Chapter 79: The Only Price is Death

"So, you lied to us, boy!" Beralt roared, his voice shaking the very leaves of the garden.

Before the last word even left his mouth, Beralt’s body violently expanded. The sound of bones cracking and reforming echoed. In a fraction of a second, the King’s suit was shredded, replaced by a massive, towering black wolf.

Clarice stood perfectly still. The sheer force of her husband’s rage was terrifying, but that wasn’t what had rooted her feet.

The fake mate contract was certainly a surprise, but she had heard what Daemus had just said to Blair. The words echoed relentlessly in her mind: If you are to die, I would rather die first.

It couldn’t be possible. Clarice didn’t want to think it was possible. She feared the truth of those words so deeply that she refused to even voice the thought in her own mind. She squeezed her eyes shut, desperately forcing the terrifying realization away.

Either way, she had to protect him.

Clarice shifted before Daemus even had a chance to react. Her elegant dress tore away as she took the form of a sleek, dark blue wolf. She immediately leapt forward, placing her smaller body between her towering husband and her son.

Beralt’s imposing size completely dwarfed her, casting a terrifying shadow over her blue fur.

Beralt let out a snarl, his black lips pulling back to reveal row upon row of razor-sharp fangs.

Clarice did not flinch. She dug her paws firmly into the dirt, standing her ground and letting out a low, warning growl of her own.

"Move, Clarice," Beralt commanded.

As the Wolf King, he possessed the rare ability to speak clearly even while in his beast form.

Clarice barked back, a series of frantic, pleading yips and growls. Blair couldn’t understand a thing the blue wolf was saying, but Beralt’s booming responses painted a clear enough picture.

"What you are saying cannot be possible," Beralt argued, his dark eyes locked onto his wife. "It is all a lie. They both lied to us. Do not allow yourself to keep being tricked by them."

Clarice let out another desperate whine, stepping closer to press her snout against his chest to beg him to stop.

"Daemus must be punished," Beralt stated coldly, unmoved by her pleas. "And with the human out of the way, he will be able to fulfill his duty."

Clarice growled louder this time, her hackles raising defensively as she snapped her jaws.

"Depression is a human emotion!" Beralt roared back, dismissing whatever Clarice had just argued. "He is a wolf! In the future, our son will be happy and thank me for what I did today when he sits on the throne!"

Beralt didn’t wait for another argument. He lunged forward, violently shoving past his trembling wife.

Daemus was ready.

He shifted with blinding speed, a blur of navy-blue fur and muscle. He forcefully shoved Blair backward with his snout, pushing her out of the line of fire just as Beralt’s jaws snapped shut on the empty air where Daemus had just been standing.

Clarice looked away as the horrific sounds of tearing flesh and feral snarling filled the garden. She couldn’t bear to watch.

There was nothing she could do to stop it. Daemus was quite a bit smaller than his father, lacking the King’s overwhelming brute strength, but he was incredibly fast and fueled by desperate, protective fury.

Beralt swiped a paw, his claws sinking deep into Daemus’s flank. Daemus let out a pained yelp, but he immediately used his agility to twist out of his father’s grip. He launched himself forward, sinking his teeth into the thick scruff of Beralt’s neck. Beralt roared, violently shaking his head to throw his son off, sending Daemus crashing hard into the wooden dining table. The furniture splintered into pieces under the impact.

"Mom!" Luna yelled over the chaos.

She rushed over, throwing a cloak around Clarice’s shoulders just as the older woman shifted back.

Clarice pulled the cloak tightly around her naked body, dropping to her knees on the grass. Horror, fear, and a sense of uselessness filled her silver eyes. It tore her apart to see her husband and her first-born son tearing into each other like this. It wasn’t an alpha dominance display; they fought like they were truly trying to kill each other.

From behind the safety of a large potted fern, Blair covered her mouth with her hands to stifle her own sobs.

She couldn’t bear to look over at Clarice. She could hear the matriarch’s loud sobbing and her desperate, broken pleas for them to stop fighting.

The heavy, crushing weight of guilt suffocated Blair. It’s all my fault, she thought frantically, watching Daemus take another brutal hit from his father. Everything is my fault.

This entire disaster had happened because she went to that stupid party. She had been pushing the reality to the back of her mind since she woke up, trying desperately to survive the immediate threats, but the truth hit her now like a physical blow. Heather was very likely not around anymore.

And that, too, was because Blair had gone to that party.

Blair was filled with burning self-loathing. She squeezed her eyes shut, racking her brain to figure out how she could possibly help Daemus.

Telling them she was a fake mate had changed absolutely nothing. Beralt still wanted to kill her just to clear the path for Kyana. What if she offered a different deal? What if she swore a blood oath to leave the academy, to stay away from Daemus and never, ever see him again? Would the King accept her exile in exchange for her life?

A crash shook the room as Beralt threw Daemus straight through the glass wall of the garden.

Meanwhile, amidst the destruction, Luna reached into the pocket of her dress.

She pulled out a small, metallic dart.

Luna crouched down next to her weeping mother. She grabbed Clarice’s trembling hand and pressed the dart firmly into her palm.

"It’s called Dreamy Kim," Luna whispered quickly, her eyes darting toward the two fighting wolves. "It’s a street drug. It kind of makes you brain-dead for a little while."

Clarice’s teary eyes widened in shock. She stared at the dart in her hand, then looked up at her daughter. "Where... where did you get this?!"

"That is not important right now!" Luna hissed, glancing back at the bloody brawl. "I only have one."

Luna looked her mother dead in the eyes, her expression serious.

"You’re going to have to use it on either Dad, or Daemus."