​"You’re crazy," Melo muttered, looking at me like I had lost my mind, but he could not hide the impressed look dancing in his violet eyes. "My brother was right. You’re absolutely terrifying."

Ah, I think I should have a conversation with Thalor concerning that. Whenever was I terrifying?

​"That’s ’Land Mother’ to you, kid," I winked. "Now, look at this drainage pipe again. If we’re going to have fire-cats living here eventually, I need to design some heat-resistant flooring, if we can. I don’t want them accidentally melting the nursery floor before the babies even get to crawl on it."

Now, I just have to think of how to make peace with the Caracals when they make their way to my doorstep.

Should I raise a white flag and tell them we surrender? No, that was too low. I needed a method.

​If we could talk to them before they launched a full-on attack and melted the walls we were working so hard on, I might be able to strike a deal.

But I knew if I tried to go out there alone, my husbands would have a collective heart attack. I needed to find a way to convince them that these ’enemies’ were actually our most valuable future employees. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

I stood there, leaning on the walls, while my mind spun a thousand miles ahead. The idea of peace wasn’t just a moral choice; it was a mechanical necessity. If they attacked, we’d lose lives and a beautiful wall. If they stayed, we would gain an industrial revolution. So I had to make it work somehow. Anyhow.

​"Melo," I said, watching him trace the new lines I’d scrawled. "How do they communicate? Do they have a leader, or is it every cat for themselves?"

​"They have a Pride Alpha," Melo said, not looking up from the slate. "Usually, the one with the hottest core. If you convince the Alpha, you convince the pride. But good luck—they aren’t exactly known for their listening skills."

Just my luck.

​I tapped the charcoal against my chin, leaving a black smudge that I’m sure looked ridiculous. A white flag was definitely out. In this world, weakness was an invitation to be eaten. I needed to show them that I wasn’t just a ’weak female’ hoarding treasure from the sea, but a visionary who could give them something better than a few stolen pearls.

​"Damar," I whispered. He was the one. As a serpent beastman, he understood the value of patience, heat, and high-stakes negotiation. Plus, he had that aura of quiet authority that usually made beasts stop and listen before they started swinging.

​I looked at the Trident one last time. Its purple glow felt like a heavy weight in the room. Nereus had brought it for war, but I was going to use it as the ultimate ’sit down and listen’ tool.

​"I’m going to find Damar," I told Melo as I started to head toward the door.

My back was screaming at me to sit down and take a break, but the adrenaline was better than any painkiller.

"Keep working on those valves. If you find a way to make the water flow faster without increasing the noise, I’ll let you see the ’heavy slate’ we’re working with."

​"Deal!" Melo called out, already diving under the water to check the intake from below.

​I made my way out of the nursery, moving as fast as a woman with a 27-day biological clock could. I found Damar near the southern gate, standing atop a pile of freshly cut limestone. He was looking out toward the horizon, his emerald eyes narrowed as if he could already see the heat shimmers of the Caracals in the distance.

Let’s not exaggerate this situation. They can’t already be that close.

​"Damar," I called out, breathless.

​He was down from the pile in a single, fluid motion, his hands catching my shoulders to steady me.

"Ari? You should be resting. What’s wrong? Is it the babies?"

​"The babies are fine. They’re great. They’re future glassblowers," I panted, clutching his arm. "But it’s not about them, so just listen, okay? It’s about the Caracals,"

As soon as I said that, Damar hissed, as if I had called a forbidden name.​ What? Why? What was that reaction right now?

"Is something wrong?" I asked him, placing my hand on his on my shoulder.

"They are dangerous, Ari," he said, and I blinked.

So dangerous to warrant such a reaction?

"If I find a single one, I will behead them in a second," he claimed, but I frantically shook my head, it felt like my brain would pop out of my head and bounce away.

"No, Damar, no fighting and definitely not beheading. We have to make friends with them." I said, and he narrowed his eyes.

"What?" he looked at me in disbelief. Maybe he didn’t hear it right. "Friends... with those pests?"

Ah, that’s harsh.

"I know how it sounds," I said, leaning my weight against him as my lower back gave another dull, heavy throb. "But Damar, think about it. You’re a serpent—winter is your enemy. You spent the last cold snap curled in a ball, and you’ll have to hibernate again when the snow hits. We waste so much wood and effort just trying to keep you—and everyone else—warm enough to function. If we have them as our people, they can provide natural heat to keep everyone around them warm."

Ah, I hate to admit it, but that’s a very kindergarten way of thinking. The world wasn’t sunshine and roses afterwards.

Damar didn’t look convinced, and honestly, neither did I, even if they were my words.

His emerald eyes turned a shade darker, and his grip on my shoulders tightened just a fraction—protective, yet tense.

"They are not just ’heat,’ Ari. They are unpredictable. Their core is volatile. A Caracal pride doesn’t settle; they burn through territory and move on. To suggest we ’make friends’ with a species that views our walls as kindling is... It is madness."

That stung a bit.

"It’s not madness, it’s progress!" I countered, looking him dead in the eye. "Right now, we’re a kingdom of stone and water. We’re missing the fire. If we fight them, we will lose the wall we are working so hard to erect, we will lose strong beastmen, and we will lose the chance to innovate."

It’s literally telling us to fight with a force that has fire powers, can burn our walls, and render even our strongest beastmen warriors useless once their tails are caught in fire.

Even if I did not plan to innovate with them, I would not agree to this. This fight would be completely different from the fight with the red scales. It would be dangerous, and lives would be lost.

I do not want to have to go through that.

"But instead of fighting them, we hire them? Just think about it. We get master blacksmiths who can melt heavy slate without wood fires. And more importantly..." I paused, softening my voice, my heart thumping softly.

There were so many great things that could come with making the Caracals our allies rather than our enemies.

"We get a way to keep this palace warm enough that you don’t have to disappear for months every winter. Imagine the nursery with heated floors, Damar. You could stay with us all winter. Damar, don’t you want that?"