Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

There was beautiful, then there was Guinevere Lunaris. Every man looked up when she entered the war room.

Blair walked in behind her masterpiece and resisted the urge to bow.

Ryker’s expression cycled through three things in two seconds. Guilt. Relief. Then pride.

Kael stared while his face did something no one in this room had ever seen it do. It softened.

Griffin looked at Ryker. Ryker shook his head once. Don’t. Sterling tapped the table twice.

”Keep staring and I will wax your entire body while you sleep. I’ve done it before. Ask Griffin.” Blair swept past Kael without looking at him, pulling Guinevere along. ”And for the love of the gods, stop breathing like that. It’s audible.”

That snapped Kael out of whatever trance he was in.

Blair sat down next to Guinevere, directly across from Sterling. She leaned forward, lowering her voice.

”Apologize to her right now.”

Guinevere’s eyes widened in horror. ”Blair, that’s not—”

Blair held up her hand, cutting her off. Her eyes were still locked on Sterling.

Sterling looked at Guinevere. ”I am sorry for being a jackass, Gwen.”

Guinevere’s face heated. ”Thank you, Sterling. That’s very kind.”

It wasn’t. She didn’t know why she said it. Her default factory setting was polite and that was what came out of her mouth.

”Guinevere.” Blair’s tone was pure mother-to-child. ”He told you to, ’stop fucking thanking him.’ And what did you just do?”

Guinevere exhaled and shot Blair a look that said, I am going to kill you.

Blair’s face said, With what? Your manners?

Guinevere’s eyes thawed against her will, That was funny.

Blair gave her a knowing look that said, This is the opening act. Settle in.

Ryker leaned forward. All his humor was gone. ”What was said?”

Blair tore her gaze away from Sterling to answer. She held up a finger for each one. ”He kindly reminded her that Maddox can’t remember her face. Without him, she is no one. Stop fucking crying. Other people have bigger problems. Don’t fuck up the dragon trial. Stop fucking thanking me. The elders see you as a liability that cost seven hundred and fifty million.”

She lowered her hands. ”That’s the highlight reel given by the two wolves he did it in front of.”

Kael, who had been taking a sip of his coffee, choked at seven hundred and fifty million. Then his eyes narrowed at Sterling.

Nobody spoke. Griffin studied the table. Jaxon studied the wall.

Ryker locked eyes with Sterling. The look lasted five seconds. In those five seconds, Sterling aged a year.

Guinevere broke the silence. ”Let’s all take a breath here. I’m not upset.”

A white lie, but necessary.

”It’s okay, Sterling. I mean it. But I am not going to stop saying thank you. I can’t help it. It’s a disease so you’ll have to deal with it.”

She looked at Blair. ”He said you can dress him for the summit. Full creative control, no veto power, in front of generals.”

Blair tried to not look smug. ”Fine. Sterling. You’re forgiven.”

Kael blinked. Then he started talking.

”Here is what we know. One. Maddox has an adverse reaction to Guinevere specifically. Every other memory appears intact.”

He reached into a pouch on his belt and produced six iron tokens. He set the first on the table. The tokens were unnecessary. But Kael liked having props.

”Two.” He placed a second token. ”Guinevere cannot feel him through their matebond.”

Everyone outside of Guinevere tensed. She didn’t react.

Kael continued unbothered. ”I know about their matebond. You all are ridiculous.”

Third token.

”Three. Everything about her evaporates. Current situation, past memories, and context provided by other people in the room. Aldric said the word ’wife’ to his face three times. Each time, Maddox forgot it within seconds.”

Fourth token.

”Four. His default response to her presence, scent, and familiar items is hostility. He called her.” Kael paused, lifting both hands to form air quotes. ”’Bad.’”

Fifth token.

Kael hesitated for a split second, his eyes flicking to Guinevere. ”Five. He’s had three seizures where he calls her name and apologizes.”

Guinevere gave no reaction to those words.

”Are we all in agreement on this information?”

Griffin nodded the way a student nods when the professor asks ’does everyone understand?’ and the answer is absolutely not but the room is already moving on.

”Wonderful.” Kael swept the five tokens to one side and set a sixth in the center.

”Draven found Maddox already bleeding when his men dragged him into the throne room.” He glanced up at Ryker. ”Confirm.”

”That’s what he said in the throne room,” Ryker replied.

”Confirmed,” Guinevere and Blair said at the same time with the same nod.

They turned to each other, delighted.

The room stared at them with various expressions of discomfort, confusion, and mild fear.

Blair stared back. ”We’re adorable and none of you deserve to witness it. Kael, continue before I lose interest in your presentation.”

Kael’s eye twitched at the word ’presentation’ but he continued.

”I think these are two different problems that arrived on the same night. Draven left Maddox alive so Guinevere could be used as leverage. Dark magic made Maddox forget her. No leverage. Defeats the purpose.”

He swept a token off the table entirely. It hit the stone floor and rang. Everyone looked at it. ”That’s Draven. Solved. Handled. Irrelevant.”

He tapped a token at the center of the table. ”This is the one that matters. And this one is still in Maddox’s head.”

Nobody moved. The token on the table sat in the center like a verdict. The token on the floor sat in the corner like a corpse.

”Eastern attacks,” he added. ”Maddox calls a war summit per protocol. Every house is notified of the timeline. And just like magic, a siege occurs the night before the houses are supposed to arrive. Obviously connected.”

Griffin raised his hand.

Every head turned to him.

”Could we just, like, show him a painting of her? Baby steps. Start with the face. Mention she lives here. Work up to the wife part.”

It landed like a golden retriever at a chess tournament.

Kael stared at him for three full seconds.

”No, Griffin.”

Griffin lowered his hand.

”If it is dark fae in origin, what logically would we need to reverse it. Anyone?” Kael asked, not expecting an answer.

”A dark fae,” Guinevere replied.

Kael blinked. ”Correct. I have burned every bridge I had with the Eclipse Court, so diplomacy is gone. Kidnapping a dark fae would be the approach.”

The room processed it at five different speeds. Griffin was still on the previous sentence.

Kael rolled his eyes at the collective self-righteousness around the table. ”Relax. They reproduce at a rate that would embarrass rabbits. One fewer will go unnoticed.”

Sterling closed his eyes for one full second.

”If the origin is dark mage,” Kael continued. ”What would we use as a countermeasure? Guesses from anyone who is not Guinevere.”

Ryker dragged a hand down his face.

”There we go.” Kael pointed at him. ”There are two people who get it now.”

Ryker did not enjoy getting it. Guinevere got it ages ago and didn’t know if Kael was being sarcastic or if people actually weren’t understanding.

”Get what?” Griffin asked.

No one answered.

Kael turned to the room and slowed his cadence.

”You cannot fight all dark magic with regular magic. This is fundamental.” He held up one hand. ”Regular magic.” He held up the other. ”Dark magic.” He moved them apart. ”Different structures. Different countermeasures.”

The visual aid was condescending and effective.

”The dark magic in Maddox is bad. Let me be clear. It is hostile, sophisticated, and designed to do exactly what it is doing. The fastest, most direct countermeasure would be to use a practitioner of dark magic to extract it.”

”Absolutely—” Jaxon started.

Kael raised a finger.

Jaxon had been waiting for this moment the way a man waits for a fight he’s been rehearsing. The finger stopped him mid-syllable, and the indignity of being silenced by the same finger that had silenced the elders was not lost on him.

”There might be other paths. I am saying the fastest, most direct path would be a dark magic extraction performed by a practitioner who understands the architecture.” He lowered the finger.

The silence that followed had the texture of men processing a truth they found professionally uncomfortable and personally offensive.

Jaxon uncrossed his arms. ”Who, Kael?”

”I have a practitioner. Experienced. Discreet. Familiar with this class of enchantment.”

Ryker and Sterling looked at each other. The glance contained an entire negotiation. Neither man was comfortable with this arrangement.

”A dark mage.” Sterling’s voice was flat. ”In the king’s chambers. Performing dark magic on the king’s brain.”

”I am aware of the optics, Sterling. I am also aware that we don’t know the spread rate. And the longer we leave it, the more damage it will do. Your king tried to strangle a trembling woman this morning who looked about as dangerous as a puppy.”

He looked at Guinevere. ”No offense.”

Sterling’s jaw worked once.

Kael gathered his tokens from the table in one sweep and dropped them back into his pouch. ”Come find me when your pride is finished.”

He left without looking back.

The room exhaled as soon as the door closed. The collective decompression was audible and unanimous and nobody was embarrassed about it.

Griffin spoke first. ”He’s so smart.”

”Griffin. We talked about this. Stop idolizing the war criminal. Sterling is available and looking for a mentee,” Ryker said, like Griffin had disappointed him.

Sterling leaned back in his chair. ”Bring the mage. Supervised. Jaxon present for the entire procedure.”

Everyone turned to Guinevere.

”Do it. We monitor. If anything changes in a hostile direction, we terminate the practitioner on the spot.” Her voice came out cold, and very un-Guinevere.

”Noted. And agreed.” Ryker breathed. ”I’ll tell Kael.”

”Tell him the supervision is mandatory,” Sterling said. ”He’ll try to negotiate it down.”

”He will try. He will fail. I can be unreasonable too.” Ryker pushed back from the table and stood.

He flipped his coin once, caught it, and did not look at the result.

”I hate this.”