Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King novel Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Checkmate, Said The Winning King

"Soren. You’re holding my daughter’s neck in my hall in front of my men. I admire the confidence. I question the strategy."

"Strategy implies I’m trying, Lunaris. This is curiosity." Raventhorn tightened his grip, cutting off her windpipe.

Maddox’s voice hit a register she felt in her chest before she heard it in her ears.

"Release her. Now."

Raventhorn’s hand ripped away from her neck like she’d burned him. She coughed, inhaling sharply.

"Dragon command. Haven’t felt that since your father. Thank you." He rolled his shoulders, unbothered. "You know, if I was trying to hurt her, her neck would be snapped."

"Away from her." The command hit different this time. Heavier.

Raventhorn’s boots scraped against stone as his body obeyed without his permission. He held his hands up in surrender. "Fine. I take a woman’s pulse and suddenly it’s a crisis."

"Guinevere." Her father’s voice carried across the hall. "With me."

A surprise. Thank the gods.

She stood, legs steady, which she considered a personal triumph given that her brain had vacated the premises somewhere around the five hundred million mark.

Shadowfell and Maddox both stayed planted until she left the hall.

Their men were already stationed outside the private chamber. All stared as she walked past.

As soon as the door closed behind them, both kings’ nostrils flared in unison. Lovely. Her face turned scarlet. Two men scenting her in front of her father. She’d rather be chained in silver and walk across glass.

King Lunaris sat at the head of the long table and gestured for her to take the chair next to him. A first.

Only after she sat did Nicholas take the first seat on the left side of the table. Maddox leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, and did absolutely nothing to sit down.

Nicholas’s eyes flicked to the empty chair across from him, then to Maddox, then back to Guinevere’s father. The choice not to sit was a statement, and Nicholas had just been told what side of the table he was on.

"Gentlemen," King Lunaris began, folding his hands on the wood. "The bidding in my hall was generous. I trust we can speak plainly here."

"I’ve been speaking plainly all evening," Nicholas said. "She is my fated mate. Her wolf knows it. Fated bonds are sacred and no amount of gold supersedes that."

"Really, Nicholas?" Maddox rolled his eyes. "Her wolf surged because you put your Alpha out on the table. Any unmated wolf in this castle would have that reaction. Bring me a kitchen maid. I’ll prove it."

Guinevere’s face heated even more than it already was.

"Very convenient," Maddox continued. "That your claim coincided perfectly with being outbid."

"I held my claim until it was necessary. I would have preferred to discuss it privately from the start. The auction forced my hand."

"Auction." Her father rolled the word over once. "Is that what we’re calling a father securing his daughter’s future?"

"Her future. Fine." Nicholas’s voice was steady. "Dragons and wolves have been separate for centuries. Our customs, our gods, our laws. She would be isolated on a continent surrounded by shifters who breathe fire. Is that what you want?"

King Lunaris’s expression was unreadable, but Guinevere knew he was calculating. Sentiment wouldn’t be in his math.

"What I want," he said slowly, "is the best arrangement for Lunaris. Lunaris needs a son-in-law whose enemies become my enemies the moment the ink dries. Speak to that, gentlemen. The poetry can wait."

"Then you want me. A Lunaris queen on a Shadowfell throne unites the two most powerful packs in Nyros. Our children would carry both bloodlines. The political stability alone is worth more than gold."

It was a clean argument. Logical. Cold. Guinevere hated how much sense it made.

"Wolves strengthen wolves," he added. "Every benefit he’s offering depends on her producing an heir. If she gives him a wolf instead of a dragon, that child will never sit on a throne. He’ll be forced to take a second wife to secure his dynasty. Her value lowers, as does your leverage. That’s the math, Lunaris. You and I both know it."

Maddox pushed off the wall, the room’s gravity seeming to move with him.

"Compelling speech, Nicholas. The only thing missing was an actual answer to a single question her father asked. You’re applying wolf politics to a dragon crown and it doesn’t translate. Our shift only passes to males, and fewer than half manifest it. Many of my predecessors never shifted themselves."

He pulled out the chair at the other head of the table like he owned the room, directly across from King Lunaris.

"Let me offer a different perspective. You are surrounded. Stonehowl was your biggest threat, and I turned him to ash before you had time to muster a response. That is the speed at which I operate."

"You’re offering protection through fear," Nicholas countered.

Maddox didn’t look at him. "I am offering results. One of us brought fifty chests of gold and an urn full of your enemy. The other brought a speech. Let’s be honest about what is happening in this room. Nicholas wants a treaty. I want her. The difference will matter to her one day, and I would prefer she remember which of us was clear about it from the start."

Nicholas’s eyes flashed molten. His Alpha aura slammed into the room like a physical weight, pinning the breath in her lungs. Her wolf rose in response, her vision flickering gold at the edges. It took her a second to swallow it down.

Five years with her wolf and it had never done that. Not until tonight. Twice. Stunned didn’t cover it.

Maddox’s eyes moved to her for a second, then back to King Lunaris. Nothing on his face changed, which said more than a reaction would have.

"The matebond claim." Her father brought them back. "Both of you have made it."

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