Dumping The Ice King His Mini-Tyrant novel Chapter 513

Harrison’s dark eyes, touched by desire, seemed even more shadowed in the night.

This is insane. What kind of twisted dream was that?

Even the memory of it made him flush with shame.

He grabbed at his sheets, feeling an uncomfortable warmth beneath him, and jolted upright in bed.

A cold shower did nothing to douse the fire smoldering inside him. By the time he stepped out of the bathroom, his mind was still in turmoil. He wandered down the hall toward Selene’s old room.

After the staff had cleared it out, the bedroom felt hollow and empty.

Harrison threw himself onto the bed Selene used to sleep in, tossing and turning. The sheets had been washed so many times that there wasn’t a trace of her left in the fabric.

“Daddy?”

A small voice startled him. He propped himself up on his hands and saw Dames, standing shyly in the doorway in his pajamas, gripping the doorknob.

“It’s the middle of the night. Why aren’t you in bed? Sleepwalking?” Harrison’s voice was sharp, cutting through the silence.

Dames shuffled his feet. “Daddy, why are you in Mommy’s room?”

Harrison hesitated for a moment, then said, “I guess I’m the one sleepwalking.”

He barely finished before he noticed Dames awkwardly scrambling onto the bed, limbs flailing.

“What do you think you’re doing? Get down!” Harrison tried to sound stern.

Dames clung to the edge of the mattress, eyes pleading. “I miss Mommy. I just wanted to sleep in her bed… maybe I’ll see her in my dreams.”

Harrison’s expression darkened at his son’s words.

Seeing how difficult it was for Dames to climb up—his movements still unsteady—Harrison relented and lifted him onto the bed.

*

The next morning—

At the breakfast table, Daph finished every bite on her plate, even licking it clean, then set it down with a satisfied sigh.

Selene noticed a dab of ketchup on her daughter’s nose and laughed, reaching for a napkin to gently wipe it away.

“You eat like such a little rascal!” she teased, her voice full of affection, not reproach.

Back at the Vaughn estate, Daph would never have gotten away with such “bad manners” at the table. But to Selene, Daph was only five—so long as she didn’t waste food, she could eat however she pleased.

Just then, Daph remembered the message she’d gotten from Dames as soon as she woke up.

“Mommy, Dames can’t sleep these days. You always used to help him fall asleep, but now that you’re not here, he misses you. He wants one of your shirts. Is that okay?”