Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband-Chapter 156: Homeless After

The sun rose over the Capital, which was rude, honestly. The sun should have had the decency to stay behind a cloud considering the absolute disaster on the ground.

The Grand Pavilion—once the jewel of the Royal Gardens—was now a very expensive pile of firewood.

Primrose sat on a mostly intact marble bench, staring at the ruins. She was wearing a dress covered in soot, her hair was a bird’s nest, and she had a ring on her finger worth more than a small island.

"So," Primrose muttered to herself. "I’m engaged. And homeless."

"Technically," a smooth voice corrected from behind her, "you are transient. Homeless implies poverty. You are merely... displaced."

Caspian sat down next to her. He had somehow managed to clean the dust off his blue velvet coat, though his hair was still damp from the water shield. He handed her a cup of tea.

"Where did you get tea?" Primrose asked, taking it greedily.

"I boiled the water in the air and stole a tea bag from a surviving waiter," Caspian said calmly. "Drink. You look like a raccoon."

"Thank you, darling," Primrose sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder.

A few feet away, the Council of Cubs was waking up. They had camped out on a pile of velvet curtains that Rurik had scavenged from the wreckage.

Vali popped his head up, his wolf ears twitching. He shook himself like a wet dog, sending a cloud of grey dust everywhere.

"That was awesome!" Vali cheered. "Did you see the roof go boom? Can we do it again?"

Jasper sat up slowly. The Snake Cub looked like a tragic Victorian orphan. His silk robes were ruined.

"No," Jasper said flatly. "I have sand in my scales. I feel gritty. This is a violation of my human rights."

Orion was currently lying in a decorative fountain that Caspian had refilled. He blew a bubble. "The humidity here is unacceptable. My gills are dry."

Arjun was already awake. He was doing push-ups next to Rajah.

"One hundred and two!" Rajah counted, looking proud but exhausted. "Good form, son. The enemy never sleeps, so neither do we!"

"Yes, Father!" Arjun squeaked, his arms shaking.

Primrose watched them. They were dirty, tired, and traumatized... but they were together.

An hour later, the adults gathered around a makeshift table (which was actually a door Rurik had ripped off its hinges and balanced on two rocks).

Rajah, Leonora, Rurik, Cassian, Lucien, Caspian, Primrose, and Jax.

The mood was grim.

"We can’t stay in the Capital," Rajah said, crossing his massive arms. "The Boss knows we’re here. He can target the open sky. Next time, he won’t drop a roof. He’ll drop a mountain."

"My territory in the North is out," Rurik grunted. "Open tundra. Nowhere to hide from aerial attacks. Plus, Vali would freeze."

"Hey!" Vali shouted from the background. "I have fur!"

"The Sea is safe," Caspian offered. "My underwater citadel is impenetrable."

"For fish," Cassian pointed out, adjusting his glasses. "The pressure would crush the land-kin children unless we kept shields up 24/7. And Jasper gets seasick."

"I do not!" Jasper yelled. "I just... prefer stability!"

"We need a fortress," Leonora said, wincing as she adjusted the bandage on her arm. "Somewhere with a roof. Somewhere the Boss’s Void eyes can’t see."

Silence fell over the table.

Then, the shadows in the corner lengthened.

"There is one place," Lucien said softly.

Everyone turned to the Panther Lord. He was standing in the shade of a broken pillar, arms crossed.

"The Obsidian Jungle," Lucien said. "My estate."

Rurik frowned. "The Nightshade Territory? Isn’t that place... you know. Creepy?"

"It is secure," Lucien ignored him. "The canopy is three hundred feet thick. Sunlight does not touch the ground. Void magic relies on line-of-sight from the sky. In my jungle, the sky does not exist."

He looked at Primrose.

"And," Lucien added, his voice dropping an octave, "I have the Great Library. If Cassian wishes to study the Void Crystal... that is where the answers are."

Primrose felt a chill. She remembered Chapter 14. She remembered the story of the locked box.

She looked over at the kids.

Silas was sitting apart from the group, holding a piece of burnt toast. When Lucien said Obsidian Jungle, Silas went very still.

His ears pinned back against his skull. The toast dropped from his hand.

He didn’t scream. He just... vanished. Not magically, but mentally. His violet eyes went flat. He pulled his knees to his chest. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The Box, Primrose thought.

She stood up and walked over to him. She knelt down, ignoring the dust on her dress.

"Silas?" she whispered.

Silas didn’t blink. He was staring at something a thousand miles away.

"Dark," Silas whispered. The word was so quiet it was almost a thought. "Too dark."

Primrose’s heart broke. He was five years old. He shouldn’t have to be brave about going back to the place where his parents died and he was locked in a vault.

"It is dark," Primrose agreed softly. "But look."

She held up her hand.

Whoosh.

A ball of soft, white Fox Fire appeared in her palm. It wasn’t hot; it was warm and comforting, like a nightlight.

"I’m coming too," Primrose promised. "And I’m bringing the light. And Vali. And Jasper. And Clover."

Silas blinked. He looked at the fire. Then he looked at Vali, who was currently trying to wrestle Jax.

"Marshmallows?" Silas whispered.

Primrose smiled, tears pricking her eyes. "Yes, baby. We’ll bring all the marshmallows. And we’ll roast them on my fire. The darkness won’t touch you. I promise."

Silas took a deep, shaky breath. He reached out and held Primrose’s pinky finger.

"Okay," he whispered.

"It is decided then," Caspian announced, though he eyed Lucien with suspicion. "We move to the Shadows."

"How do we get there?" Jax asked, stepping forward. He looked uncomfortable standing among the Warlords, his hand resting on the hilt of his plain steel sword. "We don’t have carriages. The stables were crushed."

"I took the liberty," Lucien said, checking his pocket watch, "of calling a ride."

SCREECH.

A sound like a banshee tore through the air.

The Warlords drew their weapons. Rurik raised his axe.

But it wasn’t an attack.

Descended from the morning sky was a massive, pitch-black carriage. It didn’t have wheels; it hovered on shadow-magic. And it wasn’t pulled by horses.

It was pulled by four Night-Mares—skeletal horses with manes of blue fire.

The carriage landed with a heavy thud in the ruins.

The door opened.

A figure stepped out. He was tall, thin, and dressed in a butler’s uniform that was so crisp it could cut glass. He had jet-black wings folded neatly behind his back and a beak-like mask covering his nose and mouth.

Vesper. The Crow-kin. Lucien’s Head Butler and Spymaster.

Vesper looked around at the destroyed pavilion. He looked at the dirty Warlords. He looked at the kids covered in cake and soot.

He sighed, a long, suffering sound.

"My Lord," Vesper rasped, bowing to Lucien. "I leave you alone for one week to attend a wedding, and you return as a refugee with a traveling circus."

"Hello, Vesper," Lucien said calmly. "We have guests."

Vesper looked at Vali, who was poking one of the skeletal horses.

"Don’t touch the Nightmare, child," Vesper warned. "It bites."

"I bite back!" Vali barked.

Vesper closed his eyes, praying for patience. "Wonderful. A wolf. Just what the antique rugs needed."

He turned to Lucien. "The Estate is prepared, Your Grace. Though the Council is... displeased by your sudden return."

"Let them be displeased," Lucien said coldly. "Load the luggage. We leave now."

Getting everyone into the Shadow Carriage (which was magically expanded on the inside like a TARDIS) was an operation in itself.

Jax tried to help load the bags, but Rurik just picked up three trunks with one hand. Jax stepped back, looking useless, until Luna handed him her basket of herbs.

"Hold this," Luna said firmly. "If the basil bruises, I’ll be upset."

Jax gripped the basket like it was a holy relic. "On it. Basil security is my specialty."

Clover refused to get in until Vesper promised the skeletal horses wouldn’t eat her carrot backpack.

Arjun marched in like a soldier, helping Leonora up the steps.

Primrose sat next to Caspian. Opposite them sat Lucien and Silas.

As the carriage lifted off the ground, the sun disappeared behind the blackened curtains of the windows. The interior glowed with dim purple magelights.

"So," Jasper broke the silence, brushing dust off his knees. "We are going to the Shadow Realm. Is there a library?"

"Yes," Lucien said. "It has ten thousand books."

Jasper’s eyes widened. "Acceptable."

"Is there food?" Vali asked.

"We have a chef," Lucien said.

"Is there water?" Orion asked.

"There is an underground lake," Lucien said.

"Are there ghosts?" Clover asked, shivering.

Lucien paused. He looked at Silas, who was clutching Primrose’s hand.

"Yes," Lucien said quietly. "But they cannot hurt you if you know their names."

The carriage shot forward, diving into the shadows of the forest, leaving the ruined Capital behind.

Primrose looked out the window as the world grew darker.

She had her tails. She had her fiancé. She had her family.

But as they descended toward the Obsidian Jungle, she felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold.

They were entering the Lion’s Den. Or rather, the Panther’s Trap.

And she had a feeling that the Council Vesper mentioned was going to be a bigger problem than the lack of sunlight.