The More I Invest in My Wives, the Stronger I Become

Daemon’s jaw still throbbed where Victoria’s fist had connected.

*How.*

*How does she know what I was thinking about.*

He sat up slowly, rubbing his jaw, watching her from across the room with the wary caution of a man who genuinely didn’t understand what he’d done wrong. Victoria sat rigid at the edge of the bed, glaring at him with an intensity that made the punch feel like the opening move rather than the whole argument.

He got up carefully and moved closer, hands raised.

”Victoria. Talk to me. What’s going on?”

---

”Who is she?” Victoria’s voice was tight, controlled in the way that meant she was holding something much bigger back. ”Don’t lie to me. Say it.”

Daemon’s stomach dropped.

*This was supposed to be one of the best mornings of my life. Now it’s this.*

”Victoria,” he said gently, sitting beside her, careful not to crowd her. ”She’s my ex. Her name is Kassia.”

Victoria’s eyes flicked to his. ”Then why,” she said, ”were you thinking about her? Right now. Right after everything we—”

She didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t need to.

---

”I’m sorry,” Daemon said, meaning it fully. ”I found out something recently. I think she might be in danger — or something happened to her that made her lie about breaking up with me. I think she did it so I wouldn’t suffer, watching whatever it actually was.”

He watched Victoria’s expression shift, the anger slowly draining out of her shoulders as the pieces settled into place.

”When did you last see her?” she asked finally.

”Seven months ago.”

”And what do you actually want from her now?”

”Just to know she’s okay,” Daemon said. ”Or if she needs help. That’s it.”

Victoria studied him a long moment, then nodded once, apparently satisfied.

She already knew he was telling the truth.

---

She’d known before he’d even finished the first sentence, if she was honest.

Victoria had a power most people never learned about — the ability to hear surface thoughts, close enough and clear enough to know when someone was lying to her. It didn’t work perfectly. It didn’t work every time. But when it worked, it worked completely.

The cost was worse.

”I have something I haven’t told you,” she said carefully. ”It’s called Crimson Resonance. I can hear thoughts, sometimes. Not always. But when I push it, or when someone’s thinking something loud enough—”

Blood welled suddenly at her nose, dripping down before Daemon even registered what was happening.

”Victoria—” He was at her side instantly, panic sharpening his voice. ”You’re bleeding—”

The Emberalm Jade at her throat flared with a soft pulse of warmth.

The bleeding stopped almost as fast as it had started.

---

Daemon grabbed a tissue, hands not quite steady, cleaning the blood away with more care than the small amount really required.

”What is happening to you,” he said, voice low.

”I’m fine.” Victoria caught his hand, stilling it. ”This happens sometimes, when I use Crimson Resonance too much. It’s manageable.”

”You’ve never told me about this.”

”I’m telling you now.”

She explained the rest while he listened, too rattled to interrupt — how the ability worked, how it strained her bloodline every time she reached for it, how the corruption always found some new way to make her pay for anything extra she asked of her own body.

”So you’ve heard my thoughts,” Daemon said slowly, ”this whole time?”

”I’m not that invasive,” she said, a faint, tired smile finally breaking through. ”I only catch things occasionally. But you—” She tilted her head at him. ”You were thinking loud enough tonight that I couldn’t have missed it if I tried.”

*Does she know about the system, too, then?*

He waited, half-braced for her to ask.

She didn’t. Whatever she’d caught from him, it hadn’t included that.

*Okay. Good. That’s still mine to tell her, when I’m ready.*

---

Victoria’s gaze dropped to the pendant at her own throat.

”This heals me,” she said. ”That’s why you told me never to take it off, isn’t it.”

Daemon opened his mouth, already halfway into a denial that wasn’t going to convince anyone.

”You’re a terrible liar,” Victoria said, laughing despite everything. ”Worse than usual, actually. Fine — I won’t ask where you got it. Not yet.”

He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

”Now,” Victoria said, tone sharpening again as the conversation circled back. ”Your ex-girlfriend.”

Daemon braced instinctively, half-expecting another swing.

Instead, she just listened — really listened, this time — while he laid out everything he’d pieced together over the past seven months.

”You can’t find her on your own,” Victoria said once he’d finished. ”Not with what you have to go on.”

”I know.”

”I have a friend who can. I’ll reach out.”

Daemon pulled her into a hug before he’d even decided to, relief loosening something tight in his chest. ”Thank you, Victoria.”

”You’ll owe me for this,” she said against his shoulder, voice light, teasing.

”I think I know exactly how you want to be repaid.”

---

Morning arrived slower than either of them expected.

By the time they finally made it downstairs, Victoria was still pretending to be annoyed about it, arms crossed while Daemon moved easily around the kitchen, breakfast coming together like it always did.

They ate in comfortable quiet, the tension from earlier fully gone now, replaced with something warmer.

”Today,” Victoria said eventually, setting her fork down, ”the World Hunter Association is holding trials. Are you ready to actually take the test and join the WHA?”