Chapter 394: Honey, Please Stop Helping

Somewhere between the throne room and the Luminari Citadel, Guinevere Lunaris went from possessed war weapon to enthusiastic tourist. The handcuffs didn’t slow her down. Nothing ever did.

Her eyes flicked from gold to green. The ancient queen was evidently done with this shit.

One second she was taking a nap, the next she was mid-battle, and now she was walking with no memory of how she got here.

Guinevere looked down at her hands. Cuffed. Luminari stone. Looked at the guards flanking her. Armed.

She sighed.

Reckoning day had arrived.

Kael watched the sigh land and interpreted it through the matebond, which was feeding him a steady stream of her emotions. Resignation. Calm. Acceptance. The kind of acceptance that comes from a woman who knows what she did and has decided to face it.

His chest tightened. Possessed Guinevere had said no to the attempted murder question Blair had asked. But possessed Guinevere and Guinevere were two different drivers in the same vehicle, and the sigh coming from the one currently at the wheel didn’t carry the same certainty.

He wanted to ask. But there were six Kingsguard officers within earshot and Kael Ashenvale was not going to do that in front of the Luminari.

"Hey, Guinevere, we’re in Solveil," he said carefully instead.

She turned her head and saw him. "Kael, what are you—"

"Getting arrested with you."

"But you didn’t—"

"I’m not leaving you, Guinevere."

Her mouth closed. Something moved behind her eyes, something that rearranged itself quietly and completely, and when it settled, her jaw had a new angle to it. The angle of a woman who had just made a decision about Kael’s future that Kael had not been consulted on.

He would not be serving her sentence with her. That was decided. Filed. Done.

WHOOSH.

A fountain tripled in height as they passed. The water turned gold at the top.

She let out another sigh.

The Kingsguard officers stopped. Looked at the fountains. Looked at her. Looked at the fountains again.

"I want to extend my sincerest apologies for the destruction of your watering holes," she said immediately. "I mean no harm to your people. The damage is unintentional and I take full accountability for the disruption to your way of life."

Silence.

Kael looked at the fountain. Looked down at her. Looked at the Kingsguard, one of whom was blinking so fast it could have been a medical event.

"Watering hole. Does that mean they drink out of their fountains?" he asked slowly.

"I believe so. Their response to my accidental interference suggests a deep cultural connection to them, which would stem from using them for survival."

A guard sneezed. The sound echoed off the luminescent white stone.

"Bless you," Guinevere said immediately.

The guard looked at her. The look was the look of a man who had been escorting prisoners for eleven years and had never once, in over a decade of sneezing on the job, been blessed by a detainee.

"Your health matters," she added.

The guard’s mouth opened. Nothing came out. He looked at the officer beside him for guidance. The officer beside him was staring straight ahead.

Kael watched the exchange like a man watching a carriage crash he could not look away from.

As they approached a building in the Citadel, a child waved.

"Oh, hello." Guinevere waved back. In cuffs. The chain jingled with cheerful acoustics.

Another kid waved. Guinevere waved with both hands at that one.

"Guinevere."

"That one was smaller, Kael. I’m not going to ignore a small child. That’s a line I won’t cross."

Kael closed his eyes for a full ten seconds as they walked.

A vine on the railing bent toward Guinevere as she passed. Kael watched it happen. Then watched the next one do the same. Then watched an entire row of potted flora along the walkway lean in unison.

"What the hell. Did that plant just move?"

"Yes. They do that. I hadn’t realized the flora were sentient when I first entered their land."

Guinevere turned to the nearest guard with the solemn, wide-eyed sincerity that Kael was learning to dread because it always preceded something that made him want to leave his own body.

"I want you to know that I deeply respect your people’s sacred bond with the living flora of this land. The destruction I caused was born from ignorance, not malice. I understand now that your botanical community members are cherished in your civilization. If there is a memorial or a ritual I can participate in to correct my mistake, I would welcome the opportunity."

Silence. The kind that has weight and opinions.

Kael stared at her. A vine that had been leaning toward her paused mid-lean, as if it too was processing what it had just heard.

Octavian, who had been walking at the front of the formation and had heard every word, turned his head exactly forty-five degrees and then turned it back.

The guards stared at her, then each other. One of them shrugged. They continued walking.

They reached a staircase. Guinevere’s boot hit the first step. It lit up beneath her and played a note, like a musical flute.

Another step. Another note. The note was higher. She took another. Higher still.

Every guard turned around.

She stopped. The music stopped.

The guards looked at the steps. They looked at her. They looked at Octavian, who was staring at the non-lit step under his boots.

Commander Veyron was not amused. The guards turned. The second the walking continued, the musical notes started up again.

One for each step.

Guinevere flashed a smile at Kael, who had been watching her. The smile was more criminal than the criminal wearing it.

"I think it’s going to play a song as we walk, Kael," she whispered.

"I see that," Kael said flatly.

The matebond was delivering pure, undiluted delight from her and his face was trying to do something that he was fighting with full effort.

She was composing and the staircase was her instrument and the Kingsguard were her unwilling audience.

After seven steps, the song was unmistakable: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Guinevere couldn’t help it. She clapped in her cuffs again. The chain rattled.

"How neat. The engineering alone must have taken generations. My sincerest compliments to your builders." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

The guards looked at each other. Octavian was staring at the step Guinevere was on like it owed him an answer, but none came.

Kael looked at the Luminari guards, then at Guinevere.

"Honey, let’s refrain from commenting on any more architecture."

Guinevere gave a single nod.

"My apologies. I meant to compliment your people there but I realize I must have interrupted the arrest. Please continue. I am fully cooperating and will do my best to remain silent."

"Request that the prisoner stop playing the staircase," Veyron snapped.

"I can try skipping steps if that helps," Guinevere offered.

"Do not skip steps."

"Understood."

She took the next step.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star continued on repeat. It was on its twenty-first loop when they finally reached the top.

Veyron’s back was to them. Ramrod straight. The song would be stuck in everyone’s heads for the rest of the day and they all knew it.

Doors opened.

Kael stepped inside of a building and blinked a few times, surprised that this was their prison.

Then he looked at Guinevere and realized with slow, creeping horror that she was going to love it in here.