Chapter 30: Things Left Unsaid

Victoria suddenly reached out and caught Daemon’s wrist before he could speak.

"That’s enough for tonight," she said. Her voice was calm, but firm. "We girls want some time alone before the night ends. You can go to bed."

Daemon looked at her.

The wooden block was still in his hand. The question sat heavy in his chest, unfinished.

He had been ready to answer. The words were already there.

But the look in her eyes made it clear this was not the moment.

He let out a quiet breath and set the block down.

"...Alright."

He stood up, said goodnight to everyone, then glanced at Roxanna and Sana.

"You two should take a cab. Or stay the night if you want."

Victoria immediately pushed his shoulder.

"We know that. You’re not our father. Just go sleep."

There was a faint smell of alcohol in the air.

Everyone had drunk a little. Daemon included.

His body felt heavy enough that arguing seemed pointless. Still, a small part of him didn’t want to leave the room.

He pushed the feeling down, nodded once, and went upstairs without another word.

The door to his room closed softly.

A few minutes passed in silence.

Then Sana leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table.

"Okay. Now can you tell us everything? About you and Daemon. Roxanna and I both want to know."

Victoria took a slow sip from her glass. The ice inside had almost melted.

"That’s why I asked both of you to come tonight."

She set the glass down carefully.

"First... I have a curse. It will kill me within three years. Maybe even sooner.

Second, my marriage with Daemon was arranged."

She didn’t stop there. She told them everything. The corrupted Hale bloodline.

How it had taken her father. How the family had searched for a solution for generations.

How they finally found Daemon because of his strange, unidentifiable bloodline — the Nameless one.

How the marriage had started as a last desperate attempt, nothing more.

And how, somehow, along the way, it stopped being just an arrangement.

By the time she finished, both Sana and Roxanna were quiet.

Their eyes had turned red.

Sana was the first to move. She stood up, walked around the table, and pulled Victoria into a tight hug.

Roxanna followed a second later, wrapping her arms around both of them.

"Why didn’t you tell me earlier?" Sana’s voice was rough.

"If you had said something, we could have looked for a way. We could have tried."

Victoria gave a small smile against her shoulder.

"That’s exactly why I didn’t.

My father spent his whole life searching for a cure. It killed him in the end.

After I awakened, the curse started showing in me too.

I didn’t want anyone else suffering because of me.

This thing has been in my family for a hundred years. It just keeps getting passed down."

She pulled back a little so she could look at both of them.

"Daemon got pulled into this because of my family.

They thought his bloodline was rare enough that it might help.

He was already struggling in this world without any of my problems. And now he has me on top of everything else."

Her voice stayed steady, but her eyes didn’t.

"If I somehow survive... I don’t know what will happen to him.

But if I don’t, I want you two to support him. That’s what I’m asking."

Roxanna shook her head firmly.

"You have to believe in him.

Don’t treat him like a normal person who never awakened. He’s already doing things most people can’t."

Sana nodded. "She’s right. His speed, his power... it’s different. Maybe he’ll find a way no one else has."

Victoria’s lips curved into a real smile this time.

"Yeah. He’s different. Definitely."

She reached up and touched the pendant at her throat.

"He gave me this."

Both women leaned closer. The deep blue stone caught the light, the design unlike anything commonly seen in the Hunter markets

"It protects me," Victoria said.

"It softens the backlash when I use my bloodline. The pain, the damage... it holds some of it back. I don’t know where he got it.

I never asked. And he never offered to explain."

Sana and Roxanna both stared at it.

"It’s beautiful," Roxanna said quietly.

"The design doesn’t even look like it belongs to this world."

Victoria held the pendant a little tighter, almost proudly.

Then her expression shifted again.

"There’s one more thing. Daemon has an ex-girlfriend. She’s missing.

He thinks she might be in trouble. He’s been trying to find her.

" She paused. "And I think... he might still have some feelings left."

Sana’s hand hit the table harder this time.

"How can he still—"

"Don’t raise your voice," Victoria cut in, though her tone was gentler than usual.

"It’s not confirmed. I’m only thinking it.

First we find her. Then we deal with whatever comes after."

Sana pressed both hands to her head and groaned.

"My head is spinning. You just dumped an entire novel’s worth of information on us. We were not ready for this."

Roxanna let out a soft laugh at Sana’s reaction. Internally, though, her thoughts were quieter.

She had always assumed people like Victoria — powerful, famous, surrounded by strength — lived above ordinary problems.

Tonight proved how wrong that was. And somehow, instead of pulling away, Roxanna only felt the urge to stay closer.

She wanted to help. She wanted to be someone Victoria could actually lean on.

I want to be her friend for real, she thought. Not just someone who happens to know her.

Eventually the conversation wound down. Sana and Roxanna called a cab and left together. The house grew quiet again.

Victoria stood alone in the kitchen, staring at nothing in particular.

A strange sense of relief settled over her.

For the first time, she felt like Daemon would not be completely alone if something happened to her.

There were people now who knew. People who cared.

She let out a long breath.

Then she heard footsteps on the stairs.

Daemon came down carrying a luggage bag over one shoulder. His expression was serious, closed off.

He looked like a man about to leave for a long time.

Victoria’s heart dropped.

Did he hear everything?

Did he misunderstand?