Duty

Chapter 92 Fathers and sons

Lucius' head flew up and he stared at his grandfather wide-eyed.

"My king," Vara said startled, "are you certain this is wise? We may have defeated Balor, but we have not established peace. Smaller attacks will still occur, as the always have. You are taking a great risk."

"I am not asking to take the boy to battle," king Marcos said impatiently, "only to show him what our men have been fighting to protect." He looked at Cyrus again. "And he will start training in weaponry too. A bow and arrows at first. When his grip is stronger, he'll move on to the sword."

Lucius bit his lip, awaiting his father's verdict. He wasn't really sure what he was hoping for. He wanted his father to love him, to ride together as they used to. He wanted him to oversee his lessons and smile proudly when he recited something correctly. But the way his father was acting towards him now made Lucius anxious. What if, once they were in Vertalis, his father would continue to ignore him? He didn't know any of the staff there like he did at Boncini. People would treat him as 'prince Lucius' again instead of simply 'Lucius'. He would make friends with rocks again.

Cyrus glanced at the boy and sighed. There was no point in arguing with his father. It would be an endless battle. "Fine. I will find him a good instructor. Can we stop talking about formal matters now? It's been nothing but formalities for the past weeks. I'm tired."

His father was about to argue when lady Eurydice spoke up. "Marcos," she said gently, "Cyrus is right. Enough of state affairs. It is so rare for us to be together as a family. Let us enjoy each other's company. Vara and Iason will return home soon, and Cyrus will leave for Vertalis with Lucius. We don't know when we will have the chance again to be together like this."

King Marcos sighed. "Very well, but we will speak again in the morning. There are still arrangements to go over."

"I'm sure there are," lady Eurydice spoke, "there always are. But not tonight. Tonight we are simply a family, enjoying a meal. Tomorrow you can be king again."

...

Darius leaned back against the wall from where he was watching his eldest son's riding lessons. He felt at peace. It had been a long time since he'd felt anything even remotely close.

Not far away, brazen Shahzad was climbing the paddock fence while a slightly annoyed Mehr attempted to keep him from tumbling underneath his brother's horse. It made Darius chuckle. And it seemed little Roshan was a copy of her brother. The girl could barely walk but already knew no danger. Wherever her brothers went, she wanted to go as well.

There would be lots of trouble with that girl. He would have to keep a close eye on her. The world was not the same for women as it was for men.

Before, he would have said women needed to know their place. The world was ruled by men. It was the world he knew, the word he had been raised in. It had horrified him when he'd met Vara that any woman would be so outspoken and would dare to speak to a man that way. He had known Zeir customs were different, but it was still insulting. Only after meeting Elora had his mindset changed. She had changed it. He knew now that it didn't make him less of a man when a woman spoke her mind.

Even if the world would always be crueler to women, he wouldn't deny his daughter the same opportunities he'd give his sons. If she wanted to learn to ride a horse, he would let her. Reading, writing, math, embroidery, music. Whatever she wanted she would be allowed to learn.

But he would draw the line at sword fighting.

"What has your mind so occupied this morning?" Elora had approached him with an amused smile on her face and a squirming Roshan in her arms.