The Greatest Queen of Hearts

[KAWAI]

Queen Liana was the heart of Kawai.

Her mate may have been considered the cruelest man alive, but Queen Liana was the one woman everyone loved. She valued equality and made sure that everything was right. She was the only person who could control the King and bring him back his sanity.

Queen Liana was a goddess to her people, thanks to her kindness and humanity. She and her husband were polar opposites, but even, then the queen made sure to never interfere in her mate's work, as long as the people were well.

"Promise me you will be a good king, only then will our child be loved by his people. I want a world where our son doesn't have to beg for love. I want him to be free with others and live a simple happy life.

"Promise me, my love," Queen Liana had said to her husband when she had learned about her pregnancy. She had been excited, but she also knew she had a family to protect, including her husband.

"I swear on my life, my Liana," the king had responded to his wife, gently kissing her belly which hadn't even begun showing. He was happy when his erasthai was happy, and he wanted to keep her happy their whole lives.

Frankly, that queen was the only reason King Zaffuto had stopped killing his people just because he could. She was his light, the only one that made his life have meaning, and if she was gone, then the lycan kingdom, Kawai, was doomed.

For hours, the lycan warriors scoured the birthing hall for the queen and survivors, but when they were done, they all had broken hearts. They all had lost a part of themselves in the search for their queen and survivors.

Everyone in the birthing hall was dead.

The expectant women who had once had hopes of giving Kawai their next set of future warriors were gone.

"No," the great king whimpered when he saw his warriors come out of the hall with the bloody crown and the queen's shoal.

His warriors were also carefully carrying with them a body, one that he was familiar with even though he had never expected this to be the case.

From the way they had carried that body, and how the warriors behind them had stood alert, King Zaffuto knew that hell had finally knocked down his door.

Hell was right here in his Kawai.

And hell was staring at him.

"Zaffuto… You need to make way for them," Sadako said to the confused king softly, dropping all the titles, something that only he could do, because Sadako may have been the cruel king's enforcer, but he was Zaffuto's best friend.

He understood King Zaffuto better than anyone in the kingdom.

"But brother, my Liana… My queen," the king said to his best friend, before he fell to his knees when the warriors reached him with the body of his queen. He could see her belly that was not even sewn up yet.

His wife had gone through a cesarean operation, and his son was stolen from him, even before she could hold him. Who could be that cruel to a woman anyway? He was disheartened and distraught, and more than anything, King Zaffuto was angry.

"I'm so sorry, brother," Sadako said, kneeling beside Zaffuto, before pulling him into a hug, one that the helpless King gladly returned, as if it was going to mute out the sound of his breaking heart from him.

But it only slapped him with reality even harder.

"Take the queen to her chambers," Sadako said to the warriors who nodded at him. They knew their king would want to say his goodbyes properly before he let her go. He knew that this was the hardest decision that they all would ever have to make.

"Someone did this to me, Sadako. Someone took my happiness from me," King Zaffuto said defeatedly, letting his silent tears finally show. There was no one around them, not even the men whose wives had been murdered in the massacre.

The king was grieving for them all, and they weren't allowed to see a broken king. Oh, but the rules were disheartening, to say the least, but what else could they do about them, huh? Life had dealt them the worst set of cards and how they would deal with them was their choice.

Then again, no one had ever seen the great king cry. Seeing him hurt about his queen, and the other mothers, was the reminder that they all needed to realize that King Zaffuto shared in their grief.

He was humane too, damn.

"—And we'll find them, brother. We will find your son too. But until then, how about we let the husbands mourn their wives?" Sadako said to his broken brother who had just realized that he wasn't the one who had lost someone.

"I'm sorry," Zaffuto whispered and Sadako just nodded in understanding.

"Come, brother. Let's go see Liana one last time," Sadako said and the angry king got up with the help of his brother, taking one look at the dead bodies that were staring at him. Oh, how his heart shattered for those women.

"I will avenge them all," King Zaffuto promised as he wiped his tears, held his head high, and walked with his brother to the palace. He had a hell to face anyway.

"And I'll help you, always," Sadako promised as he looked at his brother.

****

At the palace, Queen Liana was laid on her bed and well dressed for her husband to see her.

Of course, the King never did mind what his erasthai wore, but when he walked through the doors and saw his pretty wife sleeping on one of the beds on the queen's wing, King Zaffuto felt his heart being ripped off one more time.

"Oh, my Lili," the king whispered sadly as he walked into the room, carefully locking the door, like he was worried that he would wake her up. A part of him was still hoping that his wife was alive and sleeping, but then he had seen her belly open roughly.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there in time. Sorry, I wasn't keen enough, my love," the king said shamefully as he walked closer to his wife, and held onto her hand. She was beautiful, even when she was dead and that made him feel like he was the most worthless mate of all time.

When he had gotten Liana as his mate, he had promised to be a good mate, to love and care for her, to be there for her all the time she needed him, to cherish her and listen to her, and more than anything, king Zaffuto had promised to protect her.

He had sworn to give his life up for her and yet when the time came for that, he wasn't even in the room with her. He had disappointed her, something that he would forever regret for the remainder of his miserable life.

"I should have—" King Zaffuto began, but then he noticed something on his mate's arm, something that had been deliberately put there.