Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King novel Chapter 86

Chapter 86: The Specific Gravity Of Oh Fuck

Most people didn’t know about the bonus arrow. The only way to get it was in freefall with immaculate timing.

Guinevere had discovered it on her last flight before merging with Maddox’s flame.

Without breaking stride, she launched off a green dragon’s back. Wind hammered upward. One hundred feet. One fifty. Two hundred. The arrow streaked in from the left and she snatched it out of the air.

Ryker dove alongside her, matching her freefall speed, and closed his paws around her waist gently. Then he surged upward, and tossed her onto his back where her bow was.

She loaded. Fired. Bullseye on the bonus target.

"Three minutes."

Every tent on the eastern ridge was open.

Lord Raventhorn appeared at the edge of the field. "I want one."

The lord beside him blinked. "One what?"

Guinevere ate through lap five and six. The dragons moved in a pattern so fluid it looked rehearsed by a unit that had been flying together for years, and they hadn’t. They had been flying with her for two weeks. She had rewritten their formation by accident and refined it on purpose, and the result was a six-dragon, one-wolf machine that moved through the sky like a rumor with teeth.

Every target, every orb, every transfer. The field below had gone from stunned to silent to something else entirely, and the time callouts were just numbers chasing a woman who had stopped listening to them.

Last orb. Sprint. Collected. She launched off the dragon’s back and snatched the bonus arrow on the descent.

The green dragon surged parallel to her, catching her in his claw and tossed her to Ryker where her bow was.

She fired the bonus arrow. Bullseye. It split through six arrows already stacked in the target. Seven bullseyes. Six splits. Even for her, that was impressive.

Ryker dove.

She rode his descent standing, then launched off of him before he landed so he could shift mid-air. Her boots hit the grass the same second his did. It was so in sync, it looked choreographed.

Ryker was breathing hard. So was she.

Their eyes met.

She placed her hand over her chest and pressed once. Over her heart. The salute the soldiers had given her, given back to him.

Ryker ruined the moment entirely by mouthing, Don’t you dare make me emotional right now.

She gave a sad smile, then turned away and walked to the opposite side of where she’d usually go, because Maddox was there and she’d been instructed not to approach him by Ryker and Sterling.

All of her instincts screamed to run to him. But to him, she was a stranger. Nothing more. And even if she did approach him, she wasn’t sure what she’d even say.

The targets lowered from the clouds. She didn’t turn to look at them as she walked. She knew the score. Bullseyes and split arrows.

Silence.

Blair grabbed Damon’s arm again. He didn’t even look down this time.

The time hadn’t been called yet. Neither had the orbs. Nobody cared. The targets said enough.

Then buzz erupted.

Somewhere on the field, a Drakencrest soldier collected a hundred gold from a man who was still staring at the sky.

She kept her expression neutral, pretending to not be entirely too pleased with herself.

The orbs floated down next. All green.

Bonus arrows. Seven for seven.

The field was in stunned silence.

She didn’t wait for the time to be called or any kind of head nod. She didn’t look at Sterling. But if she had, she would have had her bitch face on.

Nicholas Shadowfell watched her with nothing short of pride on his face. Also the look of a king who had just had multiple heart attacks in a row and had shifted into his wolf once during the simulation.

Next to him, Blair and Damon looked like proud parents.

Guinevere wanted to laugh at it, but then noticed they were holding hands.

"Six minutes, twelve seconds. One hundred percent accuracy," Sparrow called.

A lord turned to his son. "A white wolf. You won’t see that ever again."

"I saw, Father."

"She’s young. Is she the wolf king’s mate?" a captain asked Sterling.

An honest question that froze every Drakencrest soldier within earshot.

Maddox didn’t react or look like he cared in the slightest. His arms were crossed. The Drakencrest soldiers noticed but all wisely chose to stay silent. Smart men.

"Not her mate," Sterling answered. "Just knows her father."

Lord Solandris had been listening. Old money. One of the oldest houses outside of Drakencrest. Highly respected. The type who rarely ever spoke, but if he asked you a question, you answered.

So when he walked over to Sterling and dropped his voice to ask, "Renwick’s daughter?"

Sterling had to answer.

"Yes, Lord Solandris. Do you know the Lunaris King?"

Lord Solandris exchanged a look with his second. "Yes."

He moved away from the exchange, before any follow up questions could be asked.

"How long has she been flying?" another lord asked, just as Ryker walked up.

"Two weeks, Lord Thornvale," Ryker answered.

"Bullshit," Thornvale barked, entertained. "She’s yours, High General?"

MADDOX’S RECORD: 6:45.

MARGIN: 33 seconds.

FUCKS DISPLAYED: 0.

FUCKS FELT: Several.

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