#ooff thsi was ruff

[pinklotushere]

Truly,madly and royaly

P1

"I take thee to be my lawful wedded husband "

Dan is going to kill danny.

He's going to make it slow and painful, and maybe it'll stick this time.

honestly, what was that little brat thinking?

Was he even thinking?

When danny insisted he stay and play his role as  The prince of erdurne and duke of dragaltia, while he himself go the Astantia kingdoms as high king of erdurne assisted by his queen regent and deputy jasmine nightingale to negotiate peace of all things, Dan had assumed he'd lost it

But now? Dan is angry at himself for not seeing the trap for what it was.

Now when he is standing at the altar waiting for his to be husband - because apparently peace is sealed by a marriage of all things - Dan imagines his head served on a plater

Prince Danijel of erdurne stood tall at the altar, his eyes fixed upon the golden chalice resting before him. The great hall, resplendent with tapestries of green and silver, seemed to hold its breath in the stillness. The air was thick with the murmurs of courtiers and justirian nobility, their eyes keen with expectation, yet the prince felt a disquiet settle in his chest, a tightness that nothing could seem to ease.

"to have and to hold from this day forward"

His heart, though accustomed to battlefields, fluttered uncomfortably at the thought of what was about to transpire. A marriage. A union not of choice, but of necessity. And to a man he had never met.

The prince's brow furrowed as he watched the grand doors at the end of the hall swing open, ushering in a procession of attendants. It was then that he saw him—Richard, the prince of the neighbouring kingdom, who would soon be bound to him for eternity.

"for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer"

He was tall, with the bearing of one who had been trained in the ways of both court and combat.

His dark hair fell just above his shoulders in gentle waves, his face sharp and strong, like the marble statues that adorned the palace gardens.

His eyes—those piercing eyes, a shade of blue the likes of which Danijel had never seen—flashed with a mixture of determination and an unmistakable grace.

Danijel's lips pressed together in irritation. It was not the man, nor his beauty, that troubled him, for Richard was undeniably handsome in a way that seemed almost otherworldly.

It was the entire spectacle—the politeness and formality that had led them here. Richard’s kingdom had been ravaged by war; there had been no time for such petty courtesies.

"In sickness and in health"

Yet there he stood, poised to pledge himself to a stranger, simply because his father had deemed it necessary.

Richard’s approach was slow, deliberate, each step in time with the sound of soft music that floated through the hall.

The nobility around them watched in silence, and Danijel could feel the weight of every gaze upon him the distrust in them.

It was then that his annoyance wavered for a fleeting moment. Richard’s presence—graceful, calm, and full of a quiet strength—was something to behold. He was everything there I'd to admire in a prince, a king. He was a prince worthy of respect, even if their union had come about through the machinations of others.

As Richard drew near,dan noticed he held himself with an air of nobility that was not born of arrogance but of a quiet self-assurance, the sort of confidence that only true royalty possessed.

Curious, considering it was widely known, he was not in fact born into this life.

Dan stood, his fingers twitching with impatience as the ceremonial chants echoed through the grand hall.

"to love and to cherish"

Beside him, Richard stood—handsome, poised, the picture of princely decorum. The man offered the slightest of smiles, but to Dan, it felt like an intrusion.

There was no warmth in his chest when he thought of Richard, no flutter or spark of desire. The man was simply a pawn, another piece in the bigger game.

Charming, perhaps, but ultimately, just another link in the chain of obligation that bound him. This union, like so many others before it, had been made for peace, not love. And that was all.

The ceremony dragged on, the vows spoken in monotonous tones, each word a weight that settled deeper within him.

"from this day forward,Till death do us part"

The ring slipped onto his finger like a shackle, and Dan's jaw tightened in silent frustration.

Peace. Security. Alliances.

These were the things that mattered now, and nothing more. His mind wandered to the life that awaited him—one in which Richard grayson-wayne  would be his husband.

There would be no real connection, no partnership of love.

Just two men bound by duty, forced to share a bed as though it were any other arrangement, any other business deal.

The hollowness of it gripped his chest, the space where intimacy should be, where a true connection should flourish, now filled with cold sterility.

The air in the hall was thick with the scent of incense and the murmurs of the court. Dan could hear the prayers, the vows, and the anthems, but they were all empty sounds to his ears.

Richard, clearly quite the diplomat, remained composed, his presence calm and unassuming.

But Dan could feel the quiet tension between them. Neither of them had chosen this. Neither of them had a say in the matter.

Richard, now his partner, was no more a companion than the gilded ring on his finger. The weight of the contract was not just in the words spoken, but in the years that stretched before them, It was a price, and Dan was paying it—though not willingly.

He tried to muster the appropriate level of affection as the priest uttered the final words, but it felt like a farce.

His gaze lingered on Richard for a moment longer, forcing himself to look away.

"You may now kiss your intended"

The man’s smile was a mask, one that offered no comfort, only the reminder of the hollow formality that stretched before them.

This union, this marriage, was nothing more than a sealing of a pact. A burden placed upon him by the powers that be to safeguard the kingdom’s peace. And no amount of ceremony or pageantry could disguise the reality.

With that in mind, Dan leaned in and pressed his mouth to Richard's in a quick, chaste kiss

The crowd erupted into applause as the final rites were completed, but Dan heard it as a distant echo. The cheers felt hollow, like they'd rather this union had not happened at all.

Part2 >