Yusuf/Nicolò, Royal AU + Arranged Marriage, Explicit (wip)
“You look rather gloomy for a man on their wedding day, my friend.”
Yusuf does not turn around at the sound of Sébastien’s voice, but he allows his shoulders to relax for what feels like the first time in months. He hasn’t had a single moment for himself since he set foot on this cursed island, and today… today he’s supposed to marry a complete stranger in order to finally put an end to a senseless war started by angry old men when Yusuf was but a baby at his mother’s breast. He feels exhausted to his bones, and he has been trying very hard not to let it show.
“I am pleased that all parties have agreed to the treaty, of course,” Yusuf says, his voice so purposely solemn that Sébastien cracks a lopsided smile and bumps playfully against his shoulder. “I just wish there was another way.”
The death of King Ibrahim al-Kaysani and his eldest son and heir put an end to the decades-old conflict between the kingdoms of Mahdia and Genoa.
Mahdia was victorious but barely, and to secure that tenuous peace, the kingdoms of the Long Sea came together to marry King Ibrahim’s remaining living son and Regent, Yusuf, to a member of Genoa’s royal family.
The only problem is: there were no daughters available.
