Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

A raging river had swatted a four-thousand-pound dragon like an irritating fly. Not just any dragon, a damn good warrior.

Griffin was Kael Ashenvale’s biggest fan. Understatement. He worshipped the ground Kael walked on. So when Kael was in trouble, of course he dove in like a hero.

Sterling watched in disbelief as the kid was carried away on a stretcher through a portal. Before it shut, Brennan ran through from the opposite direction, still hooded, and skidded to a stop in front of Nicholas.

”Alpha,” he panted. Without waiting to be acknowledged, he touched Nicholas’s non-broken shoulder, drying Nicholas instantly.

No greeting. No pleasantries. Just touched an Alpha King without permission and performed unsolicited magic on him.

Nicholas looked at Brennan. Then at his dry clothes. Then back at Brennan, who was already walking away like he hadn’t just committed a social felony against an Alpha.

Damon dragged a hand down his face and made a note to explain to Brennan that you don’t touch the Alpha without permission in any pack. Nicholas just happens to not be a dick.

Brennan knelt by the river and stuck two fingers in the water. ”Residual signature. Pre-Third-Age old, if I’m reading the decay rate correctly.”

”You’re reading it correctly. Sharp eye,” Lux replied. Her nose had just stopped bleeding and Jaxon was shoving blue magic into her.

Brennan’s face cycled through shock, joy, ’she’s fucking with me,’ and ’wait, maybe not’ in record time. He decided silence was the safest route. Easily the best choice he’d made in the last twenty-four hours.

Jaxon looked down at her with an expression that said, Even you have limits, Lux.

She shot him an unimpressed stare right back that screamed, Even I have limits? Please. I am the goddamn limit.

Against his will, his eyes agreed and said, That was the single most impressive piece of magic I have seen in a decade.

Lux stood. Walked to the river edge where Brennan knelt. Placed her hands in the water.

”A conditional portal,” she said. ”Keyed to a specific individual, it will sit dormant indefinitely until the criteria walks over it. Very difficult to make. Whoever built this knew she would be somewhere near it, eventually, and cast a wide enough net.”

Landon, mid-order to his men, turned to her like he’d been listening the entire time. He had.

”Correct. The runes on her skin were identical to the runes in the circle. The construction is old Luminari, before the Surrendering, if you are familiar with our history.”

Lux gave a single nod.

”Someone put a portal here when it made sense then. At some point in six thousand years, a river parked itself on top and turned activation into a drowning hazard. That’s one hell of a design flaw.”

”Our thoughts exactly,” one of Landon’s men said, openly impressed. He’d been silent up until now, but it was clear he was in charge, the Luminari equivalent of a Master Mage.

His gaze stayed glued on Lux, studying her like she was his new favorite puzzle. ”You are very good.”

”Thank you. I’d return the compliment, but I haven’t seen you do anything yet.”

The Luminari Master Mage laughed warm and bright. ”And she’s funny.”

Jaxon’s left eye twitched. He marched over and planted glowing hands on her back, healing with life-threatening-injury intensity.

Lux shot him a sideways glance. ”You already healed me, Jaxon.”

”This is preventative.”

”Of what?”

”Complications.”

Ryker watched the nerd-on-nerd jealousy unfold like a man who had stumbled into the wrong tent on Diplomat Row, unable to look away.

Ryker: Is Jaxon jealous-healing Lux right now?

Sterling: Aggressively.

Ryker: How much magic is he using right now?

Sterling: Enough to revive a horse

The Luminari Master Mage dipped his hands into the river. They glowed a soft, perfect white. Jaxon’s blue magic immediately said ’hold my beer’ and flared brighter.

Ryker: Sterling.

Sterling: I see it.

At that moment, the entire river lit up like the goddamn sun. Jaxon’s nostrils flared.

Ryker: This is the best day of my life.

Landon turned to his Master Mage.

”Destination.”

”I can determine the vector,” the mage answered. ”Direction and approximate distance. Destination requires a signature that is already too degraded to reconstruct.”

”Then determine the vector.”

”Fifteen hundred miles northwest of Velkaris,” Lux replied. ”But please, by all means, check my math. If you outperform that, I’ll clap.”

The Master Mage worked in silence for ninety seconds.

”Northwest,” he announced. ”Significant distance. Thousands of miles.”

Landon’s men nodded like he had just made a brilliant deduction.

Ryker: He repeated what she said, but worse.

Sterling: Pretty much.

”Thousands of miles northwest of Velkaris is open ocean,” Maddox commented.

”The vector gives us direction and general distance,” Lux clarified. ”It does not give us a destination, and one portal can have multiple.”

”What about Kael?” Ryker asked.

”Kael went through a portal designed for her,” Lux replied. ”His body would have been treated as cargo.” She paused. ”I don’t have enough data to predict the outcome.”

”He’s alive,” Maddox stated.

Every mouth on the bank closed at the same time. Silence settled over the group.

Maddox’s chest rose once and held. ”We have a direction. Northwest. Thousands of miles. That’s enough to start.”

”There are no known anchor points for portal creation there,” the Luminari Master Mage said. ”The closest I can get us is a few hundred miles from the starting point.”

”Then we fly,” Maddox said. ”War summit is suspended. Ryker holds Velkaris. Sterling, you’re with me.”

On the bank, Brennan quietly raised his hand.

”Lower it,” three people said simultaneously.

Brennan lowered it. He waited four seconds. Then raised it again.

Jaxon sighed. ”What, Brennan?”

”I can portal to open ocean. I’ve done it before. Twice. Once intentionally.”

Every eye on the bank locked onto the mage with a one in four explosion rate.

”You’ve portaled to open ocean,” Nicholas repeated.

”Yes. I discovered this by accident, actually. I don’t need an anchor. I can make portals that lock onto residual signatures. The destination doesn’t need to be known if the trail is still warm enough to follow.”

”How warm does it need to be?” Landon asked.

”Warmer than it will be by morning.” Brennan looked at the river. ”We have a few hours. Maybe less.”

The bank recalculated.

”How long do you need?” Maddox asked Brennan.

”To build the portal? One minute. But I will need a snack first or it might explode.” His face was dead serious.

”Feed him,” Maddox said to the nearest guard. ”Now.”

The guard moved.

Ryker: The fate of two people, one rescue mission, and possibly the entire geopolitical landscape of the continent is currently dependent on whether this man gets a goddamn sandwich.

Sterling: Yes.