Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 162: The Heart of the Tide

The dungeons of the Crepusci Estate were exactly as pleasant as one would expect: cold, damp, and smelling of regret.

Lord Malachi was currently hanging upside down from the ceiling, wrapped in Rurik’s lightning-infused chains.

"I will tell you nothing!" Malachi spat, his face red from the blood rushing to his head. "The Boss will purge this world! He will—"

ZAP.

Rurik tapped the chain with his finger. A small jolt of electricity made Malachi twitch.

"Boring," Rurik yawned. "He says the same thing every time. Can I hit him? Just a little? A love tap?"

"No hitting," Cassian sighed, adjusting his glasses. He was standing next to a table filled with very scary-looking alchemical vials. "We need his brain intact. Though judging by his tactical decisions, there isn’t much to damage."

Lucien stood in the shadows, silent. He was sharpening his sword. The shink, shink, shink sound was doing more to terrify Malachi than Rurik’s lightning.

"Malachi," Lucien said softly. "You opened the Vault. You tried to feed my nephew to the Nightmares. I am not interested in your ideology. I want to know why."

Lucien stepped into the light. His violet eyes were cold.

"The Boss doesn’t care about the Obsidian Jungle. It has no strategic value for a Void Sorcerer. Why did he send you here? What was he looking for?"

Malachi laughed wheezily. "You think he wanted your jungle? You arrogant cat. He wanted the Map."

"What map?" Rajah growled, stepping forward.

"The Star-Chart of the Deep," Malachi grinned, his teeth stained black. "It was in your library, Lucien. Hidden in the First Duke’s journals. While you were playing hero in the hallway, the Shadows found it. They beamed the data to him before they dissolved."

Malachi swung back and forth.

"He has it. He knows where she hid it."

"Where who hid what?" Lucien demanded.

Malachi’s grin widened.

"Where Ophelia hid the Heart of the Tide."

The room went dead silent. Even Rurik stopped playing with the electricity.

"That’s a myth," Caspian’s voice cut through the dungeon as he stepped out of the shadows. He looked pale. "Ophelia vanished with the Heart a thousand years ago. It is lost."

"Nothing is lost to the Void," Malachi whispered. "And now... we know exactly which trench she died in."

Upstairs in the dining hall, things were chaotic for a completely different reason.

"Where is Auntie Prim?" Vali asked, looking around the table with a mouth full of bacon.

"I’m right here, Vali," Primrose’s voice said from the empty chair next to him.

Vali screamed and dropped his fork. "GHOST!"

"I’m not a ghost!" Primrose sighed.

Suddenly, she flickered into existence. But she looked... faded. Like a photograph left in the sun too long. Her new Violet Tail was twitching erratically, leaking smoke.

"It’s the new tail," Primrose explained, trying to pick up a piece of toast. Her hand phased right through the bread. "Oh, come on! I’m hungry!" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Intangibility," Jasper noted, poking Primrose’s arm with a spoon. The spoon went through her bicep. "Fascinating. Your molecular density is shifting between the physical plane and the shadow plane. You are essentially glitching."

"I don’t want to glitch!" Primrose whined. "I want toast!"

Silas sat next to her. He looked very serious. He reached out and concentrated. His own shadow stretched out, grabbed the toast, and held it up to Primrose’s mouth.

"Eat," Silas commanded.

Primrose took a bite of the shadow-held toast. "Thank you, sweetie. At least someone is helpful."

The Servant Problem

Just then, Vesper walked in with a fresh pot of tea. Behind him were three silent, grey-robed servants.

When they saw Silas, the servants stopped. They bowed so low their noses touched the floor.

"All hail the Young Master," they droned in unison. "Commander of the Nightmares."

Silas shrank into his chair. "Make them stop."

"They respect power," Vesper explained, pouring tea (and ignoring the fact that Primrose was semi-transparent). "You commanded the Vault Shadows, Master Silas. In their eyes, you are now the Alpha Predator of the Estate. Even more than Duke Lucien."

Silas frowned. He picked up a grape.

The servants gasped. "He has chosen the fruit of the vine! Glory to the grape!"

"Ugh," Silas groaned, burying his face in his hands.

The double doors banged open.

The Warlords marched in. They didn’t look happy. Caspian looked particularly haunted. He walked straight to the table, ignoring the fact that Primrose was currently 50% invisible.

"We are leaving," Caspian announced.

"We just got here!" Orion complained from his high chair (which was a bucket of water). "I finally calibrated the humidity!"

"We have to go," Caspian said, his voice tight. "Malachi confessed. The Boss wasn’t just stealing a map. He is hunting Ophelia’s Legacy."

Primrose flickered back into full visibility, her surprise anchoring her to reality. "Ophelia? My ancestor? The Nine-Tailed Fox?"

"The very same," Lucien said, leaning against the doorframe. "The history books say she vanished to save the world. But they never say what she took with her."

Caspian gripped the back of a chair so hard the wood cracked.

"She took the Heart of the Tide," Caspian whispered. "The source of all mana in the oceans. It belonged to my ancestors, the Sea Kings. But when the first Void War threatened to consume the world, Ophelia realized the ocean was the only place deep enough to hide the Core."

"And if the Boss finds it," Cassian analyzed, his face grim, "he doesn’t just get a battery. He gets a weapon that controls 70% of the planet’s surface. He could drown the continents in an afternoon."

Rurik slammed his fist into his palm. "So we go to the beach! I love the beach! Sand castles! Crab fights!"

"We are not going to the beach, you idiot," Rajah growled. "We are going to the Abyss."

"Wait," Jax raised his hand. "Quick question from the non-magical guy. How are we supposed to breathe? I can hold my breath for two minutes if I really push it. I assume this ’Heart’ isn’t in the shallow end of the pool."

"It is in the Mariana Trench of this world," Caspian said. "The pressure alone would turn you into jelly."

"Great," Jax said. "Sounds like a fun vacation."

"I can provide the solution," Cassian said, pulling out a notebook. "I can brew Gills-Potions. But I need ingredients that only grow in the Deep Sea."

"My Kingdom has the ingredients," Caspian said. "And I have the transport."

He walked over to the window, looking out at the dark jungle. But his mind was miles away, in the blue water.

"We must go to Sunless City," Caspian declared. "My capital city."

Orion gasped. "Home? We’re going home?"

"Yes," Caspian looked at his son. "But it is not a happy visit, Orion. The Boss is already moving. We have to find Ophelia’s tomb before he does."

Primrose stood up (successfully solid this time). She walked over to Caspian.

"We’re with you," she said, taking his hand. "My ancestor caused this mess. I guess it’s my job to clean it up. Besides, I’ve handled Sunless City before. The pressure, the dark water, the nobles staring at my legs... we can handle it again."

Caspian looked at her. He looked at the ring on her finger. He didn’t look reassured.

"Primrose," he said softly. "Last time you visited, you were a guest. A curiosity. But we must be very careful. The Council... they do not know who you really are."

"The Fox Spirit?" Primrose asked. "They know that."

"No," Caspian corrected grimly. "They do not know you are Ophelia’s descendant. And we must keep it that way."

Primrose frowned. "Why? Ophelia saved the world. She took the Heart to seal the breach. She’s a hero, isn’t she?"

"To the surface? Yes," Caspian admitted, running a hand through his hair. "But to the Sea? She is the reason our lights dimmed. We know she took the Heart of the Tide to save existence, but in doing so, she left us powerless. We honor her sacrifice, but we resent her legacy."

He looked at her seriously.

"If the Court finds out you are the blood of the Fox who took our Heart... they will not see a savior. They will see the reason for a thousand years of decline."

"Oh," Primrose blinked. "So, I’m the granddaughter of the Necessary Evil. Great."

"And," Caspian added, wincing as he looked at the other Warlords. "There is another complication... My stepmother."

Rurik gasped. Rajah flinched. Even Lucien looked terrified.

"The Queen Dowager?" Rurik whispered, actually taking a step back. "The Sea Witch? I thought she was in hibernation!"

"She woke up," Caspian sighed, looking miserable. "And she hates everyone. She hates land-dwellers. She hates noise. And she especially hates Foxes."

Primrose looked at the terrified faces of the most powerful men in the world. She remembered her last trip to the underwater city—it was beautiful, deadly, and filled with political sharks (literally).

Primrose’s face went pale. She remembered her last visit. She remembered the woman who looked at her and her comment about her taillessness.

"Oh no," Primrose groaned, covering her face. "Not her. She still hasn’t forgiven me for interrupting the court meeting in the Throne Room, has she?"

"She has not," Caspian confirmed. "She hates land-dwellers. She hates noise. And she especially hates you."

Primrose looked at the terrified faces of the most powerful men in the world. Even Malachi in the dungeon seemed less scary than the memory of Caspian’s stepmother.

"Let me get this straight," Primrose said, rubbing her temples. "We have to go back to Sunless City, fight a Void Sorcerer, stop the apocalypse, hide my identity from the Council, and... I have to survive Round Two with your stepmother?"

"Essentially," Caspian nodded. "And this time, she has her harpoon."

Primrose sighed. She looked at her new Violet Tail, which was still smoking slightly.

"Okay," she said. "I’m going to need a waterproof dress. And maybe a bigger trident."