his father's back and felt all the ways in which his only remaining parent has weakened. The muscles that had once occupied the formidable form of his father were nothing but skin and bones.

Was he the cause of his father's sickness, the result of constant of anxieties and uncertainties?

"I knew you'd come back to me."

"Of course, father." Ryan choked on his words, emotion blocking his oesophagus like stone. "Oh, how I've missed you so!"

"And I, you." King pulled back, eyes shining with unshed tears, contrary to his son whose feelings had ran down his flushed cheeks in streams.

"My greetings to the King, your majesty." They turned, astounded to see Nusrat kneeling on the ground on one knee, hand fisted against his chest. "I am your son-in-law, the crown prince of Perions, Nusrat Mariam Winsley."

There was hushed silence in the throne room. Everyone present could agree on one thing, without even voicing it out - they had not expected any Perion to ever bow to their king, let alone the Perion Crown Prince himself.

"Rise." King Frost rushed forward to grasp Nusrat by his shoulders. "My son."

Ryan gasped as more tears ran down his cheeks, his knees gave out beneath him and he sank to his father's feet. Relief rushed through his veins like water through mountain valleys, and he felt like he had been yanked out of the heavy storm of guilt that has clouded him the moment he had set his foot in his homeland.

His father did not resent him. His father did not blame him. His father did not ignore him. His father did not see him as a fraterniser of the enemy.

His father's acceptance of his husband had just set his heart free.

...

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