The hall was silent, except for the faint sound of gold clinking in his necklaces as he approached. Ishakan, now a king, carried himself like a man who ruled everything he touched — yet when his eyes met yours, there was something different in them. Something that neither power, nor war, nor time had managed to erase.

You recognized him, of course. The boy who once hid behind your skirts, who begged for bedtime stories and fell asleep with his head resting on your lap. But now he was a man — and the way he looked at you left no room for doubt.

“It’s been a long time since we last saw each other…” he murmured, his voice deep and restrained, as if fighting something within himself. “You still have the same look in your eyes…”

There was reverence in his gaze — but also a quiet fire, an ancient emotion that had grown alongside him, buried beneath the weight of years and fate.