The Devil's Son and His Fated Bride
Chapter 148: A dangerous game.

Chapter 148: A dangerous game.

One question.

They arrived at the royal office.

Kai turned to Beta Coran. "Bring the human girl in an hour."

"Yes, Your Highness," Coran replied, bowing before stepping away.

The four of them entered the chamber. The King took his seat behind a desk cluttered with scrolls. Ren recognized the wax seals, and reports from the frontlines.

She sat beside her husband, close enough to feel his quiet strength. Just being near him steadied her pulse. She needed that, his presence. His protection. In a room full of history, secrets, and power, Kaisun was her anchor. Despite that, this was her family, the closest ones.

’Your aunt seems happy to see you, wife.’ Kai’s voice echoed softly through their bond.

’She raised me before I was sent to Zillgaira,’ Ren replied, her tone in the link quiet but laced with a bittersweet edge.

Kai chuckled in her mind. ’Then I suppose I should be grateful she did. Gods know the King is a disaster, with all those whores crawling around him.’

Ren nearly choked on the thought, though not a trace of it showed on her face. Her husband had no filter, even in telepathy. But he wasn’t wrong. She knew what kind of man the King had been, what he still was. And it stung now more than ever, knowing that he was her true father.

"I hope we’re not going to twist the purpose of this conversation," Kai said aloud, his voice sharp and direct, slicing through the tension in the room like a blade.

"I see you’ve told her everything already," the King countered, tone clipped, defensive.

Aunt Eve paled, panic flashing across her features. Her discomfort was visible now, like cracks spidering through porcelain.

Kai’s brow twitched, barely concealing his disdain. This arrogant fool, he thought. Too young to test my patience. If it weren’t for Ren, I’d let the earth claim him and feed his bones to the worms. He let Anarya die.

Ren sensed the dark tide rising in her husband and reached for his hand, her fingers curling gently around his. A silent plea. Not now. They couldn’t afford a fight, not in this fragile moment, not with greater enemies lurking just beyond the horizon, eager to tear her away.

"I’ve read my mother’s message," Ren said, her voice even, but the room shifted around her like the air before a storm.

The King lowered his gaze, and for the first time in Ren’s life, she saw it, raw pain flickering in his eyes like an old wound that had never truly closed. His heart, it seemed, had never healed.

Aunt Everin couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. They shimmered down her cheeks, silent witnesses to a grief that had lived in her too long. She had been young when Anarya died, but the memories they shared, brief and golden, still lived in the marrow of her bones.

"She asked me to take care of you... in the end," Aunt Eve whispered, voice thick with sorrow.

Ren’s chest tightened, a leaden weight settling behind her ribs. Aunt Eve had suffered her own quiet agony after Anarya’s death. The high Fae had perished at the hands of humans, people she once called kin.

"I’m not here to blame you," Ren said softly. "Or to complain. Being a D’Orient princess... it’s already a heavy enough burden."

The words spilled from her with quiet finality, the truth of it ringing too clearly to be denied. No one could argue with the cost of her bloodline.

"Reneira..." Aunt Eve breathed her name like a prayer, her voice trembling. She could hear the ache threaded in Ren’s tone. Did she hate them?

"I don’t hate you, Aunt Everin. I couldn’t, even if I wanted to."

Ren’s gaze slid toward the King then, cold, sharp, and unforgiving. "But I have one question."

Something ignited behind the King’s eyes. A flicker of hope, or perhaps dread.

Kai gently squeezed her hand, steadying her. He could feel the storm surging inside her, every erratic beat of her heart.

"I’ll answer," King Benkin said, his voice firm, as if bracing for a blade. He looked ready to be cursed, to be damned by her next words.

"Did you ever adore me as your daughter?" Her voice cracked slightly, and then, softer, wounded. "My mother died... because of me."

The King flinched, his face contorting like she’d struck him. How could she believe something so cruel, so untrue?

"You were the only reason I kept breathing," he said, his voice low but unwavering. "And no, you were never the reason she died. A witch had been poisoning her slowly, methodically. For months, and it could kill you. She chose to save you before she died."

Kai exhaled, his grip tightening protectively. He was ready to leap the desk and tear the man apart if he hurt her, but this answer? This truth? It was unexpected... and it brought a sliver of relief.

Ren’s heart galloped in her chest, unstable and full. The bond they shared, the fragile, aching tether of father and daughter, was real.

But her brows furrowed, sharp again. "Then how did the witch know who my mother really was?"

The King drummed his fingers on the edge of the table, each tap echoing with hesitation as if the truth was too dangerous to give away freely.

"They had a foresight seer," the King answered, his voice thickening with a growl. "They sent someone to confirm it. She befriended your mother and uncovered her secret. Anarya helped me crush a dark sorcerer’s rebellion once, they remembered her, even though she always wore a veil to conceal her face."

Ren could feel the heat rising in his voice, the fury, and helplessness beneath the surface.

"So what of it now?" Kai asked, her tone sharp. "You can’t hide this from the world. The Fae King will come. He’ll want to see his granddaughter."

"I’ll announce her at the banquet," The King responded, solidly.

Ren’s brow lifted in disbelief. A banquet? Now?

Their soldiers were dying on the battlefield, and this man was planning a feast.

"Was a banquet necessary?" Kai snapped.

"Yes," the King replied without flinching. "For what’s coming, it is necessary."

Kai grunted, barely containing his frustration.

’He’s right, husband. That will make our game even more believable,’ Ren linked to him silently.

’I already hate this game,’ Kai’s voice came back to her through the bond, thick with ache. He was breaking under the weight of his own powerlessness. No matter how hard he fought, danger clung to her like a shadow, and it tore him apart.

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