Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King novel Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Four Hundred Chains Hit The Floor

Four hundred chains hit the floor in a jingle sound.

Guinevere stole a quick glance to the right of the commander to see what she’d just done. Ankle cuffs were on, but the chains binding them were snapped.

Then she caught Ryker’s eye. His priority was Maddox. She could see it in the way his body was angled toward the king, coiled, ready to cover the six feet between them the moment the window opened.

The throne room doors opened. Behind her, Kael Ashenvale walked into the most fortified room in Drakencrest Keep the way he walked into everything: like he owned it, had renovated it, and was disappointed in the décor.

Guinevere knew it was him from his scent, but didn’t allow herself to look. Instead, she reached for the flame again. Found it. Flexed.

CRACK.

Four hundred right cuffs hit the obsidian at the same time. The sound was a thunderclap of iron on stone that vibrated through the floor.

Nobody breathed. Every hostage looked down at the left cuff still remaining waiting for it to crack too. Some were full-on smiling and not bothering to hide it.

Kael’s footsteps stopped behind her. It dawned on her then that he could be the one behind all of this.

The commander spoke in Setharii to her. "And she breaks dragon iron too. You are the most expensive problem I have ever underestimated. But here’s the thing, I don’t lose, Sweetheart."

"Could have fooled me, Commander," Guinevere replied lightly.

CRACK.

Four hundred left cuffs hit the floor in a single percussive crack that hit every wall and came back layered.

Hostages stared at their free hands. A child in the back row held up his wrists for his mother to see with an expression of absolute wonder.

"Tell your people that if one of them stands, this entire keep explodes. I will burn it to the goddamn ground and everyone in it dies. No one enters or exits. I have wards to do that. And I will portal out of here."

Guinevere met Ryker’s eyes. In truth, she was looking for something. A hand signal. Anything. But then she remembered she was the one running the show and there were four hundred pairs of eyes on her.

Ryker and the high ranking officers who understood Setharii were waiting for her orders. Not the other way around.

"Every threat tonight has been bigger than the last and you’ve followed through on exactly zero of them." She gave the commander a flat look. "Even your men know that math doesn’t work."

Snickers followed.

"I agreed to go with you. Put your men through the portal, and I’ll follow."

"I’m not stupid. You are about to pass out. Your leg is still shaking, honey." He smirked. "And it looks like I’m not the only bounty hunter coming to collect."

He switched back to the Common tongue. "No one outside of you has flame or strength. So here’s my counter-offer. We wait. Or you go with the bounty hunter behind you. He’s much worse than I am."

The edges of her vision were darkening. The flame was still burning, still wrapped around four hundred people, still pulsing in the runes, still holding. But the cost was accelerating, and the woman paying it had been running on nothing since she woke up in a bathtub.

"Draven." Kael’s voice came from behind her. "I was wondering when you’d graduate from robbing merchant caravans to full-scale treason. The career growth is impressive. The execution, less so."

The commander, Draven, went very still. His pale grey eyes moved to Kael with the careful attention of a man who had just recalculated the room and did not like the new number.

"Ashenvale. How did you get in here? Don’t tell me actually. Next poker night, you can tell me all about it. I would like to know." He tipped his chin at Guinevere, his smirk widening. "By all means, try to get her. First shot is yours."

Kael’s footsteps started again behind her, closing the distance.

"Your wards are already failing and your portals smell like Sarkosi mage work, which means you hired Brennan, which means you’re underfunded, because Brennan is what you buy when you can’t afford Theron." Kael paused. "How am I doing so far?"

"I’m going to take that as ’uncomfortably accurate.’ Moving on." Kael walked deeper into the room. Every armed man on the perimeter tracked him, and he gave them the same attention he would give furniture.

"The hostages are glowing, your translator has a blade in his throat, your Lieutenant’s head is decorating the throne, and the woman you came to collect just broke dragon iron that costs more than your contract."

He stopped when he was next to Guinevere. She kept her eyes on the commander.

On cue, the throne room doors opened again.

Nicholas Shadowfell entered with Damon at his back and twelve of Draven’s men being dragged behind them. Eight were unconscious, bound at the wrists with their own belts, their bodies leaving drag marks on the obsidian. Four were dead, carried by Nicholas’s wolves and deposited on the floor with the ceremonial indifference of men returning a product that had been defective.

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