_*]:min-w-0 !gap-3.5" style="border:0px solid">The formal breakfast was a standard ritual of summit protocol—an ostentatious event held in the grand hall during the early evening hours when vampire nobility emerged from their daytime rest. Crystal chandeliers cast a warm glow over the elegantly set tables, while servants moved with practiced efficiency to serve goblets of premium bloodwine.

  Baron Cassian presided at the head table as host, with Archduke Lucius seated in the position of honor as the highest-ranking noble present. The delegation from each territory occupied their assigned positions according to strict hierarchical protocol.

  The formal meal progressed with the usual political discussions veiled in aristocratic pleasantries until Aleksander Hargrove rose unexpectedly from his seat, the movement drawing all eyes.

  "Baron Cassian," he announced, his voice carrying through the suddenly quiet hall. "Before we continue with standard diplomatic discussions, a matter has arisen that requires immediate attention."

  Cassian's expression remained neutral. "Lord Aleksander. You have the floor."

  "It has come to our attention," Aleksander continued, "that your household harbors an unusual being—one who dispys characteristics that defy natural cssification."

  A murmur passed through the assembled nobility.

  "I assume you refer to my administrative aide," Cassian replied, his voice perfectly even. "Kieran."

  "If that is the name you've given him," Aleksander said, "then yes. This... Kieran has been observed dispying traits consistent with wereanimal biology—specifically, partial transformation abilities."

  The murmur grew louder. Several nobles exchanged shocked gnces.

  "Furthermore," Aleksander pressed, watching Cassian carefully, "his physical features suggest a striking resembnce to both yourself and your wereanimal pet."

  "I would request an expnation," Aleksander concluded, "regarding the true nature of this being and his retionship to yourself. The delegation has a right to know what manner of creature moves among us."

  A heavy silence fell over the hall. All eyes turned to Baron Cassian.

  Cassian set down his goblet with deliberate care. When he spoke, his voice carried the precise tone of someone who had long prepared for this moment.

  "Lord Aleksander raises a valid point." He rose from his seat, addressing the entire assembly. "It is true that Kieran possesses a unique biological nature. He is, in fact, a hybrid—born of vampire and wereanimal parentage."

  The hall erupted in shocked excmations and horrified whispers. Several nobles physically recoiled.

  "Impossible!" someone decred.

  "Abomination," another voice added.

  Cassian waited for the initial reaction to subside before continuing. "As for his retionship to me—yes, Kieran is my biological son. His mother is the wereanimal known to you as my pet."

  This second revetion provoked an even stronger reaction. Countess Eliza pressed a handkerchief to her lips as though physically ill. Count Voss smmed his fist on the table, rattling the crystal goblets. Even nobles previously maintaining diplomatic neutrality now openly dispyed disgust or outrage.

  "This is unprecedented," Duke Hargrove's representative decred, rising to stand beside Aleksander. "A viotion of natural order and aristocratic principle."

  "The creature must be secured immediately!" decred another voice.

  "This abomination threatens the natural order!" Count Voss procimed. "We must take action now!"

  Throughout the hall, nobles who had been engaging in diplomatic pleasantries moments before now called for containment, study, even elimination of the "hybrid threat." The carefully maintained veneer of aristocratic diplomacy shattered completely in the face of this unprecedented revetion.

  "This cannot be allowed to continue!"

  "The natural order must be preserved!"

  "Action must be taken against this abomination!"

  The calls grew louder and more vehement by the second, engulfing the grand hall in a storm of aristocratic outrage.