Vengeance of The Broken Lycan Prince [BL]-Chapter 425: Before I Could Hold You

Chapter 425: Before I Could Hold You
[TAMIKO]
"I never meant to make you mourn again, Papa, I swear it," Tamiko said earnestly as he weakly grasped his father’s wrist like it was the only anchor he had left at this point.
Perhaps that was it for him because everything else seemed so out of touch with their reality anyway.
"Then please don’t make me bury you twice, please," the king said, his voice barely audible. Tamiko felt like he had been stabbed in the heart a thousand times without a break, his breath hitched at his father’s statement.
His face went pale, like the mere thought of that happening worried him to the core.
Of course, he had learned about the king long while he was still just a slave in Grealor. He had learned of the king who had lost everything and left everything back then. The king, who never showed his face, and many had assumptions about him.
The king who mourned so openly and whose hurt was felt by everyone.
The king, whose loss had gotten everyone mourning with him.
The king, who had done the one thing no noble in Kawai had ever done, sent his queen’s body to be burnt along with the other women’s bodies. He had shown the people of Kawai what he was made of, and what love and pushing him and transforming him into.
And even when he had locked himself up in long grief, his people didn’t do the kind of shit that would have him back on the streets murdering aimlessly.
His father was the king who had mourned so many losses to the point that his kingdom had gone from fearing him and what he stood for to caring for him, something that neither of them had ever thought possible.
It was a long day for them, and no one had wished for it at the time, but they had seen that king, and now, Tamiko was thrust harshly through the history books he had sneaked and read in the public Grealor library, and his heart broke for his father.
He felt himself mourn alongside his father, too, and gods, was it the kind that had him on his knees, too? But maybe that was all this was. A father who was desperately trying to hold onto his child, right?
"They made me live without you once, for over twenty-five years. They took you from me, even before I could see you, even before I could tell what our future would be like.
"They ruined both our lives, and even now, they dare to come here and try to take you away from me," the king said softly, his voice barely audible as he looked at his son like this was a moment he didn’t want to forget.
It was a dangerous game they had been playing, but someone had to put an end to this.
The mad king refused to be the one who lost again.
Not at the hands of Grealor and never his son again. He refused to be the one who fell into grief again.
So he lifted his face from his son, back to the battlefield, and across it to where Alpha Ashton stood, confident in what he had done, the king made his decision.
His breaths may have been shallow and shaky, but as he got up, his face hardening at the possibility that he would be running into this time, King Zaffuto had a purpose embedded in the back of his mind.
A reminder of what he needed to do.
Something that he wouldn’t have to step back from.
It was the kind that he would not falter from, and hell would be damned if he so much as tried to ignore it, because this time, he wasn’t just a father or a king.
He was a man who was determined to protect his son.
A man who would burn the realm if that was their price, they needed to pay for it.
"Never again," the king said in deathly determination when his eyes met and held Ashton’s gaze. It was as if something else had passed between them. But the king didn’t care for that.
All he had to do was to make sure that nothing that had already happened would ever happen again. He would be damned if he let everything fall apart when he still could control it all.
"I’ll make this right," the mad king swore, his voice gentle like he was going to the unthinkable while still keeping in mind that he had a son he was determined to protect from everyone and everything.
Everyone else watched in awe and shock as the king walked toward the former alpha of Grealor, his rage evident for everyone and everything that had dared to look at him so wrongly. This time, it wasn’t just to fight for his sanity or what he deemed right.
This was a fight for love.
For his son’s sanity and peace.
And everyone felt it.
The warriors bowed their heads unwillingly as the king passed them.
They stared at each other in shock once the king passed, like they had realized they were being forced into submission by a psycho who didn’t care for anything other than the son he loved more than he had ever loved anyone or anything.
This was about Liana’s living seed, one that he would forever protect. And even though he passed his brother and his son’s lord, the king knew that his decision was final. There was no way to turn back.
Gods, he wasn’t going to turn back.
Not this time.
There on that battlefield, everyone saw the king who had once lost everything, the one who had almost lost it all a second time, all because of the same people.
They saw the king, who was not going to spare anyone here, the king who was not going to be merciful after some point; they understood where he was coming from.
But would they lower their swords and let themselves into the wrath of the one man who could end them with just a snap of his fingers?
"We have to get on with the fight, too," Tamiko said when he realized where his father was headed. It was like he was not going to sit by and watch; of course, he knew his father would probably never agree to that.
Tamiko was done fighting for himself.
This time, he would be fighting for his father, too.
To show him that they were alright, that he could take care of himself, too.
He was going to prove to the king just how sorry he was.
Kosta stared at him, wondering if there was ever to be a day when the crown prince got a break. Maybe there were times for that, but Tamiko and his understanding of relief were surely flawed.
Surely someone could explain that to him before everything went to shit, right?
"You don’t have to go back to fighting, Tamiko. You have given more than enough," Kosta pleaded when he realized that Tamiko wasn’t even holding his sword.
The guilt of almost losing Tamiko was still fresh in his mind, and he could not deal with losing his prince again; the man himself was so stubborn that it was almost a circle that he had even let his father fix him up.
"I know, Kosta... I know. But I want to be there beside you, even if it’s not a sword I wield," Tamiko said, and Kosta stared at him, surprised.
"No sword?" Kosta asked.