Chapter 82: All the Feelings

Both their eyes fell to Daemus’s lap.

Blair’s face was instantly flooded with a heat so intense she thought her skin might actually melt. She scrambled backward on the bed, putting as much distance between them as she could without falling off the edge.

"Fuck," Daemus muttered under his breath, squeezing his eyes shut.

He moved quickly, snatching a pillow from the messy pile at the head of the bed and pulling it over his lap. He offered her a tight, strained smile. "Sorry."

Blair immediately looked away, staring fixedly at the floor. "It’s okay," she said quietly, her voice barely a squeak.

"Is it... is it because the full moon is coming?" Blair asked nervously, still refusing to look at him.

Daemus let out a quiet sigh, running a hand through his damp blue hair. He raised a brow. "Not exactly."

He placed the half-eaten slice of jam-covered bread down on a napkin. He looked at her, his silver eyes incredibly intense. He wasn’t going to hide behind an excuse.

"I’m just really attracted to you," Daemus stated bluntly.

Blair’s breath hitched. But her mind frantically searched for an out, a way to rationalize what he was saying so she wouldn’t have to face what she knew he was trying to say.

She rubbed her hand nervously against her neck. "Is it... is it because of what your mom sprayed on me?" she tried, grasping at the final straw. "The female heat thing?"

"Well, you do look really good in that dress, and what my mom sprayed on you certainly makes it harder to hold myself back," he admitted. "But that’s not it."

Blair swallowed hard, her fingers tightening around the soft wool of her dress.

"I’m just going to say it," Daemus continued, offering a small chuckle, "before you ask if it’s because of how the wind is blowing or some shit."

He took a deep breath.

"I like you, Blair Willows."

A million butterflies suddenly erupted in Blair’s stomach, fluttering wildly against her ribs. Her heart skipped at least a dozen beats, hammering so fast it made her dizzy.

"What?" she stuttered out, finally snapping her head up to look at him.

Daemus held her gaze, meaning what he said. "I like like you."

Blair’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. She closed it. She opened it again.

"I..." she started hesitantly, her voice shaking.

"You don’t have to say anything right now," Daemus cut her off gently.

He quickly averted his gaze, picking his bread back up and taking a large bite. He chewed methodically, staring hard at the opposite wall, his jaw tight with nervousness.

A heavy silence settled over the room.

Blair stared at his profile. She could lie to both him and herself or she could tell the truth. She read enough romance novels to know that nothing good came from hiding feelings.

"I like you too, Daemus," Blair said quietly.

Daemus stopped chewing instantly.

He slowly turned his head to look at her blushing face. His heart was racing a mile a minute, the sudden rush of hope threatening to overwhelm him. But as he studied her expression, he noticed the way her shoulders hunched inward. He noticed her avoiding his eyes.

He narrowed his silver eyes slightly. "But...?"

Blair looked down, nervously playing with her fingers. "But you’re a royal beastman, Daemus. And I’m just... a human."

"I told you," Daemus responded immediately, his voice firm. "I was serious earlier. I will renounce my title. I’ll cut ties with my pack and my family. I don’t care."

Blair’s brow furrowed in deep concern. She looked up at him, her expression serious.

"You can’t do that," Blair told him softly. "Family is important, Daemus."

She shifted closer, wanting him to understand. Growing up in the church, surrounded by other orphans, she had learned a painful lesson about belonging. "You are so fortunate to even know your family. To know where you came from. The church was my family growing up, and the sisters loved me... but I am sure the love and warmth of an actual, real family is so much greater."

Daemus looked at her for a long moment, a sad, complicated shadow passing over his silver eyes.

"That’s not exactly true," Daemus murmured quietly. "Sometimes, the hug of a stranger is even warmer than the hug of a mother."

Blair hummed in quiet understanding. The beastmen, especially the royal ones, operated on a whole different frequency. They were bound by toxic expectations, power struggles, and a brutal hierarchy.

"If we’re going to date for real," Daemus said suddenly, leaning forward, "we should know some more about each other. Tell me about the church."

Blair’s face heated up instantly. Real panic set in. "We can’t date," she blurted out.

Daemus frowned cutely, his fluffy blue ears drooping against his hair. "Why not?" he asked, genuinely confused. "We were fake dating before. What’s the difference?"

Blair’s mind raced. She couldn’t possibly say the truth out loud. The expectations of a real relationship terrified her. The "sex part" was too embarrassing and overwhelming to even think about, let alone discuss.

"Your parents won’t approve," Blair deflected quickly, grabbing onto the first logical excuse she could find. "They already know that we aren’t actually fated mates. They know it was a lie."

"Fuck them," Daemus dismissed bluntly.

"The world won’t approve either," Blair argued, her voice rising in anxiety. "A royal and a human? It’s—"

"Why should I care what the world thinks?" Daemus interrupted, his voice steady and resolute.

He scooched closer to her on the bed, closing the distance until their knees were almost touching.

"All my life," Daemus said softly, looking deep into her brown eyes, "I have been told that the Moon Goddess decides everything. I’ve been told what my fate is, who my mate is, and how my life is supposed to go. I’m sick of it."

He lightly traced his knuckles down the side of her arm.

"I want to decide now," Daemus murmured. "I want to do whatever I like. I want to like whoever I like. And the way I feel about you... I have never felt this way for anyone else before. I want to explore that. I want to know more about this feeling."

Blair stared at him, captivated by the desperate honesty in his voice.

Daemus raised a single finger, offering her a small, hopeful smile.

"One week," Daemus proposed. "Be my girlfriend. My real girlfriend... for one week."