Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

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

Mid-chant, the sky tore open straight down the middle of Diplomat Row. Guinevere pulled her face out of her hands at the sound of the crowd turning into chaos and saw the Eclipse King stepping out of a portal.

She blinked in complete disbelief. Of course. Because tonight hadn’t been enough.

”Vessel,” the Eclipse King called as his fangs extended. ”Come here.”

Guinevere’s hand flew to her mouth, mostly because the Dark Fae King’s fangs were yellow and absolutely disgusting.

He moved.

Landon moved faster. White light exploded from his palms and smashed into the Eclipse King’s chest with a thunderclap that rattled every window in the Keep.

”YOU DO NOT TOUCH HER.”

The fight tore upward, the Eclipse King’s wings spread full. Landon lifted with him, standing on what appeared to be light.

His men moved with him up to the sky, also all standing on light, just as more Dark Fae portals cracked open.

They began pouring out in droves, chanting: ”VESSEL, VESSEL!”

”NO FLAME,” Maddox called in the Draconic Command. ”KILL BY BLADE ONLY. MOVE.”

He placed himself in front of Guinevere and Kael, intercepting multiple Dark Fae coming for her.

”Kael, how you doing back there buddy?”

”Peachy. Don’t stop on my account.” A wet cough. ”Left. Your left, Maddox. The ugly one.”

His eyes were shut, but he wasn’t wrong, there was an ugly one on Maddox’s left.

”You know what’s rude?” Maddox took a head. ”Interrupting a bidding war.” Another. ”Now I’ll never know if he’d have gone higher.”

He briefly glanced over his shoulder.

”Guinevere, eyes on me, not the sky,” he said, cutting down two more. ”The sky’s handled. The glowing man’s up there doing gymnastics about it. You just watch your husband work.”

Renwick’s Alpha command hit Guinevere as he ran towards her.

”Time to go, daughter. Move. Now.”

She immediately grabbed onto Kael. Over her dead body would she be leaving him here. She fought his Alpha command with everything she had.

”No.”

”This is not a negotiation.”

”I’m not leaving him.”

Renwick looked at Kael, then back at her, and his expression did something complicated.

”He’s dead either way. I’m sorry. But we are leaving, Guinevere. On your feet or over my shoulder, that part is still yours to choose.”

”He can hear you and is still very much alive right now, Gramps,” Kael said, eyes still closed.

”You go save yourself, I will be fine.” Her gold flared brighter around them both. ”Contrary to what the tent seemed to believe earlier, I don’t have control over the gold fire. It does whatever the hell it wants, and I’ve burned people to death with it already on accident. They were traitors but nonetheless, I had zero control over it. So I wouldn’t piss me off if I were you.”

Renwick dragged a hand down his face.

”You keep saying ’we’re leaving’ like there’s a ’we,’” Maddox called over his shoulder. ”Touch her and there won’t be a we, Renwick.”

Beta Draven arrived at that moment. ”Princess, we need to get you out of here. Those things are chanting again. That’s all. This isn’t safe for you.”

”What is the hold up,” Lord Solandris boomed, storming towards them.

A portal tore open ten feet away from them.

”Right on schedule,” Maddox said, taking another. ”If you take my wife I will consider that an act of war, Solandris. She says no, she doesn’t know you, she doesn’t trust you, and frankly I find it odd you are even involved right now. Care to explain how you even know her?”

”She’s my granddaughter, Drakencrest,” Lord Solandris replied.

Ryker ran out of the portal.

”Did somebody order a portal?” he asked the chaos at large. ”No? Strange. Says right here on the docket. One portal, one stretcher, one idiot bleeding out for attention.” He found Kael. ”There he is. The idiot. Right on schedule.”

”Helpful idiot,” Kael corrected from the ground, eyes still shut, gold still crawling up his skin. ”And frankly the best-looking thing bleeding on this row.”

Jaxon came through next with a stretcher, Aldric a step behind him. Guinevere’s gold immediately surrounded them on its own.

”That solves the burning part,” Aldric said, dropping to a knee at Kael’s side, Jaxon next to him.

Together they slid Kael onto the stretcher, who made a noise he would later insist was a battle cry.

”Careful with the merchandise,” he rasped. ”I’m worth fifteen percent of a hundred twenty billion.”

Aldric and Jaxon moved quickly, getting Kael through that portal.

”I’ll be back once he’s stabilized,” Jaxon called over his shoulder.

Ryker turned to Guinevere. ”We need to get you out of here. Now.”

She nodded, and moved to follow, but Renwick placed his arm in front of her.

”I said no.” Alpha tone. It unfortunately affected her this time, her body locking against her will. Whatever had worked a second ago to break through his command was gone.

”She is my daughter. This is a family matter, and it stopped being yours the moment I arrived.”

Maddox tossed Ryker his blade and stepped forward. ”Absolutely the hell you are not. Remove your hand from her. Now.”

”We will move her to Solandris where the wards are equipped better to handle Dark Fae,” Marek said, expression completely innocent. ”She will be safe. You have my word.”

Lux Nash exploded out of the portal, blowing in between them with zero fucks given.

”Oh, absolutely NOT. Nobody breaches my perimeter. Marek, MOVE your discount ass.”

”I beg your pardon,” Marek said, visibly offended.

Lux glanced over at Guinevere. ”Someone pick her up off the ground. She’s allergic.”

Maddox moved at full dragon speed, snatching Guinevere from Renwick Lunaris, and scooping her off the ground so fast, she didn’t know what had happened.

The second her boots left the stone, Lux slammed her palms flat into the dirt.

Black magic went out from her palms in a single pulse, the ground lifting and rolling in a wave. Dark Fae rifts began to crackle shut.

Silence dropped over the row like a lid.

Lux Nash rose from the dirt, brushed her hands off, and scanned, ensuring every portal closed.

”THAT IS ILLEGAL!” Marek stammered.

”Legalized today for ward usage actually,” she said without looking at him.

At that moment, a dozen Dark Fae lifted their hands. Streams of dark magic shot at the same time, all aimed at the girl in Maddox’s arms.

Light punched out of Guinevere in a ring, stopping the dark magic in midair.

A dark fae caught in the white started to scream, then caught fire. Immediately, they began to flee, flying and running.

”PORTALS ARE NOT WORKING, BROTHERS!”

The light cut off. The row went dim again. Guinevere hung in Maddox’s arms, breathing hard. She glanced down at her hands that were now holding white light.

”How interesting.”