A Drop In The Ocean

[TAMIKO]

Marked. 

He had an Erasthai.

He had completed the marking.

Oh, Tamiko.

"I love you more than life," Tamiko confessed for the hundredth time to his erasthai who was watching him with hearts in his eyes. Kosta was happy that anyone who didn't know him any better would think that he was worried this would be a dream.

Perhaps it was a dream, but the endless teasing he had gotten from the king and the Lycan Lord was proof enough that this right here was real and not an illusion. The barbarian bore the mark of the crown prince.

It was easily the highest honor anyone in Kawai would ever have, but to Kosta, being the one Tamiko loved was that honor. He hadn't fallen in love with the crown prince or the outcast of Grealor, no. 

He had fallen in love with the boy with the brightest smile he'd ever seen. He loved the boy with the world who made his heart flutter and the boy he would go to the deepest pits of hell for. 

"Then don't ever leave me," Kosta said softly as she leaned on Tamiko's shoulder. 

They were currently at the royal table, dining with the king. What was supposed to be a four-man dinner turned out to be a love confession for two and an awkward staring session for two others.

"I think the color of the plates makes this better," Sadako said as he shoved a beer glass on his brother's face. They wanted to talk about anything as long as the focus wasn't on the two who were so in love.

"Just one more time," Tamiko said earnestly.

"Take me with you. I won't ruin your plans," Kosta insisted in a whisper. He was in his own world with the Lycan prince and if the chief was being honest, he loved staying like this with his mate. 

Tamiko felt like home. 

Hell, Tamiko was… his home.

"You still have to be the Lycan chief, Kosta. Besides, this is going to get messy and we don't need to drag Kawai's name in the middle of the chaos by the outcast of Grealor, now, do we?

"Kawai needs to remain what it has always been. And a stray orphan Lycan isn't supposed to change that for people who have lived here their entire lives," Tamiko said and that got the father and uncle to stop looking at the bright cutlery on the table.

"What do you mean by that?" King Zaffuto asked as he looked at his son. He hadn't been expecting that from him, and it was obvious that even Kosta and Sadako had been expecting something else.

Tamiko felt his heart ache for his father. He had just started getting to know the king and in that time he had known the man to be a good person. He was what humanity needed and what Kawai needed.

The tongue prince could tell that this kingdom meant the world for his father, and as much as Tamiko wanted to be a part of this, he couldn't keep deluding himself with the thoughts of being a part of it.

The fantasy was good while it lasted, and now, he had to go back to his reality. The reality of him being alone and unwanted. Granted that had changed thanks to his visit to Kawai, but even if he stayed here, who was he?

The Lycan chief's erasthai? The crown prince? Maybe Tamiko was overthinking, but he was right. There would be so many questions raised. The Lycan kingdom was never known to take in strays and yet Tamiko had seamlessly gotten in.

"I am what the culture would refer to as a rogue Lycan. I was born outside of Kawai, to parents I don't even know. I always wished to come home, but I can't even do that because the Kawai rules demand punishments for rogues.

"I have no parents to prove that I didn't go rogue on my own, so that puts me in quite the pickle. And before you start talking about you being in power and changing rules. What of the other rogues like me?

"What of how their lives had gotten hard because the rules have never been bent for anyone? Perhaps they had realistic reasons for their state, but I don't even know what reason that was.

"I am being rational here. My first day in Kawai was as a runaway. The second time I came as a prisoner of war. The third time, I don't even know what I came as, but that in itself speaks volumes to the people of Kawai.

"It won't be fair for you to take in a rogue Lycan and ignore all the other Lycan rogues who always had the desire to come home but couldn't. All Lycan rogues are killed, remember? I have a choice between life and death and you all know it.

"If I stay in Kawai, I am supposed to die at the hands of the king or the Lycan Lord. But if I leave this place, however much I like it, I will live long enough to get my revenge on the Grealor pack and figure out what's next for me. 

"I survived this long, my parents will probably be proud of me somewhere in the afterlife," Tamiko said, not giving the king and his brother a chance to respond to him. He had been truthful with them, but this was the kind of truth that Zaffuto despised.

He had waited years and years to see his son. He had always believed his son was dead and now when he had gotten his son, he was just going to lose him like that? It wouldn't make any sense and he refused to think of it like that.

For the first time since the rules were made, King Zaffuto hated the shit he was drafted and approved of. Perhaps it was because, at the time, the only Lycans who went rogue were misfits who tried to run away from their punishment in the kingdom.

His son hadn't committed a sin. He was innocent and the realm owed his son an apology, but was that ever going to be enough for Tamiko and his father? So much time had passed and the reality had stayed.

"I am the king. My word is final and I won't let you leave," King Zaffuto said and Tamiko looked at his father for the second time tonight. He was sure this wasn't easy for both of them but there was a system in place. They couldn't defy it for their own benefit.

"You and I both know that doing that will make you a horrible king. You will go back to being the monster in the eyes of the Kawai Lycans. I thought we were past that?" Tamiko asked, almost like he was scolding his father.

Kosta wanted to say something but even he knew the king was right. Sure, there was a lot that needed to be sorted but the king had lost twenty-five whole years with his son. They deserved to be together and desire all the damned rules.

"If you leave, I will burn the kingdom down so no one will be left to oppose you being beside me," the king said in a tone of finality, making Tamiko sigh. This was going to be a really long evening.