Chapter 28: A Slap or Two

Leonidas swallowed. The sound was audible in the courtyard.

He looked at Karina, his purple eyes dark and turbulent. "I swear it," he said, his deep baritone rough. "They’re not mine."

Karina let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Okay. Good. Not his bastards. Just some random children he’s hoarding. That’s... slightly less terrible. But who’s children?

"But..." Leonidas started, although he sounded and looked incredibly uncomfortable. "I have a confession to make. To explain who they are."

Karina crossed her arms over her chest. She arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. Now what?

"I’m listening."

"I.....They’re the children of a noble," he explained, his gaze darting to the stone floor. "The older sister of..." He trailed off, his jaw ticking.

Karina stared at him, her mind churning with all sorts of possible ideas. "Of who, Leonidas?" she prompted him, keeping her voice low, even though she felt nothing but irritation inside her body.

Leonidas swallowed again. His Adam’s apple bobbed. "My..... mistress," he muttered, preparing for the impact.

Karina stiffened. The word hit her like a physical blow, echoing in her brain. Mistress?

"Mistress?" she repeated, the syllables tasting like ash in her mouth.

Leonidas looked down, his broad shoulders slumping. "Yes. I..." He squeezed his eyes shut for a brief second, then turned his back to her. "Her name is Renira. She is the daughter of Lord Vane. The children... they are her older sister’s, which is why they can come easily and leave when the wish."

Karina froze on the spot as her mind raced and tried to process the audacity of the man standing in front of her.

Oh, I see, Karina thought, her blood turning to ice.

"Oh..." Karina said, her voice eerily calm. It was the type of calm that preceded a natural disaster. "And did you have plans of marrying this mistress? After the annulment, I take it?"

Leonidas hesitated.

It was a micro-expression, a tiny fraction of a second where his mouth opened and closed, but Karina caught it. He hadn’t planned to marry her. Or maybe he had, and now his stupid panther instincts were making him second-guess it. Either way, the hesitation was the answer.

Karina swallowed hard, forcing down the lump of rage rising in her throat. "I see," she said flatly.

She turned around on her heel, her skirts swishing sharply.

Panic immediately spiked in Leonidas’s scent, and he spun around, his purple eyes wide. "Karina, wait—"

He reached out, his large hand aiming for her arm.

SMACK.

The sound of Karina’s palm connecting with his chiseled cheek echoed across the courtyard. It was a loud, painful, thoroughly satisfying slap. Her hand stung, but the look of shock on the Panther King’s face made it entirely and completely worth it.

"Don’t touch me," she spat, her chest heaving.

Leonidas froze, his hand suspended in the air. A bright red handprint was already blooming on his flawless, sun-bronzed skin. He looked like he had been struck by lightning.

"My son and I are returning to the capital tomorrow," Karina snarled, taking a slight step forward. "I will attend your filthy dinner this evening, because I am the Empress of Zyleria and I do not skulk away in the middle of the day like a scolded child. But after that, I am leaving."

"Karina, you can’t just—"

"Shut up!" she roared, stepping into his personal space. She was a full head shorter than him, but in this moment, she felt ten feet tall. "You imbecile!"

Leonidas flinched, actually flinched, at the venom in her voice.

"Even if I was weak!" Karina yelled, her voice cracking slightly as the residual emotions of the original host bled into her own fury. "Even if I was... pathetic! What gave you the right to cheat on me?! What gave you the right to bring another woman’s children into your home and hide them while you paraded your mistresses in front of me?!"

She was screaming now, the carefully constructed ice-queen facade shattering to reveal the boiling magma beneath. "Do you have any idea how humiliating it was?! To weep for a man who was too busy planting his seed in every noblewoman who gave him a passing glance?!"

Leonidas stood completely still, taking every word. "Karina..." he breathed, his voice thick with an emotion she couldn’t quite place. Regret? Desperation?

"Don’t you dare use my name," she hissed, taking a step back. "Even if you didn’t respect me, even if you still don’t, letting the niece and nephew of your mistress parade around while...."

She sucked in a deep breath. "I have spoken enough."

"Karina, please..." he pleaded, taking a step forward, his hand reaching out again, his fingers trembling slightly.

SMACK.

The second slap was even harder than the first. Leonidas’s head snapped to the side.

"I said don’t touch me," she whispered, her entire body shaking from the rage she felt.

She didn’t wait for him to recover. She didn’t wait to see if he would argue, or apologize, or try to explain away his unforgivable actions. Karina turned her back on him and completely marched out of the courtyard.

Her palm throbbed, and her chest heaved with every breath. She felt like she was going to explode.

[SYSTEM ALERT: TARGET’S DESPERATION LEVEL SPIKING!]

[Leonidas’s Heart Points: -35 → -20]

[Obsession Level: 6% → 12% (Frantic, Guilt-Ridden Possessiveness)]

[Analysis: The physical rejection and emotional confrontation have shattered his ego. He is realizing he is losing you. Keep the ice queen act going, host! Though... maybe lay off the slapping before you rupture his eardrum.]

Shut up, Cheshire, Karina snarled internally, swiping the blue screen away with a violent mental flick. I am not in the mood for your stupid commentary.

She practically flew down the stone corridors, her heels clicking a rapid, angry staccato against the floor. She didn’t care about protocol. She didn’t care about the staring servants. She just needed to find Valen and get as far away from Leonidas as physically possible.

She found him in the eastern wing, sitting quietly on a velvet settee with Sophie. The moment the six-year-old saw her, his ears perked up.

"Is something wrong?" Valen asked, his small voice hesitant.

Karina’s furious expression instantly melted. She dropped to her knees in front of him, ignoring the way her expensive gown pooled on the floor, and pulled him into a hug.

"We’re going home, sweetie," she whispered into his dark hair, her voice trembling just a fraction. "We’re going home tomorrow."