[KAWAI]
"I should have—" King Zaffuto began, but then he noticed something on his mate's arm, something that had been deliberately put there. It was the wolf battle sign, a tattoo of a wolf, one that wolves wore when they went to battle.
That Tattoo was neatly drawn, when his wife was already dead.
He knew that because of how neat the scar was. There was no disturbance, and her lycans couldn't have healed her in time. And that's why this was glaring at him like that. A mere wolf had taken his wife and child from him.
A wolf had been involved in whatever had happened, and that could only mean that someone was a spy in his kingdom. Someone was talking of the king to the other races, someone was betraying his people and there was nothing King Zaffuto hated more than traitors.
"Werewolves… Someone betrayed you, love. Someone betrayed us," the king said as he looked closely at the tattoo. He wasn't sure what was upsetting him even more. The fact that his erasthai was murdered by a wolf or that someone had been peddling information.
As the king sat there staring at his wife, he knew the time was closing in for her to be taken to the pyre. It was the worst thing for a mate, but he was aware that there was nothing left for him to do, other than face the first reality that he lost his wife.
It wasn't the easiest thing, but for his wife, he would do this.
"I'll find our son, Lili. I'll find him and find the people who did this to you. If I have to burn down Kawai while at it, then please forgive me, my love. Whatever happens, I'll try to hold onto my sanity long enough, while I find our son.
"I'll let him be free like you wanted him to, let him be happy, and interact with other children. I… I'll make Kawai into the home he'd never want to run away from. I'll love him for the both of us. And to do that, I might have to kill again, baby.
"Forgive me for that," King Zaffuto said before he took one last look at his wife. This was goodbye for him, the kind that he had never been ready for, but such was life, and he would find a way to make things right for them.
He would find his son, but first, he needed to collect himself and give her a proper ceremony.
"Come in," the king said style after a few hours when he was done with his wife.
He may have been heartbroken, but he had a kingdom that had lost so many others and children. It was a sight that would forever break his heart and for that, forgiveness was never going to be an option for him. He would never forget what had happened.
"Hey, brother, I'll go talk to the people. The bodies of the mothers have been retrieved from the birthing hall," Sadako said when King Zaffuto walked out of the room that the Queen had been in.
King Zaffuto didn't know what they would do, but he was sure that none of them would dare do anything to piss him off more than he was already pissed. He was counting on their fear too, really because that way, he would find the person who did this to him.
He was hurting and he knew it was just a matter of time before his lycan couldn't handle the grief and he would have to find a king for his people. He may have been a monster, but he was determined to keep his wife's wish. He would always try to live for himself and his son.
"No, brother, I'll do it. I have to face this. I know I haven't been the best of them all, but I need to do this. Those were mothers back there; mothers whose only crime was to be close to the queen.
"They trusted my Lili, and they believed in her through and through. I may not be the king they have known and I'm not planning on being the king they get used to. I just need them to know how sorry I am.
"—Even if it is for the last time," King Zaffuto said, his last statement making Sadako look at him skeptically. What the hell did he even mean by the last time? He wanted to ask that, but then the king was already headed out with the warriors who were scared shitless of him.
Today, Kawai would see their king and maybe it would be the last time. Oh, the horror that word held for them all. But maybe it would be for the best, right?
"Okay, let's go then," Sadako whispered when he noticed his king was serious about going out there to the people who were most likely scared of him. But just this once, Sadako counted on King Zaffuto's humanity.
It was the only way to make the people understand that they would be in great hands.
"The... The King is here?" the lycans asked, having not expected to see the man who ruled over them in this place. Sure, he went to war for them, he did whatever he had to, for them, but even that was never enough for them to dare to look at their king.
He looked angry, but this time it wasn't because of the lycans. This time, his justified anger was the only way they could relate to him.
It did help that they were together in their pain, and that the king hadn't pretended like they all weren't hurt. This was the king they had seen in the old times, but then it seemed like grief and anger was once again depriving them of love.
"Maybe he found the people who did it."
"Hello Kawai," King Zaffuto greeted, as he looked at the mass of lycans who were staring at him skeptically.
"Tragedy has struck us in the worst of ways. We lost our mothers, women who meant the world to us, in the hands of people who have been with us, sitting with us, dining with us, and making merry with us.
"The people who attacked our home were not outsiders, but traitors who embedded themselves in our home, learned our habits, and pretended to smile with us, when in reality, they were planning on taking away what we love the most. The mothers in our family.
"I know most of us, just like me, were expecting our mothers, wives, and sisters home. But betrayal brought us to this point. So I won't pretend to stand here and say that things will be okay. Nothing will be okay for a long while.
"My son, the lycan prince was kidnapped today, something that seems to be the motive of all this. I will send warriors to your houses after this, and they will confirm if you are traitors to the people of Kawai or not.
"Whatever happened, shouldn't have happened, and that too to the fragile mothers who were at their weakest. For that cruelty, if I find a traitor among you, I will burn you alive. I will give you the worst of punishments. This is a promise.
"I'm so sorry for your loss. May the queen and the fallen mothers and children's souls rest in peace," King Zaffuto said, before he did a ninety-degree bow to his people, an indication that he wasn't ever at war with the innocents.
He just wanted to root the evil in their home, the evil that had cost them much.
"All hail the king!!!"
"Long live the king!!"
"May the goddess protect our king!!"
That evening, king Zaffuto did the one thing that no one had expected. He conducted a mass funeral for the mothers. Sure, he had gone back into the palace and stayed in his chambers, but he had instructed the warriors to hold a mass funeral.
"Are you sure about this, Zaffuto?"