Bloodbound To My Four Archenemies.

July 16 2026, 7:21pm.

Seraphina’s father knew exactly what she meant by those words but he did not attempt to stop her or convince her otherwise.

She was his whole world anyway.

So instead, he wrapped his arms around her sunken shoulders and led her away from the daunting gates of the filthy dungeons, his fingers playing with the strands of her matted hair as they went.

Their ride home was spent mostly in suffocating silence as both father and daughter could not bring themselves to look each other in the eyes.

They had however just driven into their vast parking lot when Alexander finally turned to look at his daughter. He took her sore hands in his, ignoring the grime coating the insides of her fingernails and the filth which made her body inexplicably sticky, then he drawled;

"I’ll say this once because I am your father and would hate to see you suffer... but I don’t think you have to try so hard just to win them over and make them love you."

"Father—"

"In fact, I would advise you to let them go completely."

Seraphina lowered her eyes and shook her head. "No, father..."

"They have shown time and time again that they do not care about you. They have made it seem like you are nothing but a toy they no longer intend to play with."

"They want to play with me. Their new wife is the only problem here. She hates my guts and gets mad when I am around. She throws tantrums and lies against me. Recently, she stole some valuables but because I asked that she be punished, Luna or not, I was the one who got punished..."

"Which is enough reason to let them go," Alexander exhaled exasperatedly, squeezing his daughter’s fingers so tightly, it almost hurt, "...and you should."

Her father’s constant disapproval made Seraphina’s chest tighten. She used to think that he would always pick her through it all. Tears spilled from her eyes and landed on their clasped hands. She muttered softly; "Papa, will you help me or do I need to ask Mom for help?"

As soon as his ex-wife was mentioned, Alexander’s body stiffened. He smiled briskly at his daughter, held her even closer, and said in a quiet tone:

"You know I’ll always stand with you? I just needed you to— for a second— see this thing from my viewpoint.

She responded with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes then she stepped out of the car with her head held high in pride even though she looked so tattered, she appeared less than a lowly maid right now.

She just... didn’t care.

—

July 17 2026, 9:18am.

Celine sat near her daughter’s hospital bed, her body shaking slightly with a mix of worry, sadness, and despair that ran so deep, the Earth’s core felt like a big joke. She stared at Elara, who had for some reason, decided that she did not want to wake up— at least, that was how the doctor had described her situation earlier that day.

After a series of tests, they had found out that after her body’s initial descent into shock and the treatment that followed, she had gotten better.

In fact, she was better now as we speak, but was still in a coma, hence the statement.

Celine could not understand why her daughter had decided not to wake up. She could not begin to fathom how hurt she must’ve been to refuse treatment all on her own.

Tears streamed down her face as she clutched her daughter’s slightly cold hands in hers. She pressed her forehead into her fingers and began to shake all over as the thought of losing her only child hit her with a devastating force.

"How long do you intend to keep crying?" A voice suddenly said from behind her, jolting her out of her reverie. She did not have to look to know that it was Kai. Hell, she could sense his presence from a thousand miles away.

Kai, on the other hand, did not seem very fazed by her tears. He knew that the girl was faking it just as he knew she had faked a lot of things in the past.

He sat down on the farthest chair in the corner of the room and crossed his arms over his chest. His voice was cold, barely above a whisper as he hissed; "She’s fine, the doctors have confirmed that. All she needs to do is wake up."

"Kai, you sound so unbothered for someone whose daughter is hanging by a thread!" She snapped, her voice dripping with despair.

For the first time in her life, she was beginning to see him for his true colors, but pushing that thought away, she continued; "That’s unfair!"

"Life is unfair!" Kai bit back, shrugging at her, his actions nonchalant. He cast another look at the girl then at his wife. He said; "This is not the first time a daughter of mine would be hanging by a thread. Or have you forgotten the many times you and your daughter tried to hurt Nyx’ara in the past? Have you forgotten just how hurt she has been these past three years?"

Celine wanted to argue otherwise but quickly deciding against that, she clamped her lips shut and lowered her eyes. Her corneas stung with tears that would not stop falling and her body shook violently as she wrapped her arms around her body.

"You also watched Nyx’ara suffer so you cannot entirely blame Elara or me! Even your dimwit son, Tristan, let his own sister suffer so I guess it runs in the blood!"

Kai did not respond right away but instead took his time to look at Celine— like really look at her. He wondered what must’ve been so special about her back then that had pushed him into cheating on his mate with her.

His fingers dug into his palm as his chest swelled with regret. He nodded once. "That’s true."

Celine was stunned that he would agree that easily.

It was too late to turn back the hands of time now. Too late to undo whatever nonsense he had done in the past.

And too late to seek redemption.

"However..." he continued, his voice crisp, "...there’s something that I have always thought about but never found an answer to. It has bothered me for so long and I’d love for you to be truthful about it..."

Celine frowned at his words and her heart skipped a beat because she had a million things she’d lied to him about in the past.

First was the theft... the theft that drew the line between Kai and his first wife.

Then the next was her relationship with her late husband.

She could not start recounting how many lies she had told this man in the past—

Then there was the fire...

She shook her head, thinking: "No one is to ever bring up matters concerning the fire!"

"What is it?"

Kai looked at his wife for a second then rose to his feet to walk over to Elara’s bed. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her stiff ear and ran his finger across her temple. His actions were soft but there was a passive aggressiveness hidden just beneath it.

He drawled; "Three years ago, Elara, our child fell from the rooftop library. She told us all that Nyx’ara had tried to kill her. I never thought too much about it until that princess died at the same spot last month..."

"Kai what are you trying to say?"

"That the princess is part Lycan, part werewolf which means that she is by far stronger than Elara. So tell me, how did she survive that fall and the princess didn’t?"