Chapter 103: When Two Brothers Said Mine
Kael stepped between Maddox and the direction Guinevere and Blair were standing, positioning himself there for no tactical reason that Maddox could identify.
"I can explain, Maddox. She’s my mate."
Maddox heard ’my mate’ leave his brother’s mouth, and for one full second, the Dragon King had no thoughts. Just certainty that Kael was lying, and the equally primal certainty that if he wasn’t, he was going to lose his mind in front of five hundred people.
"She merged with my flame," Kael continued. "The Drakencrest flame, which is why you were able to call it from her."
All the whispering stopped. Jaws dropped in sequence like dominoes falling down both sides of the hall. Every brain was doing the same calculation and arriving at the same conclusion, which was that this evening had peaked three times already and was somehow still climbing.
Maddox’s dragon slammed against his ribs.
LIES. She is ours.
"Your mate." Maddox repeated the words slowly, forcing his voice steady. "Your mate merged with your flame. Something that hasn’t occurred in our bloodline specifically in three centuries. And you forgot to mention that to me."
"I did mention the person to you."
The sentence connected to a conversation Maddox remembered with perfect clarity. The reason Kael had walked into his tent and asked for a seat at his table.
"She’s the reason."
"Yes, because she’s my mate, Maddox."
The air left Maddox’s lungs like he’d been punched. His brother said ’my mate’ with the ease of a man who had been saying it privately for longer than tonight.
Maddox looked at Guinevere. "Is he telling the truth?"
Her. Not Ryker. Not Sterling. He asked her because he trusted her answer more than those of every officer he had combined.
She wiped her eyes. Took a breath. Then answered in a level voice. "Yes, he’s telling the truth."
She had pulled herself together to confirm the one thing that could destroy him. Her composure was impressive. The content was devastating.
The crowd lost its collective mind. A buzz erupted. Two brothers. One woman. A flame merge. The social event of the decade had just become the social event of the century, and the century was young.
Sterling pinched the bridge of his nose. Ryker ran his hand down his face.
Maddox ignored all of it, his focus entirely on her. She had wiped her eyes before she answered. The sequence mattered. A woman telling the truth wipes her eyes after because the emotion follows the honesty. A woman building herself up to a lie wipes first because she needs a clean face to sell it.
He watched for other tells. She didn’t give him any.
"Bullshit."
One word. His finest diplomatic contribution of the evening, delivered at full volume in front of an audience of lords who were going to quote it in council meetings for the next decade.
The whispering stopped. Every mouth in the crowd closed at the same time.
"It’s not bullshit," Blair said, her voice quiet. "I’m sorry, Maddox."
His sister who had been defiant in every interaction tonight was now apologizing, and the shift from defiance to sympathy told him she believed it.
"I’m sorry too, Maddox," Kael said with no sarcasm or humor. Just his brother delivering the worst sentence of the evening in the most honest voice he’d used twice in one night.
The apology economy was booming, and Maddox was the sole investor. His sister was sorry. His brother was sorry. His High General was sorry. Everyone was sorry and none of them had thought to be sorry before the gallery.
Kael started to move towards her.
Maddox’s dragon, which had gone silent, detonated.
Gold flooded his vision. The beast saw another male moving towards what belonged to it and instinct took over.
That was what he would tell himself later. But the truth was simpler and worse: he chose it.
That was the part that would keep him up at night. Not the instinct. The choice. He had a fraction of a second to stop it and he had spent that fraction choosing to do it anyway.
He moved at full speed, closing the distance before Kael’s next footstep hit the stone. His arms locked around Guinevere and he took her to the ground, pinning her under him. His palm found the back of her head before it found the stone.
His fangs were in her neck and his venom was flowing before he realized he was marking her.
Instinct. Choice. Both. Neither. Every fiber in his body screamed for her, even if it was crazy. The romance of the evening died the second his brother said ’mate,’ and was replaced by the dragon king tackling and biting a woman on their first date.
The crowd gasped in unison.
Gold light detonated between them, visible to every shocked noble in the hall, while runes ignited on the walls and floor in answer.
His dragon roared in triumph.
Mine. Finally mine. Mate.
Venom continued to surge, hot and claiming, as a broken noise escaped her throat.
It was at this point, Maddox realized he was dry-humping her like a dragon caught in a mating haze. His hips were moving in full, desperate rolls while his fangs stayed buried in her neck.
Part of him didn’t care. The need to fuck her properly burned so hot, his hands fisted the silk of her dress, trembling. He wanted to shove the fabric out of the way and drive into her with long, ruthless thrusts. Audience be damned.
The rational part of his brain told him that humping his mate or mating with her in front of a crowd might make it difficult for her to agree to a second date.
He locked every muscle, stopping the motion with a low, frustrated groan.
"Well shit," Varro said from twenty feet behind him.
"Somebody stop him before he consummates," Cassia snapped.
"Can someone tell me," Drystan hissed, "why the Dragon King is marking the wolf princess who was supposed to be on a dragon escort home twenty minutes ago?"
Maddox raised his hand and gave the elders, his High General, his Third, and his brother the middle finger without breaking the mark, fangs still buried in Guinevere’s neck.
An encore to the finale.
The crowd lost its collective mind.
