Chapter 78: One Word: Disaster

A collective gasp echoed across the garden.

"What did you just say, boy?" Beralt fumed, his voice booming with enough force to rattle the silverware on the table.

Daemus didn’t even flinch. He tilted his head, leveling his father with a mocking stare. "Are your ears worsening with age?"

Clarice flew up from her chair so fast it tipped backward and crashed into the grass. Her perfectly composed, polite demeanor vanished in an instant.

"Daemus, shut up!" Clarice yelled, rushing around the table to grab her husband’s arm. Her silver eyes were wide with panic as she looked back and forth between them. She pleaded desperately with her son. "Apologize. Apologize to your father immediately!"

"No," Daemus said flatly. "I am old enough to say whatever the fuck I want to whoever I want."

Beralt slammed his fist onto the table, splintering the wood beneath his knuckles. "Not while you are under my roof! Not while you are in my pack! And not while you are my son!"

Realizing the situation was about to turn very violent, Clarice quickly turned to the guests. "Please, excuse us," she hurried out, waving her hands toward the exit. "My son has obviously lost his mind. Give us a moment."

Yennifer huffed, grabbing her husband’s arm and marching out of the garden. Kyana followed right behind her parents. But they didn’t go far.

Just outside, Kyana stopped. She slipped behind a large, leafy potted fern, pulled her phone from her pocket, and hit record. She positioned the camera lens perfectly through the leaves, catching every second of the Wintercrest royal family’s meltdown.

The moment they left, Clarice turned her fury back on her son.

"Don’t you see we are doing all of this for you?!" Clarice yelled, her chest heaving. "For you to be the next Beast King!"

"When did I ever tell you I wanted to be the next Beast King?" Daemus argued.

Blair shifted awkwardly. She gently tugged at her arm, desperately wanting to leave. This was a very personal family situation, and she felt extremely uncomfortable intruding on it. But Daemus wasn’t letting her go. His large hand remained wrapped tightly around hers, keeping her there.

Beralt stepped forward, his dark brown eyes narrowing into slits. "You have a duty to this pack, and a duty to this family," the King commanded. "You will marry Kyana, and you will become the Beast King."

Daemus stared dead into his father’s eyes. "Then I renounce all of it."

Blair’s eyes bugged out of her skull. She looked up at him in shock.

"The pack, the title, this damn family," Daemus listed off coldly, dropping them like dead weight. "I’m done."

Clarice looked like she was actually going to pass out. All the color drained from her face. She threw herself between her husband and her son, holding her hands up to keep them apart.

"He doesn’t mean it!" Clarice swore frantically to Beralt, before turning pleading eyes to Daemus. "You don’t mean that, Daemus. Words said in anger are never true."

"I’m not angry," Daemus replied, his expression perfectly calm. "I’m just done putting up with this bullshit. Why can Luna waste her life away doing drugs and whatever else she sneaks out to do, but I have to marry exactly who you want me to marry, and be exactly who you want me to be?"

Across the table, Luna froze with a forkful of roasted vegetables halfway into her mouth. She chewed rapidly, swallowing hard. "Why did you have to drag me into this?" she muffled out, looking irritated.

But fortunately for her, her parents ignored her.

"You ungrateful pup," Beralt snarled. He pointed an accusing finger at Blair. "All of this because you got bewitched by a human?! Maybe if I kill her, you’ll come back to your senses!"

A growl ripped through Daemus’s chest.

"Touch her," Daemus swore, the promise dripping with deadly intent, "and I will kill you."

Seeing the fearless certainty in Daemus’s eyes angered Beralt even more than the actual threat. The King let out a roar, his muscles tensing as he lunged forward.

"No, wait!" Clarice screamed, throwing her weight against Beralt’s chest to stop him. "He doesn’t know what he’s saying! He doesn’t mean it!"

But Beralt was blind with rage. He roughly shoved Clarice aside. She stumbled, crying out as she fell hard onto the floor.

Luna instantly dropped her fork and rushed around the table, dropping to her knees beside her mother. "Okay, this is getting way out of hand," Luna muttered. She had been enjoying the drama at first. Her older brother and father never saw eye-to-eye, but it had never escalated to actual violence before.

Daemus let go of Blair’s hand, his hands curling into tight fists as he prepared to meet his father’s charge.

But Blair grabbed his hand right back.

She pulled on him with both hands, getting up and stepping into his line of sight. "Please, Daemus, apologize," she pleaded, her voice trembling. "Take it back. You don’t have to do this."

Daemus looked down at her, the anger still blazing in his silver eyes.

"We are fake mates," Blair confessed, letting the truth spill out. "It’s all a contract! And he never cheated on Kyana with me, it was all a misunderstanding! I swear I’ll walk away!"

She tightened her grip on his arm, her vision blurring as hot tears pooled in her eyes. She was terrified of him getting hurt to defend her again. The last thing Blair wanted was to be the reason a father and son tore each other apart. Growing up in the church, she had been taught the sacred importance of family, and she wished every single day that she knew her own. Family simply shouldn’t fight like this.

"It’s all fake, Daemus" Blair said tearily, her voice cracking as a single tear slipped down her cheek. "Stop taking it so seriously."

Daemus stared down at her. Slowly, the murderous rage drained out of his features, his expression softening. His thumb gently brushed the tear from her cheek.

"I told you," Daemus murmured softly, his eyes locking onto hers. "I take everything seriously. And you, I take the most serious."

He let his hand rest against the side of her face.

"If you are to die," Daemus added, his voice barely a whisper, "I would rather die first."