Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King novel Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Charge The Ninth: Treason

"Kael Ashenvale. You stand before the High King of Velkaris to answer the following charges. Charge the first. Unlawful incursion into the warded forests of Drakencrest sovereign territory."

"Get better wards."

The Herald’s jaw tightened. He did not look up. "Charge the second. Employment of a practitioner of proscribed dark magic within Drakencrest borders."

"In fairness, he employs himself. I provide the ambiance and the travel budget."

"Charge the third. Assault upon two persons within Drakencrest territory resulting in grievous bodily harm."

"Grievous is generous. Both of them walked home. Ish. Ask my men who harmed whom. One is concussed with a broken nose. None of them will be able to father children."

Maddox’s hand, resting on the arm of the throne, curled once around the obsidian and released. He said nothing.

"Charge the fourth. Abduction and unlawful restraint of a person under Drakencrest protection."

"Restraint is a strong word. She walked. There was a leash involved, yes, but she wore it with such dignity I honestly forgot it was rude."

A muscle in Ryker’s jaw twitched. Once. He did not react beyond it.

"Charge the fifth. Attempted murder by strangulation of the aforementioned person."

"Now that one I will contest. If I had been attempting, we would not be here. I was negotiating. She negotiates with her boots. I negotiate with my hands. Different dialects of the same language."

"Charge the sixth. Threatening of the person and mate of a member of the Drakencrest royal house."

Kael’s head tilted.

His iron eyes brightened a fraction, the faintest lift at the corners of his mouth, the look of a gambler who had just watched the card he had been waiting for finally come up on the table.

Bingo.

The room registered the mistake at exactly the same moment Kael registered that the room had registered it. The scroll had just confirmed what he had walked in here hoping to confirm, and not one face in the gallery was pretending otherwise.

Kael’s smile widened by the full inch he had been saving.

"Who is she?" he asked the room, conversational. "Because I have been asking for a full rotation of the sun now and not one of you has done me the courtesy of an answer."

The elders along the east wall did not blink. Blair gave him a smile that had teeth in it and exactly zero information behind it.

"No?" Kael’s grin did not waver. "Fine. I will work it out on my own. Out loud. Stop me if I get warm."

He rolled his shoulders inside the dragon-iron and began to pace the small radius the chains allowed him.

"She moves faster than some dragons in human form, which is impolite of her. Those dragons were slow, but still. She has the balls to punch dragons in the face with a frame that should snap under the recoil. She drops my soldiers in a tight little minute and then apologizes, which is honestly the part I keep coming back to."

He paused, glancing at Ryker, then at Maddox. Neither gave him a reaction.

"Her shift consisted of a blinding white light. I’ve never seen a white wolf before or one that glows like the sun."

"You should tell her to turn that setting off when running from a dragon."

His eyes went back to Ryker. "When I had my hand around her throat in the forest, your second in command walked into a clearing he had no tactical reason to be in and spoke to me like I had just put my boot on his wife."

Ryker’s hand twitched but he didn’t move.

"She’s one of your mates. Assuming Ryker, based on his reactions. But royal family," Kael contemplated. "She is too pretty to be related to you, Maddox. I mean that with full offense."

"Charge the seventh," the Herald continued, voice harder now. "Conspiracy to traffic high-blood women from Drakencrest territory for purposes unknown."

"Unknown to you. I know exactly what the purposes were. I would tell you, but then we would be here another hour and I have places to be."

"Charge the eighth. Collusion with a practitioner of proscribed arts in the summoning of unwarded passage across a sovereign boundary."

"That one I will cop to. The passage was excellent. Ten out of ten. I will be leaving a review."

"Charge the ninth. Treasonous conduct against a sitting monarch of the Draconic Accord."

Kael stopped pacing.

He turned to face the throne fully.

Maddox spoke for the first time. "Do you."

The voice of a king who had already decided an outcome and was offering the other party a final, courteous chance to acknowledge it.

"I do, little brother."

The room did not react.

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