Raising Beast Cubs to Find a Husband novel Chapter 113

Chapter 113: The Drowning King.

The moon hung directly over the crater of the volcano, casting a pale, ghostly beam onto the Spring of Severance.

The water wasn’t blue. It was a swirling, opalescent white, thick with steam and smelling of sulfur and ancient magic.

Elder Renard stood at the edge, his nine tails twitching nervously.

"The alignment is perfect," the Elder rasped. "But remember... the Spring does not heal. It severs. It will try to tear the darkness out of you. If the darkness is holding onto your soul... it might tear your soul out too."

Caspian stood at the water’s edge. He had stripped off his heavy coat and shirt. His chest was a roadmap of agony. The black veins of the corruption had spread to his face, spiderwebbing across his left cheek.

He looked at Primrose.

"If I change," Caspian said, his voice low and steady. "If I turn into a beast and try to leave this pool... do not hesitate."

He looked at General Rajah. "Strike me down."

Rajah gripped the hilt of his sword until his knuckles cracked. He didn’t answer. He just nodded, a muscle in his jaw jumping.

Caspian stepped into the water.

HISS.

The water reacted instantly. It boiled around his ankles. Caspian grit his teeth, wading deeper until the water reached his chest.

"Begin!" Renard commanded.

The Elder slammed his staff onto the stone. The Fox Guards on the ridges began to chant, a low, thrumming sound that vibrated in Primrose’s bones.

The water began to glow blindingly bright.

Caspian gasped. His head threw back, his eyes rolling up.

"It... burns..." he choked out.

The black veins on his skin began to writhe. They didn’t want to let go. They dug deeper, hooking into his flesh like barbs.

"Push it out!" Archduke Cassian shouted from the shore, his monocle reflecting the chaotic light. "Visualize the separation!"

"I... can’t..." Caspian screamed.

The Void wasn’t just a curse. It was a sentient, hungry thing. It realized it was being attacked. And like a cornered animal, it fought back.

BOOM.

A shockwave of black energy exploded from Caspian’s body.

The water turned from white to an inky, oily black.

"The seal is breaking!" Renard yelled, his fur standing on end. "He is losing control!"

Caspian’s body began to twist. His skin turned grey. Massive, jagged horns began to erupt from his forehead. His teal eyes were swallowed by total darkness.

He wasn’t a King anymore. He was becoming a Void Beast.

"Caspian!" Primrose screamed, running toward the water.

"Stay back!" Duke Lucien grabbed her arm, pulling her away as a tendril of black magic lashed out, cracking the stone where she had just been standing.

"Kill... me..."

The voice came from the thing in the water. It was a gurgling, drowning sound.

"Rajah! Do it!" Caspian’s voice broke through the monster’s roar. "Do it now!"

Rajah drew his sword. The blade burst into orange flames. He stepped forward, tears streaming down his face. He raised the blade.

"I promised to save you," Rajah roared, his voice breaking. "But I won’t let you become a monster!"

He swung.

CLANG.

A barrier of black sludge rose up and blocked the sword. The Void was protecting its host. It swatted Rajah aside like a fly, sending the massive Tiger General crashing into the tree line.

"It’s too strong!" Lord Rurik yelled, shifting into his Wolf Form to catch Rajah. "The magic is rejecting us!"

The Elder slammed his staff again. "Seal the cave! We must trap it inside!"

"No!" Primrose shouted. "He’s still in there!"

She looked at the writhing mass of darkness in the pool. She could see Caspian’s face surfacing for a second—terrified, in pain, and drowning.

The Warlords were battered. The Elder was giving up.

Primrose looked at her hands. They were shaking.

She wasn’t a mage. She wasn’t a warrior. She was a cook. A nanny. A girl from Earth who made good soup.

But before that...

A memory flashed in her mind. Not her memory. Someone else’s.

A golden mountain. A lonely fox. A promise to heal the world.

"I’m not letting you go," Primrose whispered.

She tore her arm free from Lucien’s grip.

"Primrose, no!" Cassian yelled. "The water will boil you!"

She didn’t listen. She didn’t stop.

She ran to the edge of the Spring of Severance and jumped in.

The heat hit her like a hammer.

It was agonizing. It felt like being cooked alive. But Primrose didn’t swim away. She swam toward the darkness.

She reached into the black sludge and grabbed Caspian’s hand.

Gotcha.

The Void roared at her. It tried to push her away. It showed her nightmares—Orion dying, the world ending, her own death.

But Primrose held on.

"Caspian!" she screamed underwater, though no sound came out. Come back to me!

She pulled him close, wrapping her arms around the transforming monster. She pressed her forehead against his chest, right over the Star-Iron.

I am here. I am not leaving.

And then... something inside her clicked.

A lock that had been rusted shut for a thousand years suddenly snapped open.

The water around them stopped boiling. It stopped being black.

It turned Gold.

Under the surface, the world had gone silent.

Primrose didn’t know if she was drowning or flying. She only knew that the searing heat had vanished, replaced by a warmth so intense and absolute it felt like being hugged by the sun itself.

She opened her eyes.

She wasn’t in the murky, sulfurous water anymore. She was floating in a void of pure gold.

Across from her, floating in the suspension, was Caspian. But the darkness that had been swallowing him was recoiling. The black sludge hissed and evaporated, unable to touch her.

What is this? Primrose thought, looking at her hands.

Primrose didn’t flinch. She felt a strange, detached pity for the curse. It was just dirt. And she was the ultimate cleaning agent. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

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