Vengeance of The Broken Lycan Prince [BL]-Chapter 457: We Took The Long Way ’Round

[TAMIKO]

Yilena was not ready for this. That was what she realized when, instead of walking over to the kid she had been tasked with protecting, she chose to mingle with other Lycans like a commoner.

She looked like this was her first time at the Ball, and while it was almost the truth, it wasn’t in the way that she had wanted it all to be. This wasn’t what she had expected. But then she wasn’t the only one with suspicions and uncertainties.

Kosta had seen Yilena first, but he didn’t tell Tamiko. It was like he was really angry about the ultimatum, and honestly, no one could blame him for that. Life hadn’t been easy for him.

He had suffered the most of the two of them.

Maybe it was so, or maybe he just wasn’t ready for the distance that was looming over them. It was not right, but what the fuck was he supposed to do on such a day when the evening sun was setting in the brightest of ways?

"I’ll go check on Akila. Excuse me," Kosta said curtly, like he was addressing the prince, not the man who had his heart. Not the man who would do whatever to him. And Kosta would take it all with grace.

Maybe this was not one of the whatevers he would permit Tamiko to do to him. Because he didn’t wait to hear what Tamiko had to say.

He just left like that.

Like he didn’t almost abandon the love of his life to go and hang out with his brothers-in-arms.

Because at least with the warriors, he didn’t have to worry about the fucking ultimatum or even the fact that his Nana was here casually mingling with other locals like she wasn’t the very myth that haunted them.

"Well, that was cold. Are you sure you don’t want me to strangle your auntie-dearest on your behalf even if it kills me? You know I would fight the king too, however stupid an idea that would be.

"But for you, little brother, I would ask for it. So just say the word and I’ll light your aunt’s head if she doesn’t present mine to you first," Danny chuckled nervously yet sincerely.

He was not just talking because the banquet was filled with drunk kayakers who had already started looking stupid thanks to the alcohol. He wasn’t saying all that for the sake of it.

He was being genuine.

Being honest.

Even in the face of his potential doom.

It was a terrible idea for both of them to have beer in such a palace, but they all needed to relax.

They all needed to unwind, but the prince clearly wasn’t in the mood to unwind, especially with the way he was tightening his jaw and tucking his tongue like he wanted to choke himself into the afterlife.

"He needs time. She said I could only have him back if I finalized my vengeance in the Grealors. And as it is, revenge is taking quite some time. I would be angry too if I were Kosta.

"We waited ten whole years of strategy and making them suffer, and we only won our first real battle against them last week," Tamiko sighed as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

He hated what had become of them, but he was not selfish enough to say that he did understand where Kosta was coming from. He knew it so well. He understood it like the back of his mind.

Ten years had passed.

Hell, it was almost eleven now, and they still couldn’t be happy freely. There were so many hurdles between the sand, and the strategies were not making the process any better at the moment.

Patience was not even a virtue anymore, but a path of thorns. A path that was slowly dooming their love, and Tamiko hated that he didn’t have that much power to change the timeline.

Maybe he really should have taken out Yilena back then, but what the fuck would that even leave him at? Where would he be at this moment?

"My offer is still on the table if you need someone insane and drunk enough to do that madness. Besides, he already hates me, and I hate him.

"Adding another reason to that list of reasons why we hate each other won’t be as bad if it means seeing him smile," Danny said casually.

Tamiko just chuckled.

His best friend was crazy; there was no denying that at this point.

He had considered Danny’s suggestion one too many times, but his only catch was Kosta’s happiness. Taking his happiness just so they could be together was a fate so unhinged that Tamiko refused to lean into it.

He would make their paths right, even if it took him ages to work it out.

Maybe tomorrow.

Maybe in a few years.

They just had to wait it out.

"There are so many hot men on the dance floor who have been looking at you for a while. Go on and have fun. Don’t let my depressed state keep you depressed too," Tamiko said casually as if that was what they both needed.

But then maybe it was a new Chapter for both of them. One in which Tamiko fought for their love, and another in which Danny dared to love again. Time was not kind to any of them, but to suggest that on this wild evening was something else.

Then again, weren’t they the best of friends who messed with each other all the time? Perhaps this was how their shattered grief would manifest. But why did Danny feel like Tamiko was just being a nuisance tonight?

Danny stared at his defeated best friend, amusedly. Like that was not really a problem for him. It had been years since Danny had lost his mate, too. Years since he has mourned and continues mourning.

And Tamiko knew that too.

Tamiko had respected his grief back to them, and he has been to this day, and that was how Danny knew this wasn’t just about the past and the present or even the future. This was about the moment before them.

"Only if you come dance with me," Danny said, his eyes not leaving the dancefloor, which had different people.

Sure, it was not the center of attention at the banquet, seeing as the king’s welcome speech had long passed, and the warriors and people were free to do what they wanted.

But this was an offer that many knew its ending, and even its beginning. Perhaps the kind of doom and shame that only two best friends understood to the core because they both knew they had worse than two left feet.

They couldn’t dance to save their lives, and yet it suddenly seemed like that was what Danny was aiming for. Freedom... but at the cost of what? Their feet?

Tamiko almost rolled his eyes at Danny. He knew what this was. He understood it one too well, and he knew how terrible an idea it was.

Hell, the Lycan lord was crazy.

The realm already knew them as the best of friends, and after the battle, the realm also knew who Tamiko’s heart belonged to. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a chance that Kosta would drag them both by their ears and lock them up later on.

"Kosta will kill us both," Tamiko reasoned.