Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King novel Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Dismantle It, You Overpaid Decorators

Sub-level four smelled like wet stone and regret.

Kael descended the stairs with the mage, six soldiers, and two elders who had insisted on supervising. The insistence had involved Cassia physically blocking the stairwell until Kael agreed to their presence. He agreed in the way a man agrees to a bee sting: by acknowledging it was happening and choosing to stop swatting.

The ward nexus was a chamber roughly the size of the throne room above, carved from the Keep’s original foundation stone. Dark sigils covered the walls in concentric circles, pulsing with the same violet-black energy that had sealed the Keep. At the center, five anchor stones the size of a man’s head sat on obsidian pedestals, each one thrumming with a low, sour vibration that made Kael’s teeth itch.

"Lovely." He studied the array. "Brennan’s work. You can tell because the alignment is off by three degrees and the containment sigils are copied from a textbook he clearly skimmed."

Brennan crossed his arms. "I installed them under contract. The design brief was ’big and fast.’ There was no mention of structural load calculations because Draven said, and I am quoting, ’it’s a castle, it’ll hold.’"

"A castle." Kael repeated the words the way a man repeats something a child has said that is both wrong and impressive in its wrongness. "He put military-grade ward anchors into a three-thousand-year-old foundation without load calculations because ’it’s a castle.’"

"Yes."

"And you went along with this."

"I was being paid."

"Were you being paid well?"

"I was being paid."

Kael took that as a no.

Behind them, Cassia had positioned herself on a stone ledge that ran along the wall. She sat with her arms crossed, the shield propped beside her, watching the proceedings with the expression of a woman at a play she had been forced to attend and intended to review harshly.

Varro stood with his hands clasped behind his back, which was his version of combat readiness.

"First anchor. Northwest corner." Kael pointed at two of the soldiers. "Pull it from the pedestal. Do not touch the sigils on its surface. Lift from the base."

They moved to the pedestal. The first one grabbed the anchor stone with both hands. It didn’t move.

"It’s fused," the soldier grunted.

"It’s warded. Obviously." Kael walked to the pedestal, pressed two fingers against the base, and channeled a thin thread of dark magic into the seam. The ward cracked with an audible snap. The stone loosened. "Now pull."

They pulled with the enthusiasm of men being paid double to do manual labor they did not understand. It was still the best job they’d had this week.

The anchor came free with a grinding noise that shook the dust from the ceiling.

The Keep groaned above them. The sound traveled through the stone in a low, shuddering wave that made every person in the chamber look up.

"That’s one. Four to go. The Keep will settle after each removal, which will sound alarming and feel worse, but the structural integrity improves with every anchor that comes out." He turned to the soldiers. "Think of it as pulling thorns from a body that’s been poisoned. Each one hurts on the way out and heals after."

"How do you know this?" Cassia asked from her ledge.

"Because I’ve installed these before." Kael met her eyes without apology. "And I’ve dismantled them before. The difference between me and Draven is that I read the manual."

Varro looked at Cassia. Cassia looked at Varro. The shared glance communicated an entire council session in under a second.

"Second anchor. Northeast." Kael pointed. "Same procedure. Wait for my counterspell before you pull."

He moved to the second pedestal, cracked the ward, and stepped back.

The soldiers pulled. The second anchor came free. The Keep groaned again, louder this time, and a thin crack ran across the ceiling from one wall to the other.

"That crack was already there," Kael said, without looking up.

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