Chapter 233: Playground Rules, Alpha Edition
Both ends of the domino chain were freefalling like drunks at last call.
One had just clotheslined a body mid-plummet while the other end was accelerating like a bowling ball with anger issues and attached to a woman with, apparently, zero survival instincts.
Telling an Alpha King he isn’t one in front of every other Alpha in Nyros with your back turned, sits right on the line between legendary and dumb.
That line was still hanging in the air like smoke from a cannon.
Half the chamber was stuck on mental replay number three, while the other half had finally processed the words and were waiting for someone to yell ’gotcha.’
DOMINO 34: THE TEMP HAS BALLS
GREYHALL CROSSING - COUNCIL CHAMBER - 8:02 PM
The silence around Tharos was the full-service kind that buries a man standing up.
"Respect," he repeated slowly. "She wants MY respect. The daughter of the man who shook my father’s hand and stabbed him in the back wants ME to earn HER respect. That’s incredible. You’re not at my level, girl. You’re not even in my fucking building. You want to lecture ME about earning? I’ve bled for my people. Come back when you’ve done it once."
Behind her, Gavyn turned and faced Tharos head on. "With respect, Alpha Stonehowl, every warrior in Lunaris kneels for her because she has earned it. The Princess bled defending Lunaris Keep against Dark Fae last night and ran eight hundred miles today to be here."
Soft, shocked muttering exploded in every direction, the collective sound of brains short-circuiting.
"Bullshit," Tharos fired back. "No female can do that physically. But magically she can. Her. That woman who weighs as much as my armor. You’re full of shit and so is she."
A collective laugh moved through the chamber.
Guinevere didn’t even blink. She started walking again, unbothered. This wasn’t her first public roasting, and she wasn’t about to start being afraid of laughter now. Credit where it was due—the delivery had been excellent.
But whether they believed her or not was not in her control. That was up to them. This was not her circus. These fucks were not her monkeys. And she couldn’t give a rat’s ass either way what they thought.
DOMINO 35: SHADOWFELL WOULD HAVE WHAT NOW
GREYHALL CROSSING - COUNCIL CHAMBER - 8:03 PM
Alpha Grimscar’s voice cut through the chuckles.
"I saw her, Tharos. A few miles out. The full eight-hundred, I’m not sure about. But I can tell you she was running in formation with her men at least for a few miles at speed. Renwick should have included that in her auction. I guarantee Shadowfell would have put up a bigger fight for her."
Silence crashed over the room.
Guinevere’s lungs quit on the spot. Shadowfell. The man Cassian accused her of seducing. According to her brother, Shadowfell’s official take was that she was a ’disgusting, vile woman who couldn’t keep her legs shut,’ among many other poetic expressions of pure disdain.
Truth level: unknown. But the auction detail swung things in Cassian’s direction. Because as far as she knew up until right then, she knew the name Shadowfell, but that was it. She had never met him and her father had never mentioned him. But if he had invited Shadowfell to a supposed auction for her, then that changed the whole fucking equation.
"You saw her, Grimscar," Tharos repeated flatly. "You recognized her wolf out of all the wolves here and knew it was her."
Grimscar let out a laugh that broke the tension. "Oh yes. She was pretty damn hard to miss."
More laughter broke out. Two varieties.
The first belonged to the men who hadn’t seen the white wolf and were convinced Grimscar was just talking absolute nonsense to annoy Tharos to get under his skin and were thoroughly entertained.
The second came from the people who’d already been bulldozed by said glowing white wolf and were only now connecting the dots that it was this girl, finding the entire situation unreasonably funny.
DOMINO 36: THE TEMP GETS HAZED
GREYHALL CROSSING - COUNCIL CHAMBER - 8:04 PM
"If Grimscar vouches she has a wolf, fine. She ran a few miles. Congratulations. That doesn’t answer why Lunaris sent a princess instead of an Alpha, why her face looks like that, or why she thinks she can turn her back on me twice." Tharos’s eyes locked on Gavyn. "And you. Her mouthpiece. Who the fuck are you?"
"I’m standing in for her Beta, Alpha Stonehowl. I’m one of the six men who ran eight hundred miles beside her today and I was standing next to her when Dark Fae breached our walls."
"Standing Beta. Translation: Lunaris’s real Beta refused so he scraped the bottom of the barrel and found this guy. Tell me, runt, were you her first choice or her only one?"
That got a laugh from the room, everyone thoroughly enjoying the show.
DOMINO 37: SLOW ROASTED AT THE PLAYGROUND
GREYHALL CROSSING - COUNCIL CHAMBER - 8:05 PM
Guinevere turned for the first time, and stepped forward INTO the gap, not away from it.
"First choice. Only choice. Best choice," she said. "This man has bled for me, run for me, and stood in front of an Alpha King for me tonight. Can your Beta say the same, Tharos? I don’t see him talking."
"My Beta knows his place," he snapped. "Yours apparently doesn’t. That’s not the flex you think it is. This chamber isn’t a playground."
"Then stop throwing a tantrum in the middle of it."
Every jaw dropped at the same time like a synchronized event. Heads swiveled back to Tharos Stonehowl, waiting for his response.
Tharos raised his eyebrows. "I could crush your entire delegation without breaking a sweat."
Heads whipped around to Guinevere like she’d just yelled ’fire,’ entirely too excited.
Here we go.
Her mouth was going to be the death of her. This man was a legitimately terrifying Alpha, and yet he kept handing her the perfect openings.
"Doubtful," she replied. "You couldn’t get past my Beta without raising your voice. Let’s start there."
"You think you’re clever."
"No, but I think you’re just the right amount of dumb."
Every lip in the chamber twitched at the same time. Alpha Grimscar buried his face in his hand and showed zero signs of resurfacing.
"YOU arrogant little BITCH. That confidence? That right there? That’s your downfall waiting to happen. And I’m going to enjoy watching it."
"And your volume is going to be yours," she said lightly. "I can hear you just fine, Tharos. So can every Alpha at that table. You might want to consider what you sound like from their chairs."