Chapter 297: Episode 295: Fishy is coming?

The absolute, deafening silence that followed Roxy’s declaration was heavy enough to crack the wooden dining table.

Five incredibly lethal, fiercely territorial Alpha Kings sat completely frozen. The warm, spicy steam rising from the bowls of noodles suddenly felt like the only moving thing in the room.

Kaelen’s chopsticks stalled halfway to his mouth. Torian’s hand, which had been resting comfortably on the back of Roxy’s chair, went entirely rigid. Zarek’s eyes narrowed into sharp, dangerous slits.

Syris was the first to break the silence. The Snake Beastman set his wooden spoon down with a soft, deliberate clack against the ceramic bowl.

“Roxy,” Syris started. He leaned forward, his green pupils locking onto her green eyes. “Need I remind you of what he did?”

“I know,” Roxy replied, her voice soft but entirely unflinching. She tightened her arms gently around Tanith, who was happily chewing on a soft piece of chicken in her lap. “I know exactly what he did, Syris. I was the one who looked him in the eye and told him how much it disgusted me.”

“Then why—”

“Because he is the father of my child,” Roxy interrupted, her tone brokering absolutely no argument. She looked around the table, her gaze pleading with them to understand the brutal, complicated reality of Beastworld biology. “And because, terrifyingly enough, I can actually understand him.”

She turned her head, locking eyes directly with the towering Dragon sitting across from her.

“He is just like Zarek,” Roxy stated flatly.

Zarek’s broad chest puffed out instantly in offense. “I am absolutely nothing like that overgrown, treacherous fish.”

“Aren’t you?” Roxy challenged, raising a single, perfectly sculpted eyebrow. She didn’t back down from his glare. “When I got pregnant with Drax, you were entirely prepared to hoard me away from the rest of the world because your feral instincts demanded it. If I hadn’t managed to run away from you that night, I never would have made it to Kaelen’s territory. I never would have met the rest of you.”

Zarek’s jaw locked with an audible pop.

He absolutely hated that she was comparing him to the Abyssal King. Every possessive, territorial bone in his body violently rejected the idea of sharing her with the male who had stolen her for months.

But as Zarek stared into her unwavering eyes, the terrifying, undeniable truth settled heavy in his gut.

Zarek knew his own beast. If the roles had been reversed, if Roxy had been his entirely, and a group of strange, foreign beasts had breached his mountain to take her away, he wouldn’t have just tried to boil them.

He would have incinerated the entire continent to keep her by his side. He would have killed anyone else that threatened his position without a single second of hesitation.

The Dragon let out a low, incredibly grudging rumble, crossing his massive arms over his chest. He didn’t agree aloud, but his silence was an admission of guilt.

Seeing Zarek stand down, Ren let out a soft sigh. The Fox Beastman leaned his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his folded hands.

“Even if we forgive his murderous, territorial streak, my beautiful Queen,” Ren pointed out, injecting a dose of reality into the emotional debate. “There is a much larger, fundamental issue at play here. He is a fish.”

Roxy frowned. “I know he’s a merman, Ren.”

“A deep-sea merman,” Ren corrected gently, his bushy red tail swishing behind his chair. “The sea is where he belongs. His lungs are built to process oxygen from freezing, highly pressurized water. The sun blinds him, and the surface air burns his gills. Even if he wanted to come to the Iron-Wood, I don’t think he could physically survive the transition. He would suffocate.”

“We have water,” Kaelen chimed in, his brain immediately trying to solve the problem for his mate. The Wolf Alpha tapped his chin thoughtfully. “We could make use of the large pond behind the Manor. Or we could expand the hot springs. If we dig it out deep enough, we could create a reservoir for him and the infant.”

Roxy shook her head, offering Kaelen a small, appreciative smile for trying to accommodate a rival King.

“It wouldn’t work, Kae,” Roxy explained, gently stroking Tanith’s dark hair. “The pond is shallow, stagnant freshwater. Caspian is an abyssal creature. He requires the crushing pressure of the twilight zone and mineral-rich saltwater to maintain his scales and his core. Putting him in our backyard pond would be like putting a dragon in a birdcage. The kind of water we have here just isn’t safe for him to live in.”

The table fell silent again. The Alpha Kings looked at each other, the sheer impossibility of the situation hanging over them. She loved the Merman, and she missed her son, but the biological divide between the Surface and the Abyss was a wall forged by the gods themselves.

As Roxy stared down at her half-empty bowl of noodles, the gods she seek did answer to her.

Now that she thought about it, the system didn’t present the gods to her on a screen but now they were speaking directly into her mind.

It was soothing.

[My brave child,] the MotheroftheWorld spoke softly into her consciousness, her voice carrying a soothing, maternal wisdom.

[You are attempting to solve a puzzle without looking at all the pieces. If you wish to bridge the gap between the land and the sea, you should contact Caspian first and speak with him. He is the King of the Spires. He might already know the answer that you are looking for.]

Roxy’s brow furrowed, her lips pressing into a tight line.

Contact him? Roxy grumbled internally, a sudden, stubborn spike of pride flaring in her chest.

Why must I reach out first?

He is the one who lied to me. He is the one who almost killed my family. He should be the one begging for an audience.

A sudden, bright, and incredibly mischievous snort echoed in her head.

[Oh, honey, please,] a new, vibrantly sharp voice chimed in. It was the SassyGoddess, her tone dripping with exasperation.

[We both know you’re sitting there practically vibrating with how much you miss him and that adorable little baby. You are a Queen, yes, but pride is a cold, lonely bedfellow. The man is probably down there right now drowning in his own miserable tears. Set aside your pride, Roxy. If you want to have a complete family, you have to be the one to open the door.]

Roxy murmured in a disgruntled tone.

But she knew the goddess was right.

She let out a long, heavy breath, the stubborn tension bleeding out of her shoulders.

Caspian was a proud, devastated King. If she didn’t throw him a lifeline, he would likely rot in the dark forever out of sheer guilt.

Roxy blinked, pulling herself out of the conversation, and refocused on the physical world. The five men around the table were watching her closely, sensing the subtle shift in her.

Roxy sat up straighter, the fierce, unyielding determination of the Iron-Wood Matriarch settling firmly over her features. She looked at Torian, Zarek, Ren, Kaelen, and Syris, offering them a confident, brilliant smile.

“I don’t know how the biology is going to work,” Roxy promised them, her voice ringing with absolute certainty. “And I don’t know what kind of magic it will take. But I will figure it out. I am going to find a way.”

The Alpha Kings didn’t argue. When their Queen set her mind to something, not even the laws of reality stood a chance. Torian reached over, his massive hand gently squeezing her shoulder in silent, unwavering support.

Suddenly, a tiny, curious voice piped up from the far end of the table.

Iris had completely ignored the heavy, political tension of the conversation.

The little wolf pup was sitting on her knees on the wooden chair, her chin resting on the table as she stared at Roxy with wide, innocent violet eyes. Her stuffed rabbit was squished against her cheek.

Iris tilted her head, her black ears flopping to one side as she processed the only part of the conversation she had truly understood.

“Mummy,” Iris asked, her voice echoing in the quiet dining room. “Fishy is coming to the surface?”

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