Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

Renwick Lunaris was always the most dangerous motherfucker in the room. He was the undisputed GOAT and the goddamn godfather grandmaster of political chess with a perfect kill streak.

He had never once sat across from someone who could actually outplay his ass when the board was cleared.

Enter Damon Tavian.

The most expensive mistake in chess is confusing a piece’s rank with its reach.

DOMINO 67: CLICK. CLICK. CHECKMATE.

Renwick Lunaris grabbed Damon Tavian by the arm before the Dark Fae dust had finished settling. Damon knew this was coming.

MOVE 1: PAWN

”You’re Acting Alpha. Walk with me.”

”Of course, Alpha Lunaris.”

His response seemed simple on the surface. Alphas don’t refer to each other as Alphas. Betas refer to other Alphas as Alpha.

Renwick took it for what it was: a Beta who knew his place and one who understood ’Acting Alpha’ was a temporary title. Which left a power vacuum because Damon wasn’t making a grab for Shadowfell’s crown. Succession vulnerability was blood in the water and every Alpha currently in Greyhall was a shark.

In reality, that was Damon’s opening move. One that cost him dick to make and bought him the next six.

He gift-wrapped Renwick’s opening play, then slid in a confirmation-bias blind spot, cranked up a sympathy multiplier, and shifted every ounce of authority and consequence onto Renwick’s shoulders because he was the lone Alpha present. And most importantly, he just flipped the entire interaction from a negotiation into a fucking humble ask from below.

They entered a conference room. Renwick closed the door with the soft, deliberate click of a predator locking the cage.

The Alpha took the seat facing the door because Alphas always took the seat facing the door. Damon sat across from him.

To Renwick Lunaris, this was when the game started.

”Damon, I like you. I’ve always liked you. So I’m going to give you something I don’t give most people, which is guidance. What my daughter did in that hallway is not a story that serves either of us. Your king has no heir and is dead and you are surrounded by men who have been waiting for exactly this. Shadowfell without Nicholas is a territory without a wall, and every Alpha in Greyhall will be measuring the gap.”

Right on schedule, Renwick’s opening move was the one Damon handed him.

MOVE 2: KNIGHT

”What your daughter did,” Damon repeated as he leaned back in his chair. ”Nicholas is her fated mate.”

Damon knew Renwick already had this information.

He was also aware that Renwick knew he was in attendance at her auction when the Dragon King bought her. Renwick therefore would take this as Damon playing dumb.

In reality, it was a double bluff. Renwick would catch the first layer, see Damon playing dumb, and feel like a genius for spotting it. What Renwick wouldn’t see was layer two. He’d be too busy feeling clever for catching the performance to wonder why the matebond got brought up at this particular second.

Translation: he is solving the wrong damn puzzle.

Renwick exhaled through his nose. ”I know he’s her fated mate. She’s also married to the Dragon King. She defied my direct command and marked a dead king in front of witnesses. The matebond is a biological complication, Damon. It’s not a defense. And if you’re going to negotiate with me tonight, I need you to understand the difference. What she did in that hallway was a political catastrophe that will have repercussions on her and both of our packs.”

”Repercussions from the Dragon King, then, is what you are referring to, Alpha?”

”Yes.”

MOVE 3: BISHOP

”I understand,” Damon said. ”But from where I’m standing, you tried to rip your daughter off a dying king while she was grieving, before we could get the cuff off of her. You used Alpha commands on her. Repeatedly. While she was silver-poisoned. No one would fault her for a biological complication under those conditions.”

Translation: I can cooperate with your version, or I can deploy mine. Here’s my weapon. I’m not firing it.

He wasn’t firing. He was loading. Slowly. In front of Renwick. Making sure Renwick could see every round going into the chamber. The point wasn’t the shot. The point was the sound of the click.

Renwick didn’t flinch. The response came out pre-loaded.

”I used the Alpha commands because she was killing herself with silver. Grief makes people stop thinking clearly. She was marking a dead king, Damon. A married woman. On the floor. In front of witnesses. I was trying to protect her from the consequences of a decision she was making while poisoned and hysterical.” He paused, letting the reframe settle. ”Shadowfell wouldn’t want his fated mate disgraced. He wouldn’t want harm to come to her because of what she did tonight.”

”Harm to her.” Damon repeated it back like he was tasting the words for toxins. ”By whom?”

”Don’t patronize me.” Renwick’s voice lost the diplomacy for one syllable before it came right back, smooth and measured. ”You know exactly what just went down. She committed treason against Lunaris and Drakencrest with that stunt. She defied a direct Alpha command in front of my men. I will have to address that in some form or another whether I want to or not. That is Lunaris law and it predates both of us.”

Damon Tavian held his cast-iron-cocked composure like a champ.

MOVE 4: ROOK

”Ah, so that is where the confusion is,” he said, voice sincere. ”She is also Shadowfell, Alpha.”

”Being his fated mate does not make her Shadowfell.”

The words landed on the table between them.

”No,” Damon conceded. ”But Nicholas announced it in front of every Alpha on this continent yesterday. Whether Nicholas’s heart is beating or not, that is something we take very seriously.”

”He announced what?” Renwick asked. ”She’s a married woman. He announced they had a matebond?”

”Yes. Actually, he stopped the council session for that and to announce that any threat to her would be considered an act of war by Shadowfell. Your daughter also defaulted Lunaris’s vote to Shadowfell.”