Chasing Back His Beloved Beast Husbands

"Truth or dare?"

Fior leaned back against the driftwood log with the confidence of someone who believed he had seen enough of the trio’s antics to survive whatever came next.

"Dare," he said, the word rolled off his tongue without hesitation.

For one breath, no one reacte as Nytherael simply smiled. A small, calm smile that reached neither his eyes nor his ears and that smile alone caused Yiwa’s blood to run cold.

"Oh no..." he whispered under his breath.

Tivnir tilted his head. "What?" He asked, confused by Yiwa’s strange behavior since Nytherael announced a game of truth and dare.

Yiwa slowly looked toward him. "That’s his dangerous smile. Trust me, I’ve served him long enough to recognize it."

"Dangerous?" Tivnir was confused. It was just a game, there was no reason to act like it was the end of the world.

"When Lord Nytherael stops looking excited... run for your life."

Nytherael folded his hands neatly over his lap. "Fior," he called, his voice softened to sound harmless.

"Mm?"

"I dare you..." He paused just long enough for the silence to become uncomfortable. "To answer every single question directed at you by every beast at the table with complete honesty."

Fior blinked. "That’s it?" He expected more, something that would get his adrenaline rushing and his pulse racing.

A few beasts exchanged puzzled glances. That dare sounded easy and even Ssirel frowned. He felt that Nytherael had lost his touch. "I was expecting something worse," he complained.

"So was I," Aenyra admitted. "Frankly, that is a bit childish."

Lagara quietly released the breath she’d been holding. If this was the level of dares, perhaps everyone had exaggerated the fear they expressed earlier and she could relax.

Then Nytherael continued. "For the next... thirty minutes straight." he glanced toward the sinking sun and his confidence bloomed even more.

Fior nodded. "Very well."

"And," The single word immediately made Yiwa squeeze his eyes shut.

"There it is..." He let out, already expected the dare to have twists mixed in.

Nytherael’s smile became brighter. "You may not refuse to answer... you may not remain silent... you may not lie... you may not twist the truth... you may not answer vaguely... you may not answer with another question... you may not leave or pretend you misunderstood the question. If you do..."

His fox ears twitched happily. "The dare immediately becomes a death dare."

Silence followed with shocked expression exchanged around the table. All the beasts present knew that there was no knife more lethal than truth. The cheerful atmosphere evaporated like morning mist beneath a blazing sun.

Fior’s confident smile disappeared. "...Ah?"

Sseraphis leaned back lazily. "I like this one," his face showed pure joy. "And just to make sure that no cheating. Let’s have a truth orb present," like he had anticipated they’d need it or he just carried on him all the time, he removed the orb from his space and threw it at Fior.

Light drained from Fior’s eyes. What most beasts around didn’t know was that, among them, he had the most secrets.

Aeltharion covered his face. "I already regret sitting down."

Nytherael clapped once. "I trust you understand the rules," he took Fior’s silence as understand. "Wonderful. The questioning may begin."

Nobody spoke first or breathed too loudly. Everyone suddenly became painfully aware that thirty minutes was an incredibly long time.

Fior awkwardly laughed. "So..." He looked around. "Someone ask something."

Sseraphis raised one finger. "I have one."

Fior looked relieved and welcoming to the challenge. "Go ahead."

Sseraphis smiled pleasantly. "Who here would you poison to death, even without a reason?"

Fior answered immediately. "Lagara," he said. With the new truth that came to light when he saw the mark on Ssirel’s chest, Nytherael, Sseraphis and Aeltharion were no longer on his kill list, instead the female Ssirel bought had taken their place.

The truth orb glowed green to signal that he was telling the truth. Ssirel looked over. "There is something wrong with your head."

Lagara tensed. Her lashes trembled, she bit her lip and pressed her knuckles tightly shut.

Sseraphis clicked his tongue. "Boring."

"My turn," Aeltharion said.

Fior straightened. Knowing his righteous boss, he didn’t expect the question to be challenging. "What is the first thing you thought when you met Ssirel?"

Everyone turned toward him. Fior rubbed the back of his neck. "Insufferable!"

Ssirel froze. "That’s how I feel about you right now"

Fior smiled at the retort. "You were surrounded by beasts but somehow... you always chose to annoy me to bits. I hated that."

The answer caught everyone off guard even Ssirel didn’t know how to respond. He simply looked away.

Nytherael smiled softly. "That wasn’t the answer I expected. I thought maybe handsome... evil... heartless would make the cut before insufferable."

"It was the truth."

"Good." Nytherael nodded approvingly. "My turn," she let out a simple smile that didn’t feel simple.

Fior swallowed.

"A knight in shining armor, that’s the image you’ve always worn everyday. Have you ever gone against the knightly codes and hurt a beast just from pure need to?" He asked.

Fior froze, hesitated and found himself momentarily unable to answer. Hurt a beast? Just the other week he plotted to kill Sseraphis and Rhysandor paid the price for his schemes.

For a year and a half, he ruined the happiness of his master’s home and made certain hatred existed in the places love once reigned.

All his life, his meeting with Aeltharion wasn’t an accident, and becoming his second in command wasn’t by chance either, it was all staged, planned and executed day by day until he was close enough to inflict damage to him without ever being the suspect.

His eyes looked to the left before he answered, "No," he spoke confidently and released his essence into the truth orb to alter the colour.

But even with his confidence and tinkering, the truth orb already betrayed the truth by turning red. Which showed that he lied, his confidence fell apart.

"The dragon who charmed Nytherael is... Fior," Aeltharion heard Fairy Zarathia’s voice in his head and the carefree attitude of the game left his body.

"You lied," Nytherael called him out. "I guess even the bravest of knights have skeletons in their closets," he added.

The air turned icy cold. Fior wanted to drop the truth orb and march out of there. But the orb was stuck to his palm and refused to roll down.

"Thirty minutes aren’t you, until the time passes, I’ve made sure that you can’t chest your way out of the game," Sseraphis said, clearly behind the orb being stuck to his palm.

"I’m not playing anymore," he said sternly.

"Why?" Nytherael quizzed. "You sounded so confident when we started. What happened? Scared?"

Fior swallowed. Hard.

"You remember the rules, right. And dearest me..." Nytherael touched his chest, his face shoeing pure excitement. "You hesitated, lied and tried to twist the truth. So, that turns this into a death dare!"

Faces paled around the table. Those who had been fooled by how innocently the game had started, changed their minds. They had the same horror driven expressions as Yiwa, Ssirel and Aenyra as they now understood that they were up against a master.

"I don’t want to play anymore," Fior’s face grew stoney.

Nytherael smiled, his eyes sparkling. "For your death dare..."

"I have a question before you death dare the life out of him," Aeltharion said, interrupting Nytherael.

"Sure go ahead."

"Can I ask?" Aeltharion turned to Fior.

Fior felt a twist in his guts that warned him against giving in. He didn’t like Aeltharion’s changed tone.

"Sure," he said against himself.

"Were you the one who charmed Nytherael into invoking for a divorce from us a year and a half ago?"

Nytherael and Sseraphis glanced at him, then at Fior and back at Aeltharion. They couldn’t believe the question that Aeltharion raised, and neither found they picture Fior, at least the version of him in their heads being that evil.

Fior paled. Never in his life did he expect Aeltharion to raise such a question. The way he asked was like confirming a truth he already knew and less like him making an inquiry. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

Ssirel’s breath grew heavy. He already knew that Fior conspired against his brother, but to ruin his brother’s marriage? That was a low he didn’t expect Fior to be responsible for.

And Fior didn’t need to answer. The calm hesitation on him already gave up the truth.

"Answer," Aeltharion didn’t command, or order him. He said it softly, the cracks on his composure showing and hurt seen in his eyes. "Were you the reason I had to see the darkest moments of my life?"

"Aelthie, what is this about?" Nytherael asked, losing the spark for the game.

"Ssirel, you usually spend a questionable amount of time following Fior around. Tell me, is he capable of hurting me in the way Aeltharion is suggesting?" Sseraphis didn’t face Fior, Fior had no reasons to answer him but his brother, he expected an ounce of honesty from him.

Ssirel lowered his head. His heart heavy.

Fior saw him being put in a difficult position and answered to take the heat on himself. "Yes, I did that," he admitted, not because he felt guilty or owed them the truth but to save Ssirel from being bombarded by Sseraphis.

The truth hit Nytherael, Sseraphis and Aeltharion like a bucket of ice cold water. What started as an innocent game turned into a nightmare of a revelation that no beast across the table could stomach.