Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

Jaxon pinched the bridge of his nose while Octavian and the healer exchanged a pointed look. Both of them had the resigned solidarity of two men who had just survived one dragon tantrum and were now watching the sequel load with every rune that was carving real-time on Kael’s body.

Maddox pulled her out of Kael’s grip and settled onto the floor with her across his lap. Kael descended with them with the energy of a man who had not been invited down and did not care.

Maddox looked up at the Master Mage.

"Oh yes, right away, Your Majesty." The Mage moved over to her.

"Kael, back the hell up."

"You’re on her stab wound."

"What stab wound?"

"The one bleeding into your shirt, dipshit. Check your right side. I’ll wait."

Maddox looked down.

"There it is."

"Kael, I swear to—"

"Freshly healed thirty minutes ago. Currently un-healing because you’re squeezing her like a stress ball."

Maddox shot him with a glare. "Put her down, Maddox. Your love is literally killing her," he mimicked in a high pitched voice that did not sound like Kael but also was funny in equal measure.

"Good one. Now put her the fuck down, big guy," Kael snapped, pointing at Maddox’s shirt. "Do you see the literal fucking blood or is your ego blocking the view?"

"I will not be putting her flat. Why the fuck would I do that? So you can hold her?" Maddox held her tighter, which was medically the worst possible response and emotionally the most predictable one.

"So she can stop bleeding. But yes, also that. I’m a multitasker."

"You’re a dead man is what you are."

Kael flashed the kind of smile that gets men stabbed at dinner parties and promoted in war rooms.

"Add it to the list. I’ve died once this week already."

"Oh, WE know. You’ve told everyone in this Keep twice. The healer knows. The mage knows. The fucking walls know. You almost died. Groundbreaking. Move on."

Guinevere’s eyes opened mid-argument, which was fitting. A face came into focus above her. One of the men who had chased her when she jumped into the river. She had dreamed about him too.

Right now, he was also glowing so she assumed he was part of the Luminari and lived with Kael.

Maddox.

He was holding her and she didn’t know why but her heart was thudding like a cat in the bathtub.

Why was he bleeding? Why were they arguing? Why were there feathers everywhere? The room looked like it had been murdered by someone who loved it.

Her head turned and found Kael kneeling. Shirtless. Bandages spotted red. The runes were still forming all over his body because of her light.

Her hand flew to her mouth.

Kael and Maddox stopped mid-argument, both noticing her awake.

"Hey, Guinevere, it’s okay. I’m here," they said at the same time, in the same tone, with the same expression.

The silence that followed could have gotten pregnant, carried to term, and delivered a baby made of pure awkwardness.

"Shit."

Maddox’s hands moved to her wound that had chosen this time to be extra dramatic. She stiffened. The reaction was a reflex identical to the one she’d had when she woke up in his arms.

He felt it through the fractured matebond, a spike of fear so sharp it cut through the static like a blade, and the fact that he was the one causing it nearly broke him in half.

He didn’t pull away. He didn’t push forward. He adjusted.

"Hey." His voice dropped into the register he had used on the cliff in the dream, the one that came from somewhere beneath the crown and the title and the command, from the man underneath all of it who just wanted to help the woman he loved stop hurting. "I’ll be gentle. Let me see, baby."

He didn’t wait for a response. His fingers peeled back the fabric gently.

The bandage was soaked through. The wound itself was a four-inch gash along her lowest rib that had been closed and reopened and was currently bleeding through.

Maddox was already lowering her flat, his face wrecked. He kept her head in his lap, identical to how Kael had done it and she wondered if this was standard for their people.

"Hey, doc," Kael called. "She’s bleeding again because my brother undid your hard work. Can you redo it before she notices and tries to fix it herself?" He gave Guinevere a pointed look. "Because her last attempt looked like a drunk toddler wrapped a Christmas present."

"That’s a strong opinion," Guinevere commented.

"It’s an accurate one," Kael corrected, reaching for her arm.

Her arm retracted like she’d touched a hot stove, so fast she winced.

Kael’s hand hung in the air and his face did something it almost never did: showed the hit.

"Kael I don’t want to hurt you." Her voice cracked. She swallowed, then looked at Maddox. "Both of you. It’s contagious."

"For fuck’s sake," Kael snapped, grabbing her hand with a grip that left no room for negotiation. "My light is stabilizing yours, Guinevere."

Maddox blinked down at her, visibly confused and slightly amused.

"What is contagious?"

The healer pushed magic into her. She relaxed more, the sensation making her feel much better already.

"This might be normal for your people, in which case I apologize for the alarm," she began, forcing her voice calm. "The runes are spreading from me to people in close proximity. The ones on Kael are because he caught them from me. I believe in informed decision-making—"

"Guinevere," Kael cut her off. "You are making it sound like you gave me an STD. Do us both a favor and never say that again."

"Oh, my mistake. I don’t want to be culturally insensitive but I also don’t want to be the reason an entire civilization gets a rune outbreak."

While she spoke, more runes carved across his chest, which was either dramatic irony or her rune outbreak having zero respect for the moment.

"A rune outbreak," Kael repeated. "She’s worried about a rune outbreak. Guinevere, there are six thousand years of Luminari tradition in those runes and you just called them a fucking rash."

"You’re right. I reduced a sacred tradition to a dermatological condition and I recognize how that landed. Going forward I will refer to the runes as a cultural manifestation of the Luminari," she said. "I want to validate that your heritage is important and Lunaris is a safe space for your people. I’m learning. Please consider this an open dialogue."

Maddox’s face was doing something complicated that might have been a laugh or something else.

"Honey," Kael said. "Let’s quit using the word culture and your people in front of the Luminari."

"Fair. I hear your feedback. I’ll pivot. Is ’your community’ better or how would you like me to reference the Luminari in group settings going forward?"

"Guinevere," Maddox said. "I’m going to need you to stop workshopping your vocabulary and look at me. Not him."

Her eyes found his.

"That’s better. Do you know who I am outside of my name?"

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