Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

Two kings stood in the wreckage of Diplomat Row at one in the morning. One was glowing. One was steaming. The row had seen orgies, gold flame hit the sky, and a white-light explosion, but this was the main event.

Every person on the ground leaned forward, waiting for the glowing King’s response. His men, who had just portaled, took a knee.

Landon’s aura flared brighter, bathing the entire Diplomat Row in cold white light. ”Indeed. I have.”

”Here’s what I’d like to know then, Solveil,” Maddox said. ”Why are you and your glowing honor guard in my Keep, uninvited, at this hour, chasing my abducted wife.”

”Let me be clear, Drakencrest, because you seem to be operating on incomplete information. I didn’t abduct her. Your allies did,” Landon replied. ”My men are here to protect me, they will not harm you or anyone present. And you should be made aware there is dark magic lodged in her, harming her. So here’s my question, Drakencrest, what did you pay for her?”

Maddox laughed darkly. ”A funeral urn and enough gold to sink a fleet, Solveil.”

”I ask,” the radiant king continued. ”Because the people you’re paying to protect her failed, and the person who actually helped her tonight is the one you’ve got a team of dragons currently pointed at.”

”You helped her. Noted. Appreciated. That buys you the conversation. It does not buy you the right to stand in my Keep and audit my kingdom. The dragons stay where they are until I decide they don’t, Solveil.”

”Three billion,” Landon said, easy as a man ordering wine. ”Gold, on the table, tonight. I will have my healers look at your brother too.”

Guinevere’s jaw hit the floor. She had tried to reject this man and he was offering what the fuck now? No. She had to have misheard him. There was no way.

”Generous,” Maddox replied. ”Still no. My wife is not for sale.”

”Everything is for sale,” Landon countered. ”The man who tells me his has no number is a man who has never been offered enough.”

Maddox flashed a grin. ”Not for her. So you can save us both time and stop embarrassing yourself.”

Landon’s gaze lingered on Guinevere for a heartbeat, then snapped back to Maddox, filled with calm, unrelenting determination.

”Ten billion plus one Luminari fleet for a decade. I will personally ensure your Keep’s wards are optimized with Luminari light, which they need based on how easily my men portaled. That saves you a war against Dark Fae and gives you the safest reign in history, Drakencrest.”

Diplomat Row inhaled as one drunk, delighted organism.

A beautiful, completely inappropriate thought bloomed in the back of Guinevere’s mind: her father would spend the rest of his life knowing he left 9.25 billion on the table.

From the ground, covered in blood, recently deceased, Kael Ashenvale opened his eyes, turned his head towards his brother, and said the only thing that mattered: ”If you take that deal, I want a commission. Fifteen percent. Non-negotiable.”

”No. One fleet doesn’t stop a war, Solveil. You and I both know it.” Maddox’s hand flexed at his side. ”And let me make something clear, ten billion or fifty billion: it doesn’t matter. She is my wife, my mate, my everything. You will not buy her from me.”

Landon stepped closer. ”Let me be honest with you, Drakencrest, since gold is boring you and honesty might not. This stopped being about the prophecy. This is about HER now. I have never wanted anything the way I want her. That is the truth, offered to you plainly, because you strike me as a man who respects a straight line more than a clever one. Sixty billion.”

The entire flattened row let out a collective ”Oooohhh,” the sound of a crowd realizing they were witnessing the most expensive dick-measuring contest in history.

”Sixty billion? Fuck me, I’d sell my wife for sixty silver and a decent ale,” a captain whispered.

A soldier nodded in agreement next to him. ”If the Dragon King says no to sixty billion I’ll suck the King of Light’s cock myself. Someone’s gotta keep the money in the family.”

”I respect the hell out of a straight line,” Maddox agreed. ”So here’s mine. I don’t give a single damn how badly you want her, Solveil.”

Landon’s focus locked onto Guinevere, and his eyes burned brighter.

”She is frightened. She was abducted, attacked, and saw her protector afraid, because he was cuffed and threatened at bladepoint by your allies.”

”Woah, woah, back up,” Kael rasped, eyes still closed. ”Her protector was NOT AFRAID.”

Both men ignored him completely.

”Kael,” Guinevere whispered, ”Gods. Stop talking until we get you to Aldric.”

The moment she spoke, her gold surged into him on its own, more aggressively than it already was. He lit up as bright as her, face relaxing instantly even as his eyes stayed shut.

”Twenty gold says the Dragon King folds by eighty billion,” a soldier said, his voice carrying across the row.

”My wife says she volunteers if the wolf princess doesn’t want the position,” another commented.

The man beside him looked over. ”Your wife can’t even hear from here.”

”She can hear sixty billion from any location, brother. Trust me.”

Renwick exchanged a glance with Lord Solandris, the exchange carrying the full weight of two men arriving at the same conclusion. Both of their eyes landed on Eron and Marek with the precision of a firing squad.

The flattened row held its breath.

”Eighty billion, Drakencrest,” Landon said. ”Do not stand there and tell me that is nothing. I know your continent’s GDP to the copper. So spare me—”

”I said no,” Maddox cut him off. ”You could offer me the moon itself and I’d still tell you to choke on it.”

The night sky above Diplomat Row began to fracture with white light matching Landon’s.

”One hundred twenty billion gold delivered tonight.”

The number hit like a war drum.

”I’ll optimize your wards, grant you a Luminari fleet for life, and throw in a royal marriage alliance for my sister’s hand to you or whoever you choose.” Landon looked at Guinevere. ”And I will crown her tonight.”

A crushing silence fell across Diplomat Row, where even the wind seemed to stop.

Then chanting started from the audience.

”Take the gold! Take the gold! Take the gold!”

Guinevere’s hands covered her face. She thought the first auction was embarrassing. This was ten times worse.

Kael, half-dead and glowing and delirious, opened his mouth. ”Brother, if you don’t take this deal I’m divorcing you as my brother and marrying the Light King myself.”