Chapter 393: Testosterone On Ice

Commander Veyron seemed to consider that. He didn’t look away from Guinevere when he spoke. "Octavian, this is your area of expertise."

The Luminari Master Mage’s jaw had dropped at some point during that speech. His eyes flicked down to the chained woman, then back up at Guinevere. The expression on his face very clearly said that voice did not match the one he remembered. The knowledge base was also a bit of a shock.

And he wasn’t the only mage who had been out-nerded. Jaxon’s face was doing an identical fish impression while Brennan looked like he was having a religious experience.

"If what the queen says is true, then that would make this woman more powerful than anyone in the chamber, myself included," the Luminari Master Mage said after a long moment. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

The casual use of a queen title landed in the room. Everyone assumed that Octavian had used that term because she was the future High Queen of Velkaris. Everyone was incorrect. Somewhere upstairs, the Gods watched this and shared a laugh. Simple-minded mortals.

"Correct, Master Mage," Guinevere said.

She graded him. Like a teacher confirming a student’s answer. Octavian, the highest ranking mage in the Luminari Kingdom, had just received a passing mark from a dead woman using someone else’s mouth.

His mouth did the fish thing again, but he recovered faster this time.

Octavian turned to Veyron. "We need to move quickly."

"We will remove her, if you also come into our custody. Cooperate and this stays civil. Resist and I have authorization to use force. I would prefer civil. My preference is the only courtesy you’re getting tonight."

Kael, Maddox, and Nicholas had thoughts about this and started talking at the same time.

"If you touch her—"

"She is my mate and I will—"

"I swear on everything I have left tonight—"

Three men. Three threats. One simultaneous detonation. The combined volume hit Veyron like a wall of testosterone and bad communication skills. None of them were going to finish because she was already talking over all of them.

"I agree to those terms, but you will cuff her first. Now. That is a direct order, High Commander."

Veyron opened his mouth to respond and nothing came out because his brain was stuck on the fact that the woman he was arresting had the audacity to give him an order. The confusion was contagious. It had started with Veyron and spread out to the entire Kingsguard like a runes outbreak.

Octavian closed his eyes for a second. Then he held out a hand.

"Warded cuffs," he ordered from the guard next to him.

The guard handed Octavian the cuffs, looking about as confused as his Commander.

Only when the cuffs were on, did possessed Guinevere hold out her own wrists.

Three members of Team Dragon moved at the same time, looking significantly more distressed about the arrest than the woman who was being arrested.

Maddox caught her right wrist. "Gwen, no." Nicholas caught her left. "Not happening." Kael, having no wrists left to grab, grabbed Maddox and Nicholas instead and tried to pull all three of them backward. The result looked weird. In hindsight, Kael would later admit he should have just picked her up.

Nicholas and Maddox both looked down at the same time as their bruises dissolved and muscles unknotted, like their bodies were being serviced by a young dragon with glowing hands who had no idea he was doing it.

FLICK.

Guinevere flicked Nicholas and Maddox with zero effort. Not meant to hurt, but enough to send the message. Kael’s grip around all of them broke. Both men slid across the throne room in opposite directions, like the world’s angriest ice-skaters. Both stayed upright as they slid, dignity intact, laws of physics ignored.

There was a moment of silence for the dignity that had just slid across the obsidian floor.

All three men looked very confused about what just happened. Kael recovered first because the flick had missed him entirely, which was either luck or because he was the favorite. He was going with the latter.

"We’re going to put those down." He pushed her arms down like he was closing a lid that refused to stay shut. "Stay. Good, wolf girl."

She turned her head slowly to look up at him. The look was judgement and assessment in equal measure.

"Yeah, the answer is still no," he said flatly, not letting go of her arms.

Assessment over. Young Dragon flunked. She pushed him off, shooing him like he was a fly with zero effort.

Kael slid across the throne room, to the far wall directly behind her, further than Maddox and Nicholas. Same angry ice-skater energy.

"Guinevere, why can’t I move?" Maddox said, wearing the expression of a man who had been trapped in a bubble earlier and did not appreciate it then either. "Let me free. Now."

The words came out, dragon and man woven together, communicating his needs to his wife because that worked last time. Nothing happened. He was still stuck.

"What the hell?" Nicholas said, clearly having the same issue. "Guinevere, let me out. Now." His voice was firm. His jaw was locked.

Kael looked down at his boots then back up at Guinevere, then at the Luminari guards cuffing her.

"Guinevere, let me go with you. Those two are kings. I am a bastard with no crown. No wars starting from me."

The Young Dragon had been benched, shooed, and out-healed by a bracelet tonight, and he was now leveraging his bastard status like a professional.

Guinevere turned her head slowly at Kael. "You are not a king yet, Young Dragon."

Kael received that statement about a future kingship and tabled it. "Great, I will learn all about that. Let me go with you. Your magic surges. You need me to absorb it."

That did it. Whatever was holding him in place snapped. He moved to her side, hands already reaching for the cuffs on her wrists like he could undo them through sheer disapproval.

Nicholas tried to move his right foot. Nothing. Left foot. Nothing. He looked at Kael and his jaw did something that would require its own healer by morning. "Guinevere, let me out too. I absorb the light as well. I’ve been to Solveil with you. I know Landon personally."

Guinevere turned to him slowly. "I cannot, First King of Wolves. But rest assured it will vanish as soon as I leave."

"Guinevere," Maddox barked. "I am your husband. Free me. Right now. I am not asking. This is a direct order from the Dragon King."

Guinevere didn’t seem to hear her husband on that one.

A Kingsguard Officer looked at Kael’s glowing hands. "If you’re coming, you’re cuffed."

Kael rolled his eyes so hard that every member of the Kingsguard felt it. The contempt was omnidirectional and the rotation was complete.

"Sure. Cuff me. Why the hell not." Kael held out his glowing hands.

The officer looked at the glow. Looked at Kael. Looked at the glow again. He did not comment.

Cuffs on. Glowing off. Solved.

Across the throne room the sound coming from Maddox’s chest was his dragon trying and failing to force a shift, size be damned.