Vengeance of The Broken Lycan Prince [BL]-Chapter 423: Always Dancing With The Devil

[TAMIKO]

Zaffuto turned to look at his son’s face, the most precious thing in his cursed life.

He wasn’t sure what he could say to that.

All his life, the mad king had been certain of his sanity, but since he lost his wife, his son, and all the women at the birthing hall, a lot had changed for him.

The only thing he never thought twice about was the call to battle, and yet eventually he had seen how his son’s Erasthai had made his son understand that war was sometimes not an equivalence of love.

He had watched something that he never thought possible in all his years as a Lycan king. And that was more than he could ever have anticipated.

"I’ve murdered kings without trembling, son. But look what I am reduced to with just a scratch on you. Even breathing has become a problem," Zaffuto admitted sheepishly as he let out something that sounded like half sob and half a laugh.

Perhaps this was his reality.

The life he had to learn to live; a timeline that didn’t need his expertise on war, because as a father, war was never going to be the solution in communicating with his son, and he was slowly learning that in the worst of ways.

Gods, did the mad king hate experimentation?

So the king just watched as his son’s wound closed and his magic stopped transmitting.

He watched as relief returned on Kosta’s face and even Tamiko’s.

He watched as his son leaned closer to the Lycan chief if that was everything.

He watched in silence as Kosta held tighter onto his son, like the Lycan chief was making the silent promise of always keeping his son safe.

By now, the entire realm was already aware of what the realm’s weakness was, but who could be blamed for discovering it?

Yet even in that situation, King Zaffuto had no spite for his Lycan chief. All he had was gratitude for the man who hadn’t let his son lose himself. Gratitude for the affection his son was receiving at the worst end of things.

"You’ll be alright," King Zaffuto said as he reached out and pressed his hands against his son’s chest like he wanted to be sure that everything was truly alright. He wanted to make sure that his son’s heart was beating in the right rhythm.

The mad king was too tired to argue, but he had to make certain that all was okay even as the battlefield stared in confusion.

No one knew what the fuck they were supposed to do at this point because even the alpha Ashton of Grealor had taken a pause, watching the chaos unfold before him in ways that he had never expected.

Then again, none of them had expected this to happen. No one.

"I’m sorry, Papa. I never meant for things to turn out like this. I still didn’t intend to make you relive the horror from years ago. I am very sorry," Tamiko apologized softly, his guilt evident as he tried to sit up.

Kosta still held onto him like he was scared Tamiko would evaporate and disappear from his sight.

"You didn’t, kid," King Zaffuto began as he stroked his son’s cheeks endearingly. He hated that this was what his son was thinking, and while a part of it was true, the king refused to let his son bow to the pressures that came with guilt.

He refused to let him beat himself up over a situation that none of them could have controlled. Neither of them had thought they would come to this point. It was about that which had been simple from the onset.

They had come here to eliminate the invaders, then go back home to what they were doing before the warning bells had rang. But as it was, so much had changed.

Life had almost stopped having meaning.

And they were back on airlines that didn’t make any sense whatsoever.

Perhaps that was why the mad king understood his son so very well.

"Pa—" Tamiko continued, but his father cut him off.

"You came back to me, kid. That was enough to save whatever flicker of my soul was lost to the darkness. You gave me life when I had nothing, and you brought my light again. Seeing you fall here today...

"It was as if the fates were once again putting me to trial. Trying to test me and see if I ever learned to grieve twice in one lifetime," King Zaffuto added softly, like this was not even an issue for him.

He wanted to make sure his son understood that no one was to be faulted for this. He wanted to see that there was never going to be a reason for his dear son to worry about things that they didn’t have to deal with anymore.

Grief was grief, and while the king almost went insane through it twice, he was more thankful that his son was here, with him, and alive. That was all that mattered to the king, and he would be damned if he let anyone make his son feel any different.

"Y’know, I was once a monster..." Zaffuto added, laughing brokenly like the very sound of his voice was suddenly foreign to him. His head was lowered, and his forehead pressed to Tamiko’s.

Somehow, Kosta had made it possible when he made Tamiko sit up.

The king was forever thankful for that little gesture, not that he would voice it out loud at any moment. He was already trembling, like this itself was something he was never going to get used to, and frankly, it was understandable.

No father wanted to deal with this again. Not once and certainly not a second time. It was the kind of horror that no one in their right mind would wish to relive, yet there they were, weren’t they?

"Before you came back to my life... before I knew you were alive and could be found, people called me something else. To them, I was the mad king, the ghost who had come to rule Kawai, and who couldn’t be seen but whose power was felt.

"They talked of me as the king who had lost everything, the man who was hoping for a son the world knew was dead. They mocked me in their homes, beyond the realm, for daring to keep up hope.

"And for twenty-five years, in the dark room that had once been my home with my Liana, I struggled to live. She had prepared the cot for you to sleep in, and she was supposed to make it back.

"But then the imposing happened," the king spoke, his hands trembling still like it was now second nature to him.

His words were heard by everyone who could have ears, on the battlefield that had once again grown silent to watch the unexpected happen before them.

No one had anything appropriate to say, and it wasn’t a hard call at the moment. No one had wished for this, but now, as they looked at each other, as the father stared into each other’s souls, there was nothing that could separate them.

At least Zaffuto had made sure of that. He would never lose his son again.

"You... you walked through my doors again, kid, and that moment, the sun rose in my life for the first time in twenty-five years, and my miserable life finally had meaning to it," King Zaffuto added tenderly, like that was honestly one of the best memories for him.

He had never expected his son to walk back in, and when Lord Sadako confirmed that to him, the king felt like life was worth everything. Like the wait was worth it.

Of course, he couldn’t tell his son that each day there had been troops sent out to look for him, no. He didn’t want to burden his son with the horror of the truth that had led them to different destinations.

But here and now, King Zaffuto was a committed father who would do whatever the fuck it took to make things better for him and his son. He wouldn’t stop unless he found happiness.

"Oh, papa... You gave me all I never once thought I deserved, a dream that I never thought would be real. You loved me in ways that no one ever had all my life, and the only thing I ever did for you was to make you kneel in blood again," Tamiko whispered brokenly, his eyes glistening with tears.

The young prince dared to lift his head and touch his father’s cheek, and what he felt there had his heart shattering into endless pieces. His hurt was worse than what he had ever imagined possible.

His fingers...

The fingers he had stroked his father’s cheeks with...

Were wet.

And Tamiko froze as the reality washed over him like a tsunami he was never to ever be prepared for.

He had made the king cry.

Tamiko had done the one thing that no one alive had ever done to the mad king.

He had shaken the very foundation of the king’s sanity, and all he had left was further broken by the truth that lay bare before him, the truth that being a father was more dangerous than being a king.

Because with his kingship, the king could control variables, but with his son, with the bond they shared, the king had come to understand that nothing would ever make sense in a bond like that.

The only hope there was for them was family.

They were family.

And that was meant to expand everything, but Tamiko couldn’t even breathe right as he touched his father’s tears.

"You made me a father again, kid. Nothing can ever beat that."