Chapter 357: Finders Keepers, That’s My Wife

The gods were back to split-screening the cosmos again. Everything was too good, too filthy, too on-fire to watch in a single frame like some amateur and they refused to miss a single carriage crash, orgasm, or war crime.

FIRST SCREEN: America’s Next Top Interrogator

A Beta wolf and a dragon princess torture a morally questionable mage together while a dragon gets jealous. Featuring: Blair Drakencrest (dictatorship enthusiast), Damon Tavian (GOAT Beta), Griffin Ironreach (threesome probability: 0%), Brennan Pike (my ex girlfriend is his ex), Ryker Stormvale (flask vibes), and Sterling Emberfell (unknown feeling loading: 50%).

SECOND SCREEN: Crown & Order

The Commander of the Kingsguard is currently leading a manhunt to bring down the most dangerous criminal in Solveil history after her failed assassination attempt left their king comatose.

THIRD SCREEN: So You Think You Can Mate

Three territorial mates battle for the hand of one woman. Each have a legitimate claim. None of them know how to communicate. Coming Up: There is a specific kind of silence that follows a man announcing he has legal claim to another man’s wife. It sounds like a fuse burning.

Screen three had the most attention at the moment. Wine was poured. Snacks were distributed. Side bets were adjusted. One deity pulled out a scoring tablet. Another one shushed the room. This was premium content.

"Catch me up," said the Goddess of Love, taking a sip

"Drakencrest is in a towel. Shadowfell broke through a door. Ashenvale is in a chair hoping no one remembers he exists. The woman is standing right there, listening to all of it."

"And the conflict?"

"Drakencrest just found out the wolf marked his wife. The wolf thinks they already discussed it. They didn’t. But they also kind of did."

"How many men has this woman marked?"

The God of Records consulted his tablet. "Depends on your definition of marked. If we’re counting mutual markings, matebond activations, rune transfers, and whatever happened in the jungle..."

"Just give me the number."

"Four."

"There are only three on the screen though."

"Yes, the fourth appears to be in some sort of coma and she’s wanted for the attempted murder of him. The King of Light, Landon Solveil."

"Does she know that?"

"No," all the Gods answered in unison without looking away from the screen.

The God of War rubbed his hands together excitedly. "May the best mate win."

✦✦✦

DRAKENCREST - DRAGON KING’S CHAMBERS

Guinevere was standing in the doorframe, frozen. Her hand hadn’t left her mouth. Her tears hadn’t stopped. But she might as well have been invisible.

"She is Shadowfell," Maddox repeated the statement like he had misheard.

"Yes." Nicholas held his ground. "Any act against her is an act against Shadowfell. Renwick Lunaris signed her over to ensure silence about what occurred in the corridor. She resisted an Alpha command, which is treason under Lunaris law. Under Shadowfell jurisdiction, she is protected."

Kael’s eyes were open. Wide open. The armchair creaked as he sat forward, elbows on his knees, staring at Nicholas with the expression of a man whose brain had just received information it was processing at triple speed and every result was making his left eye twitch.

"Wait." Kael held up one hand. "Wait, wait, wait." He paused. Let the silence build. "Let me make sure I understand this." He did air quotes with both hands. "She is, by law, protected. And ’Shadowfell.’" His eyes narrowed. "Tell me that means you adopted her, Shadowfell."

"Adopted," Nicholas repeated. "You think I adopted her."

"I’m giving you an exit ramp. Take it."

"No. I didn’t fucking adopt her." Nicholas’s jaw tightened. "She has my house name and all legal protections of my name."

"That’s not an exit ramp, Shadowfell," Kael said at the same time the color drained from Maddox’s face. "Taking a house name means marriage, Shadowfell. She is Drakencrest by law. You do realize that, right?"

He delivered the legal briefing with the calm of a man defusing a bomb he didn’t build, didn’t arm, and sure as shit didn’t want to be standing next to when it went off.

"Yes. By law she is Drakencrest." Nicholas’s voice was iron. "In Nyros, she is recognized under dual sovereignty as Luna of Shadowfell."

The phrase dual sovereignty entered the room like a battering ram wearing a legal brief. Two kingdoms claiming the same woman under two different legal systems, and both of them were technically correct, which is the most dangerous kind of correct.

Maddox didn’t shout. He didn’t roar. He didn’t throw furniture or break walls or produce the draconic equivalent of a thermonuclear detonation. He went quiet in a way that was so much worse than noise that every person in that room felt the temperature change.

The quiet was the problem. A loud Maddox was a Maddox still processing. A quiet Maddox was a Maddox who had finished processing and moved directly to the action item, and the action item was about to involve his fists.

He punched Nicholas’s jaw.

The kind of hit that a man throws when words have failed and the body needs to say something the mouth can no longer hold.

Nicholas saw it coming. His head moved a fraction to the left and the fist sailed past his cheekbone close enough to feel the wind. His feet adjusted. His balance held. He didn’t swing back.

The decision not to swing back was louder than any punch. Nicholas standing there, jaw intact, hands at his sides, absorbing the attempt without retaliation, was a power move so advanced it made Maddox more pissed off.

Gold fire erupted from Maddox’s hands next.

The flame hit Nicholas square in the chest, bright enough to turn the room to noon. It should have sent him backwards. It should have burned. It should have done what dragonfire does to everything it touches.

Nicholas’s body lit up in gold.

The fire wrapped around him like a second skin. Familiar. Protective. Complete. Dragonfire is supposed to burn. That is its one job. It hit Nicholas Shadowfell and wrapped around him like a hug, and Maddox watched his own weapon betray him in real time.

It had done this before. He knew it would happen. And still he hoped it would work.

It did not.

From the armchair, Kael pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Here we go again."