Vengeance of The Broken Lycan Prince [BL]-Chapter 417: I’ve Only Ever Belonged To You

[TAMIKO]

Kosta couldn’t remember the endless times he had people down on their knees like that in front of him. In those times, he always felt powerful, as if he were delivering a stroke of justice, and likely deserved it.

Yet as his krushka knelt before him, the implication of what he wanted was obvious even to the enemies; Kosta didn’t feel like the mission was close to being completed.

Instead, he felt empty, the kind of emptiness that came with knowing that he was about to lose everything in just a blink. It wasn’t how his life had been programmed, but there wasn’t even a life to protect anymore.

There wasn’t a command to be followed.

Because when had love gotten this complicated?

When did they go from loving each other so much to now baring necks and waiting for Erasthais that could end it all?

It was a cruel phase of sanity, and Kosta despised himself for ever leading the discussion to this point. If ever there was a time for his shame to be louder than anything else, then it would be this moment.

When the love of his life, the only man he loved with everything, was on his knees, at his mercy in a battlefield that had enemies watching and glaring in shock and surprise.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, though, as Kosta had thought a hundred and one times in the past minutes.

It was not fair.

It would never be.

Then again, fate never was, and the moon goddess was a cruel spectator in the chaos, too.

"The only way I stop is if you kill me, Kosta," Tamiko began before he undid the magical protection his father had put on him, and even the layers of protection that came with being the crown prince of Kawai.

His voice had remained low and steady, even then, like that was what he had been waiting to do for the longest time.

It was not part of the plan, and yet the air seemed to still as the Lycan prince took away everything that made him immortal and unbeatable, leaving himself just another man in front of the mighty barbarian of Kawai.

He was now letting himself be worthy of nothing, no title.

No rank.

Nothing.

He was just Tamiko. The boy who had grown into a heartbreaking man. The boy who had grown into a man who suffocated people with love and gods, Kosta, hated what he was seeing.

But none more than a mad king, who was watching in pained silence.

"No. No..." Kosta whimpered, his defeat so evident and so raw you would think this was the end of the world for him, too.

"Yes, Kosta. Yes. You can do this. You can save them. If you don’t kill me, then I will kill them all. I will eliminate them, and even more for even thinking they could try to get to you.

"The only one who can stop the bloodshed is you, Kosta," Tamiko said like he was not telling the world that only Kosta could kill him.

"You can’t seriously be asking me—" Kosta trailed off, his breath so desperate and strange. It was as if his world was ending, and he didn’t even know how to stop it all.

This was not alright. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

It never was.

But life was not as easy as it had been made to be, right?

Even then, his hands tightened on his sword, scared of letting it down if ever the enemy tried to strike that which was his. He was scared of what this meant for him, for them.

It still horrified him how Tamiko was not even scared of what was coming, like that’s just another day for Tamiko. Deep down, Kosta knew that no one here would ever be able to get the prince to his knees.

Maybe it should have been something he was proud of.

But the man before him wasn’t just a prince.

He was everything to Kosta, with or without his titles. He was all that Kosta ever wanted, and it was not right to see him like this, defeated and out of words.

"That is the only way. Besides, if I am to die and put an end to the madness, then it can only ever be by your hand. Strike me and save them. I won’t try to raise my blade against you... I could never even think of doing it.

"I’ve only ever been yours, Kosta," Tamiko said proudly, like that was supposed to mean something when he was on his knees and made himself a target for everyone now that he didn’t have his protection keeping him sane.

Gods, Zaffuto had never been this stressed.

"You say that as if it is simple," Kosta said, his voice breaking.

He had never thought of their positions like this.

His dear Tamiko was on his knees, while Kosta stood right there, sword in his hand like some executioner bound for ruin.

To take away the one person he would give up the world for was the cruelest punishment Tamiko was shoving in his face, but Kosta was not going to let them get to him.

He refused.

He had to hold his ground even if it was all shaky at the moment. He had to hold on; that was the only way he knew how to get through this, even when his heart shattered so loudly in his ears, he could hear the shards hit the ground.

"I would do anything for you. Anything, just to see you safe. And that’s not on you, love, it is on me. I’ve only ever belonged to you, before Kawai, before papa, before the crown, or even the wars that I have been fighting for you.

"I only ever belonged to you, and it has been my greatest honor. If I am to be at anyone’s mercy, then I would rather be at yours, Kosta. I’m sorry that murder is the only way I know to protect you and love you," Tamiko said.

He then gently pulled Kosta’s sword to his neck like it was nothing. Like this was the only way to show how much he loved Kosta. It wasn’t the easiest of things, but damn was it the most twisted notions of what love could be on a battlefield.

A love that screamed in the middle of a war for so long.

The crown prince then closed his eyes, ready for impact, for whatever would follow after this, because he had made it clear. If this was to end, then Kosta had to be the one to end it.

Only him.

Otherwise, the blood would forever keep flowing in the Lycan chief’s name, and Tamiko would never have any regrets.

Tamiko was giving Kosta the chance to make this better. The chance to save everyone, because otherwise he would keep his promise.

He was known for being such a fierce man in such situations, and gods would be damned if he let anyone take that from him. He would be the monster everyone was terrified of, but only for his love. For his Kosta.

"You kneel in front of them like it is nothing, do you even understand what this means coming for you, the prince of Kawai?

"Why would you throw your life away like it doesn’t mean much?" Kosta scolded as he pulled back his sword, like the thought of it scraping Tamiko was a poison in his heart itself.