Vengeance of The Broken Lycan Prince [BL]-Chapter 435: Blood, Fire, Ashes… A Mad King’s Vengeance [7]
[ZAFFUTO]
"But he kneels only for the one he chose. The one he loves... His beloved. His future. His husband. His consort. The one he will rule Kawai with. Not you. Never you," Zaffuto said, adding the last bit with a cruel tone of finality.
One that had Gabe flinching at the words the king had used.
This was pure cruelty.
This was not what Gabe wished for himself or even his worst enemy. He had hoped to get Tamiko back. To apologize. To use the battle against Kosta and show Tamiko that he didn’t need an omega by his side.
But now he wasn’t sure anymore. He didn’t have anything left save for his broken father. He had no one, and it hurt. It hurt to hear the king cement the choice Tamiko had made.
This was not just for show.
Gabe had seen it earlier in the way the king, Kosta, and Tamiko had interacted. He had seen the way the mad king had accepted Kosta as his son’s beloved, and it tore right through Gabe’s heart like poison.
It was not the right moment for anything, truly.
Gabe felt his heart clench at the confirmation even harder. He wanted to disappear, but where the fuck was he to disappear to when he had a broke father who was already relying on him at the moment?
He wouldn’t even have the time to grieve his love and obsession that had ended in the worst of ways. This was not how his life was meant to be, but date was good at spitting in the face of insanity.
That was Gabe’s conclusion here.
Tamiko lifted his chin, owning what his father had said.
And Gabe saw through it all.
This was not even a mockery from the prince or even a way for the prince to gloat. The man was just agreeing with what was happening. What his father had said hurt Gabe to the core.
"No one is allowed to mess with that order, Gabriel. Not even the moon goddess and the gates. If fate itself dares to interfere, I will kill the moon goddess myself," Zaffuto said calmly, adding the last bit so coldly that Gabe stiffened again.
This was more than what he had anticipated, but it was pointless anyway.
Because as he listened to the mad king, he felt the weight of the vow the king had made to eliminate the very woman who had created the if she so much as let her minions try to cause his son more pain.
It was not something that anyone could put past Zaffuto because the Kawai Lycans had witnessed it all. The Lycans who had dared to talk ill of Tamiko never surfaced again.
Not because the prince had done anything about them.
But because the king and Lord Sadako had. They had eliminated everyone who dared to disrespect the bond between the two, and the warriors on this field knew that by heart.
The king and the psycho Lycan lord, hiding behind smiles and soft voices, were menaces when it came to Kosta and Tamiko. It wasn’t even a game anymore, and they all understood it so well.
All of them.
Kosta let out a soft chuckle of approval, and Tamiko just wiped the blood off of him like this was just another night for them in the palace.
Tamiko was too calm.
"Y’know, Gabriel... I could keep you here, and the world wouldn’t even remember your name or your father’s anymore. I could lock you in the Kawai dungeons and make you watch your father either in time.
"And make you watch as your life gets reduced to nothing. An eternity spent in darkness without any remorse or love," the mad king said, and a whimper was heard that cut across the entire silent battlefield.
It came from the prideful bastard before the king.
The pathetic human who couldn’t even understand the weight of everything that was bound.
"Zaffuto..." the alpha spoke, much to the amusement of the mad king.
"You got your voice finally, Ashton," Zaffuto mocked as he grabbed Gabe by the shoulder and pressed hard, knowing damn well that the young alpha was in excruciating pain.
But to Zaffuto, this didn’t mean shit because twenty-five years of his son’s pain couldn’t even match up to this.
King Zaffuto had known the horrors of what had happened to his son, and he was so close to losing his mind again right here. But he had to be wise, not that it would matter yet.
"Please..." the alpha said, his pride fracturing as his fingers clawed into the dirt. It was like he was finally done, but was Zaffuto supposed to accept that at the moment?
"And he begs," Zaffuto laughed before turning to his people.
"The human begs. How pathetic," Zaffuto smirked and laughed even harder as if that was the best thing that had happened. Well, it probably was because Ashton had gone for the prideful man; he was to this...
Whatever this was.
The crowd joined in the laugh, only because the king had laughed.
They were not certain of what reaction the king expected from them anyway. Perhaps they were about to relearn what it was to deal with the king. To be in his presence without having the horrors of battle stand between them.
"Please... Let my son go. Take me in his stead, please, Zaffuto," Alpha Ashton pleaded. He couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing his son hurt was breaking him in ways that he never thought possible.
The alpha had protected his son all his life; he had sworn to his dead wife that he would never put Gabe in danger, yet here he was. In the worst of failures for him, his son was hurting so badly.
It was all his fault.
Oh, how Ashton was doomed.
"End me in his stead... Just... he’s hurt enough," Ashton continued pleading, and Gabe sighed in defeat.
Everything was fucked.
Zaffuto laughed slowly.
It was an unforgiving laugh, one that felt like someone was tearing through the Grealors’ hearts like the sharpest of blades.
"And here I was thinking you would hold onto your pride for the entirety of the night. I was actually looking forward to our interactions, you know," Zaffuto said, and Tamiko snickered in the near distance.
His father was batshit crazy.
There was no denying that at this point anyway.
"Please don’t hurt him, your majesty. He is no longer a threat... he is human now, please. I’m begging you, mercy... don’t do this, I beg you. He is my fath—" Gabe blurted desperately.
He pressed his forehead to the ground, arching himself on his knees so he looked like he was revering the king. It was a pitiful sight, really, for a son who had been sure of their victory.
His father, Alpha Ashton, almost sneered at the sight before him.
This was not what he had wanted for his son, but at the same time, he was not in a position to argue with the mad king. So Ashton stayed down, waiting to see how this would go.
He had gotten up moments before, but now he wasn’t even sure if getting up while his son bowed was something he could do.
And he bowed before the king, too.
It was a moment that seeped through everyone’s sanity. A moment that reminded them of what could have been and what could be.
"You beg for the man who tore through families without thinking of the consequences?"
