Chapter 71: A Classic Misunderstanding? Check!

Blair woke up for the second time that day.

The room was dark, save for the pale silver moonlight filtering through a set of sheer curtains. She blinked, her senses slowly coming back online. The mattress beneath her was incredibly soft, and the plush duvet draped over her legs radiated a comforting warmth.

She was definitely not in her lumpy dorm bed.

Where am I?

Blair shifted her weight, intending to push herself up. The moment her muscles tensed, a sharp pain flared across her back. She let out a sharp hiss through her teeth, her arms giving out as she flopped back against the mattress.

Waiting for the pain to subside, she let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She carefully rolled to her side, gritting her teeth, and managed to slide her legs off the edge of the bed. Her bare feet touched the floor. She put her weight on her legs to stand, but a sudden, piercing jolt shot straight up her ankle.

The room spun wildly around her. Vertigo hit her like a truck, forcing her to fall right back onto the mattress.

Breathing heavily, Blair reached down in the dark and felt her foot. Bandages wrapped her ankle tightly. She ran her hands up her body, her fingers brushing against the fabric of her top. Beneath her clothes, she could feel layer upon layer of gauze wrapping her entire torso.

She closed her eyes, digging deep into her brain to figure out what had happened to her. She hit a blank wall. The very last thing she could picture was walking down the campus path toward the library with Daemus, right before they were about to cross paths with that snake beastwoman and the Crown Prince.

After that... nothing. Just an empty black void.

Ignoring the throbbing ache in her back, Blair forced herself to stand up on her good foot. She hobbled across the large room, leaning on the walls and furniture for support.

It obviously wasn’t a hospital. This room smelled like flowers and citrus. It was a bedroom, and a massive one at that.

Panic slowly began to bubble in her chest. This absolutely had to be a beastman’s room. No human on the planet could afford to live in a space this huge and luxurious. She trailed her hand along a sleek dresser, pulling open the wooden drawers one by one. Empty. She checked the nightstand. Empty. There were zero personal belongings in the room.

She had been inside Daemus’s dorm at the academy before, she knew this room definitely did not belong to him.

Blair put the puzzle pieces together in her head. She was covered in wounds, and she had woken up in an unfamiliar, luxurious bedroom very very likely owned by a wealthy beastman.

Was I tortured, and then pampered? she wondered wildly.

She remembered from meeting Daemus that nice beastmen did exist. Maybe she had been attacked in the woods, and some kind, wealthy noble had saved her and brought her back to his room to nurse her wounds?

A wave of gratitude washed over her, but then...

What if he wants sex in return?!

Her eyes widened in the dark. Beastmen didn’t do charity. They didn’t do anything for free. But then again, neither did humans. There was always a catch. She was incredibly thankful to be alive, but she had absolutely nothing of value to offer as thanks.

She needed to leave.

I’ll just send a really nice prayer for whoever helped me when I get back to the church, Blair decided pragmatically, shuffling her way along the wall.

Her hands finally found the door. She wrapped her fingers around the knob and turned it as slowly and silently as she possibly could. She cracked the door open just an inch, letting a sliver of warm, golden hallway light spill into the dark bedroom.

Carried on the light were the sounds of hushed, tense voices not too far down the corridor. A man and a woman.

Blair held her breath, preparing to pull the door shut, when the man spoke again.

She recognized the deep voice instantly. It was Daemus.

Most of the tension immediately melted right out of Blair’s rigid shoulders. She let out a quiet sigh of relief. If Daemus was here, she was safe. She leaned forward, intending to push the door open and rush out to him, but his rising voice stopped her in her tracks.

"I won’t fucking do it," Daemus snapped.

"You didn’t have a problem with it before!" the woman hissed back furiously. "So, what changed?"

"I changed, Mom," Daemus retorted, his voice dripping with frustration. "Now I know what I want, and she isn’t what I want. Why the fuck would I want to spend my life with someone so self-absorbed and boring? I never had a single day of peace dating her."

Blair froze. Her hand trembled on the doorknob.

He was talking about her. He had to be.

Never a single day of peace. She always found herself in trouble. She was always causing a mess, and he was always coming running to save her whenever she called. Just like this time. She couldn’t remember the details, but he had obviously been the one to save her from whoever hurt her again. And self-absorbed and boring? She literally spent all her time studying and hyper-fixating on her own problems.

Blair didn’t want to hear another word.

She carefully clicked the door shut, plunging herself back into the darkness. She turned around and limped slowly back to the bed, the physical pain in her ankle suddenly overshadowed by the ache blooming in her chest.

She lay down on top of the covers, staring blankly up at the dark ceiling.

Were his parents trying to force him to marry her? Was this about the whole "genius gene" thing?

I should probably tell them it isn’t possible, Blair thought numbly. That isn’t how biology works at all.

She swallowed the painful lump in her throat. The very last thing she ever wanted to do was stand in the way of Daemus’s happiness. He had done so much for her. He had protected her, took care of her, and saved her life. If he had finally found a beastwoman he actually liked, someone who gave him peace and wasn’t a constant burden... she should step aside and accept whatever fate awaits her.

Even just thinking about him with someone else brought a burning sting to her heart.

Blair squeezed her eyes tightly shut, stubbornly pretending the sting didn’t exist. She was happy for him.

Yes. She definitely was.