Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 78: The Iron Wall and the Ancient Ghost

I thought getting into the room was the hard part. I was wrong. Getting Lord Bastion to listen was like trying to explain calculus to a brick wall.

"You have to listen to me!" I insisted, planting my feet on his plush carpet. "Your daughter isn’t just acting out. She is hearing voices. She is seeing shadows that move on their own. She is being targeted by the same corruption that took your wife!"

Bastion flinched. He stood up from his desk, his face a mask of terrified exhaustion. He wouldn’t look me in the eye. He looked at the books on his desk—tomes with titles like The Severing of Ties and Containment Protocols.

"You do not understand," Bastion rasped, his voice trembling. "It is contagious, Nanny. It eats the mind first. Then the soul. Then the body."

He looked at me then, his eyes dull brass and full of despair.

"I cannot save her," he whispered. "I can only contain her. Until the end."

"She is eight!" I shouted, slamming my hand on his desk. "She isn’t a contagion! She is a little girl who thinks her daddy hates her! If you just went to her—"

"GUARDS!" Bastion roared.

The door burst open. Two massive Lion-kin guards in full plate armor marched in.

"Escort the Tutor out," Bastion commanded, turning his back to me. "And ensure she does not return to this wing."

"No! Wait!"

I tried to stand my ground, but I am five-foot-nothing and these guys were seven feet of magical muscle. One of them grabbed my arm—gently, but with the immovable force of a hydraulic press.

"My Lord, please!" I yelled as I was dragged backward. "You’re making a mistake! You’re letting the darkness win!"

Bastion didn’t turn around. He just hunched over his desk, burying his head in his hands.

"Get her out," he choked.

The door slammed shut in my face.

I was marched down the hallway, past the confused scribes, and deposited unceremoniously at the main gates of the Palace.

"Have a pleasant evening, Tutor," the guard said stiffly.

I stood there, seething. My blood was boiling. My fists were clenched so hard my nails dug into my palms.

"Pleasant evening," I muttered, kicking a pebble. "I’m going to punch a wall."

By the time I stomped back into the daycare, the sun had set, and my anger had simmered down into a cold, hard knot of frustration.

I expected the daycare to be empty, save for the usual residents.

I was wrong.

The room was full. The Warlords hadn’t left.

Lord Lucien was with Silas, helping him with his crayons.

Lord Rurik was sitting on the floor, letting Vali and Arjun use him as a jungle gym.

Archduke Cassian was reading a story to Jasper and Clover.

General Rajah was leaning against the kitchen counter, eating a leftover sandwich with the casual arrogance of a man who owns the place.

They all looked up when I entered.

Usually, seeing them would make me smile. But right now, my head was full of grey veins and whispering shadows.

"You look like you bit someone," Rajah noted, swallowing a bite of ham. "Did the Emperor threaten the Gryphons again? I have my saber ready."

"No," I said shortly, walking right past him.

I didn’t stop to greet the cubs. I didn’t stop to thank Rurik for the jerky. I walked straight to the corner where King Caspian was sitting.

He was the only one who wasn’t relaxing. He was staring at the window, his hand absently rubbing his corrupted shoulder.

"Caspian," I said, my voice tight. "We have a problem."

Caspian turned immediately. He saw the look in my eyes—the specific look of I found the plot twist.

"What’s wrong?" he asked quietly.

"The girl," I said. "She is being manipulated."

Caspian’s face darkened. He stood up, his playful demeanor vanishing instantly.

"Are you certain?"

"I confirmed it from Leonora and her father. He said it ate the mind first. He’s terrified of her."

"Then the breach is not just in the Ocean," Caspian murmured. "It is on land. In the heart of the Empire."

"Excuse me."

A deep growl interrupted us.

We turned.

General Rajah was standing there. He wasn’t smiling. His ears were flattened against his skull, and his tail was lashing slowly. Behind him, Rurik and Cassian had stood up, the atmosphere in the room shifting from playdate to war council in a split second.

"Is there a reason," Rajah asked, his voice low and dangerous, "that you are whispering secrets to the Fish King, but not to us?"

"Rajah," I sighed, "it’s complicated."

"We are Warlords," Cassian said, adjusting his monocle. His golden snake eyes were sharp. "We understand complicated. What we do not understand is being excluded from threats against our Pack."

"She comes in looking like she saw a ghost," Rurik added, crossing his massive arms. "And she goes to the Stranger. It hurts my feelings, Primrose."

I looked at them. "Caspian isn’t a stranger... and neither are you guys."

I paused, hesitating.

My gamer brain screamed: Don’t tell them! If you tell them about the Game, they might break! Or they might think you’re insane!

But I couldn’t lie. Not about this. This was dangerous.

I took a deep breath. I decided to tell them the truth—just not the truth.

"I didn’t tell you," I said, steadying my voice, "because I didn’t think you’d believe me. And because Caspian is the only one who has seen it firsthand."

"Seen what?" Rajah demanded.

"The sickness," I said. "The thing that is wrong with Lady Ellia. It isn’t a behavioral issue. It isn’t a tantrum."

I looked at the cubs, who were watching with wide eyes.

"Luna," I said. "Take the kids to the bedroom. Read them a story. A loud one."

Luna nodded, sensing the tension. "Come on, little warriors! Who wants to hear The Bunny Who Jumped the Moon?"

She ushered the protesting cubs out of the room. The door clicked shut.

Now it was just me, the Four Warlords, and the Merman King.

"Ellia is infected," I dropped the bomb. "Her mother, Duchess Seraphina, died of it last year. Her veins turned grey. Her body turned cold. And now, Ellia is hearing voices. She calls it Mr. Whisper. It tells her to do bad things. It feeds on her anger."

The room went dead silent.

I expected confusion. I expected them to ask if it was a poison or a curse.

I didn’t expect the look of absolute, ancient horror that crossed Archduke Cassian’s face.

"Grey veins?" Cassian whispered. "A voice from the shadows?"

He looked at Rajah.

Rajah’s tan skin had gone slightly pale. He gripped the hilt of his saber.

"The Void," Rajah breathed.

I blinked. "You... you know it?"

"It is a story from the First Era," Lord Rurik rumbled, his voice unusually serious. "From the time of the Ancestors. Before the Empire was united, the world was eaten by the Nothing. The Void."

"It was said to be the anti-magic," Cassian explained rapidly, his scholar brain kicking in. "A force that does not exist, yet consumes existence. It drove the ancient dragons mad. It turned the first kings against each other. But..."

Cassian frowned, tapping his chin.

"But it was destroyed. The First Lion Emperor sealed the Rift a thousand years ago. The Void is a non-entity. It is dead history."

"It is not dead," Caspian spoke up. He pulled down the collar of his shirt.

The Warlords gasped.

On the King’s shoulder, the grey, cracked veins pulsed faintly.

"It was in my ocean," Caspian said grimly. "And now, it seems, it is in your Palace."

Rajah stared at the wound. Then he looked at me.

"If the Void is back," Rajah said slowly, "it means the Seal is broken."

"Or," Cassian corrected, his eyes narrowing, "it means someone opened it."

"The Void is not a beast," Cassian continued, pacing the room. "It has no will of its own. It is a force of nature, like a flood or a fire. It does not whisper to little girls unless..."

He stopped. He looked at me.

"Unless it is being directed," I finished his thought.

My mind raced.

Someone was talking to Ellia. Someone—Mr. Whisper—was grooming her.

"Cultivation," I whispered.

The Warlords looked at me.

"What?" Rajah asked.

"Someone is cultivating it," I said, the horror dawning on me. "Like mana. Someone found a way to harness the Void. To use it as a weapon. They aren’t just opening a door; they’re feeding it."

"Who would be mad enough to do that?" Rurik asked. "It consumes the user too."

"Someone who wants to burn the world," I muttered.

I remembered the message Jax had given me from the Crime Lord of the Undercity.

Tell Primrose... that she cannot fix this world. I know who she is... And I will burn everything she loves.

The Boss.

Was the Boss just a gangster? Or was he a Void Cultivator?

"We need to save the girl," I said firmly, looking at the Warlords. "If Ellia falls, if she fully corrupts... she’s inside the Palace. She’s next to the Emperor. She’s a living bomb."

"But Bastion won’t let me near her," I pointed out. "He is terrified."

"Then don’t ask for permission," Lucien said.

I nodded and looked at Caspian. "Can you sense it? The source?"

"I believe it should react to another source if I am close," Caspian nodded. "The corruption calls to itself."

"Okay," I said. "Then tomorrow, the lesson plan changes."

I grabbed a piece of paper and slammed it on the table.

"I’m not teaching Math tomorrow," I declared. "Tomorrow, we are going on a Field Trip."

"To where?" Cassian asked.

"To the Daycare," I said. "We’re going to smuggle the Princess out of the castle."

Rajah choked on air. "Kidnap the Emperor’s niece? That is treason, Primrose."

"It’s not kidnapping," I smiled, a dangerous glint in my eyes. "It’s an off-site educational excursion. And besides..."

I looked at the Warlords.

"I have the strongest army on the continent to protect me. Right?"

Rajah grinned. His tail wagged.

"Right."