[TAMIKO]
"You are wrong. They are never going to put me in danger,'' Tamiko said with conviction.
"I figured you would say that, which is why I invited someone over. Someone who might explain everything to you. Don't worry, he won't lie to you because he will be having the magical ball of truth.
"It's an ancient truth ball that no magic can manipulate. So you can be rest assured he won't lie to you. If he does, I will kill him myself. Deal?" Lord Sadako asked and Tamiko looked at him skeptically.
He wasn't sure what the lycan Lord was aiming for, but what Taniko wanted was to go back home.
Grealor may have been a shitty home, but at least in Grealor, he knew they hated him openly. They didn't hide behind anything, and Tamiko could actually trust in their hate for him regardless.
Here in Kawai, he wasn't too sure about that. But then he had to have some hope, right?
"Hello, your Royal Highness," a familiar voice spoke and Tamiko froze.
The man before him was not who he had expected and for a moment, he looked around to see if he was trapped in some illusion. There was no logical explanation for his presence here really, given everything that had happened earlier.
It was like a crazy set for the impossible and the fact that he was here was just not making any sense to him. Perhaps there was something they could do to fix this, right?
"Wh— What is he doing here? He shouldn't… Why is HE here?" Tamiko asked, instinctively pushing himself further on his bed.
He had been in this room alone for hours since they had come to Kawai with Lord Sadako, and frankly what he was seeing what's anything he had expected. It just didn't make any sense to him, because it was impossible.
"He can tell you the truth about everything, just listen to him," Lord Sadako said and it took everything in Tamiko not to lash out.
He was confused, and not sure what the fuck he was supposed to do right now. He had been abandoned and now, he was seeing someone else. When was this going to end? Was this proof that he was just a weakling?
"Tamiko," the man called out and Tamiko closed his eyes as if he was hoping for him to disappear.
"No. You don't get to do this after leaving. You already left, I don't have to listen to you anymore," Tamiko said and Lord Sadako just let out a chuckle. He loved that he was witnessing his nephew's first tantrum.
This wasn't what he had expected, but Lord Sadako was glad that his nephew was human at the end of the day. He hadn't expected the pouts, the little defiance tricks, but seeing him here right now, he sure hoped that Tamiko could understand that they all loved him so much.
But then it wasn't like Tamiko was supposed to trust them just because of the damn green amulet on his arm, or even the fact that Lord Sadako had been nicer to him. Tamiko had seen people who were kind to him turn against him when the tables turned.
He had learned not to hope, but why was it that seeing the two men here was giving him hope of a family, even though he couldn't quite understand why the lycan Lord had brought him here?
Perhaps it was because of his nature as a lycan, or maybe, just maybe, there was a reason for that, right? Well, it would take a while for Tamiko to process everything that he was hearing, and that too, was okay. After all, everything was bound to take some time.
"He's yours, Chief. Don't hurt him, or I will have your head. You know that by now, right?" Lord Sadako said and the mentioned Chief just stared at Tamiko before turning to the lycan Lord.
"I wouldn't even think of hurting him. He's my erasthai," Kosta said and Tamiko just glared at him.
"Well then, I have to take my leave. Make sure he comes to dinner. The servants will send some clothes to him. I'll see you both at the royal table," Lord Sadako said as he walked out, ignoring the sound Tamiko had just made out of shock.
"The royal table? The high table in simpler terms? Why the fuck would he want me at the high table? The same table that the lycan king sits at? Great.
"You both want me to die before even getting my vengeance against Grealor. Just great," Tamiko said as his mind finally processed what Lord Sadako had meant.
He wasn't sure that he was ready for that and for a moment, Tamiko looked around as if he was looking for any exits. But then if there were, a part of him knew he wouldn't be able to leave the room until the lycan Lord approved it.
The windows were so far up that he couldn't even get through. The tiny hole that he could consider a window was closer but it was more of a peeping hole, than an exit that could be used for a grown lycan like him.
"Isn't that a little too dramatic, dusha?" Igor said, making sure to say his words gently lest his erasthai be mad at him.
He knew what they had done to him in Grealor and he was still wondering how the fuck he was to come clean and tell him what his friends had been doing. Perhaps he could think about that at a later time, right?
"Dramatic? He's the dark king for fucks sake, Kosta. Also why the fuck am I here? I am supposed to thank you for my not-so-kind grab from Grealor. I was already doing good with your absence and then you just had to show up again.
"Why did you leave if you knew you were going to come back on the same day then?" Tamiko asked with a pout, though he was still a little angry with Igor.
He, however, couldn't deny the fact that seeing Kosta here was making him feel safer. He knew that Kosta would always protect him regardless, and maybe he was having too much hope in the bond, but then there had never been stories of lycans rejecting the erasthais they had chosen.
"I had to make them believe that I was abandoning you. I needed your emotions to be so raw and the goodbyes so real so they would think that you were alone," Kosta said, as he stood beside the bed.
He was tempted to reach out to Tamiko, but even he knew that there were things that the both of them needed to figure out. They had to come to a consensus before they could do anything.
"They? Do you mean my friends and Gabe? Yeah, Uncle already said that but I don't believe them. Besides, it doesn't make any sense that Danny and Galya would betray me. We have been friends with them since we were kids," Tamiko defended and Kosta just sighed.
"Then why did Galya steal the letters I left for you? Why did she go to Valu to fuck with your mind and let you think Lord Sadako was the one who took them?" Igor asked and Tamiko shook his head in denial.
"Impossible," he defended, but was it, really, when Kosta had sworn on his life, to never lie to him?