Chapter 168: A Dragon’s Wife, A Wolf’s Mark

Before the whiskey, the file, and the part where his day officially went up in flames, there was still one last order to give and one last competent bastard left to dump it on.

Maddox’s gaze flicked to Sterling. "Security will be air tight at her coronation. Coordinate with Blair and Jaxon. No hiccups."

"Consider it done, Commander." Sterling filed out behind the others with the efficient stride of a man who had already started building the security grid in his head.

The war room cleared. Boots, cloaks, chairs scraping stone, the organized retreat of people who had things to do and limited daylight to do them in.

As soon as the door closed, Ryker handed Maddox a file with the word REDACTED stamped across the front.

Maddox dropped into a chair.

REDACTED had never stopped him from opening a file before and it wasn’t going to stop him now.

Ryker poured two whiskeys, then slid one to Maddox. "You’re not going to like what’s in here, Commander."

Maddox rolled his eyes. "I’ve heard. Come on, it can’t be THAT bad."

Famous last words from every newly mated dragon king in the history of Velkaris: I’ve got this. Spoiler: He did, in fact, not have this.

"Nicholas Shadowfell’s Beta reached out inquiring about Guinevere’s situation." Ryker took a sip of his drink.

Maddox’s glass paused halfway to his mouth. "Situation."

"Yes. Does he know too much? Yes. Because the man was there. Did he also carry you out of the throne room, save your wife’s life, and fight to protect our keep? Yes to all three. He’s a good, honest king. His background check comes back so pure it makes Sterling look like he’s a hardened criminal in comparison."

"Perfect record. Saved my wife. Carried me out. Protected my Keep. Is he single too?"

"Yes." Ryker met his eyes. "And my sources say he just liquidated one of his estates. He’s going to make you an offer for Guinevere."

"He can get the hell in line. There’s a long one." Maddox took a swig of his drink. Yes, he was still concussed. No, Aldric would never find out. It was fine. Perfectly fine. Stop looking at him like that. Shut up.

"Commander, if your wife gets any more offers, I’m setting up a booth. Regular hours. A consultation fee. Kael would want fifteen percent. But I’m not Kael. I’m taking twenty. I have standards."

Maddox laughed darkly. "Hell, take thirty. Charge whatever you want. But if one more bastard bids on my wife, I’m setting the booth on fire. With them inside it."

"I informed Draven the situation was resolved," Ryker continued. "They didn’t seem convinced on their end." He paused, choosing his next words carefully. "I think Shadowfell is sensing her distress through their matebond."

"Matebond," Maddox growled.

Ryker didn’t cushion it.

"During the auction, Shadowfell stood up and told the whole room she was his fated mate. We all thought it was a play. Looked like a play. Smelled like a play. You’d already channeled flame to her, and nobody in recorded history has ever had two fated mates. Clean logic. Beautiful logic. Wrong logic. He meant every word and the universe backed him on it."

Maddox’s dragon rumbled under his ribs so loudly, Ryker paused.

"I don’t believe it," Maddox said, voice dark.

"He felt her pain from merging with your flame. Sailed across the ocean to rescue her. When he got here, his wolf could sense she wasn’t in the Keep." Ryker held his gaze. "We filled him in on her abduction and joined the strike team to rescue her. You added him because he could scent her as well as you could. There was no ego in the decision to bring him. You put her life above your pride and I respected the hell out of you for it. Still do."

Maddox took a slow drink, then dragged a hand down his face.

"In that file, you’ll find that her heart stopped. She was dead. It was longer than seven seconds. It was at least ten minutes." Ryker’s voice cracked. "She was gone, Maddox. Dead. And Nicholas Shadowfell is the reason she’s alive. He restarted her heart by marking her."

The room contracted.

Maddox stopped breathing. His body forgot the mechanics of it, lungs locked, chest frozen, because every part of him was busy absorbing the fact that his wife had been dead for ten minutes and he hadn’t known until right now.

"You never got around to telling her, because you lost your memories. But she would have felt a matebond with him while he was here after that marking. Either Shadowfell told her. Or, more likely, she thought it was their fated matebond activating on her side, which wouldn’t require a mark."

The room went quiet and Maddox’s brain started filling in the gaps.

When he’d lost his memories of her, Shadowfell had been the one comforting his wife. And Guinevere had felt a matebond with him.

He remembered watching them from across the training field, the day Guinevere broke his Skyrunner record. After she landed, he touched her arm so casually, like he had a right to. And it wasn’t just that time. Every time Maddox saw her, that wolf was also there making her laugh.

At least ten Lords had asked Ryker and Sterling, in front of him, if she was mated to Shadowfell. Hell, Maddox had asked it himself. And Guinevere didn’t say a goddamn word to him about any of it.

The glass in his hand detonated.

Whiskey and crystal flew in every direction, across the obsidian, across the file, across his hand, which was bleeding now from three places and he hadn’t felt a single one. Shards sat in his palm like teeth. He stared at them without seeing them.

"The silver on her neck," Maddox’s voice was no longer singular, his dragon pushing to the surface and speaking with him.

"Silver is Shadowfell’s," Ryker confirmed. "But, if I were to guess, she probably assumed it was part of yours."

Maddox looked at his bleeding hand. Looked at the file. Looked at Ryker.

He closed his eyes. Opened them.

"He marked my wife."

"He saved your wife."

"Both of those things are true and I hate both of them equally."

"Welcome to the file, Maddox. It gets worse. Happy reading."

✦✦✦

Elder Cassia intercepted Sterling in the corridor outside the war room.

"Lord Solandris and the Lunaris Wolf King, have both requested formal audiences with the Dragon King," she announced. "Separately, I might add, which tells me they’re either feuding or coordinating, and both options are exhausting."

"When?" Sterling asked.

"Now."

"Maddox has a concussion."

Cassia’s brow rose a precise quarter inch. "A concussion. From what, pray tell?"

"From last night."

"Last night." She repeated it the way a woman repeats a word she intends to investigate thoroughly.

Sterling’s face gave away nothing.

"We were attacked by the Eclipse King. Dark Fae portaled onto Diplomat Row. Our wards are being reinforced as we speak."

Elder Cassia went still in a way that communicated more than most people’s full-body reactions.

"The council has not discussed this."

"That’s because it happened eight hours ago and you’re the first elder to know."

Somewhere inside the war room, Maddox was reading page five while Ryker poured him a fresh whiskey. Somewhere down the corridor, Blair was screaming at servants about a coronation that better be perfect, or she would be killing their firstborn sons. Somewhere in a brown room, a sleeping dragon was mumbling about his commissions, suffering from a terrible case of morning wood. Somewhere in front of him, a sleeping wolf girl was blissfully unaware that the salami in her dream was actually Kael proudly flying at full mast.

The day was young and Drakencrest’s leadership was running at peak performance.