Chapter 276: Legal Latin For Her Ass Is Grass

On one continent, the King of Light was face-down in sheets. On another, the Dragon King was explaining to his wife that he was not romantically involved with his brother.

His wife currently believed she was a Luminari fugitive for floral fatalities, fountain fuckery, and a full-blown flee from the police at fuck-off speed.

As she lay on the bedroom floor with her head in the Dragon King’s lap, the little fugitive who could had no idea that the warrant for her arrest just got upgraded to murder.

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DOMINO 58: THAT’S ONE HELL OF A HICKEY

SOLVEIL CITADEL — ROYAL CHAMBERS — 5:10 AM

The Master Healer knocked.

Nothing.

The King of Light was a disciplined sleeper. He was the type who opened his eyes at the first knock because the crown never fully shut off, even unconscious. Something was suspicious as hell.

The Master Healer opened the door.

The room was wrong.

Landon Solveil was face-down, with zero signs of consciousness, and producing enough body heat to fog the windows. His sheets looked like they’d been dragged through a river.

But the true gut-punch was his light was gone. Something the Master Healer had never witnessed from Landon Solveil because even if the king’s light wasn’t visible to the naked eye, the energy of it could always be felt. Right now, it was as empty as a freshly looted tomb.

He crossed the room and pressed both palms to Landon’s back. Diagnostic light poured in.

TEMPERATURE: red-alert levels.

VITALS: Tanked.

NEURAL RESPONSE: Not even a courtesy flicker.

"Your Majesty." He shook him. "Landon."

Silence.

He pushed deeper. The diagnostic light hit something foreign in the King’s bloodstream and recoiled so hard the healer’s hands physically jerked. An unknown biological compound was threading through his circulatory system with the lazy patience of a predator that had already won.

The Master Healer turned the King’s head and that’s when he spotted it.

Two puncture wounds on his neck, swollen and bruised purple at the edges. It was the source of the foreign toxin affecting the sovereign’s brainstem.

There was only one person alone with Landon Solveil tonight and she was nowhere to be seen. He scanned the room for any evidence of a struggle or altercation, but it came up empty.

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SOLVEIL CITADEL — ROYAL CHAMBERS — 5:15 AM

Darrow Veyron, Commander of the Kingsguard, did not fuck around when it came to Landon Solveil’s security.

He was the bastard who got to decide whether a threat to the crown was a mild inconvenience or a one-way trip to the executioner’s block.

"Prognosis."

"The delivery method is a bite, Commander. This wasn’t accidental exposure. The puncture wounds are deep, the angle is deliberate, and the compound entered his bloodstream through the carotid pathway. Whoever did this knew exactly where to put their mouth."

Darrow looked at the bite, the balcony, the empty chaise, and the sheets that told a story he didn’t need to read but was now exhibit A.

"Duty logs. Now."

A sentinel entered carrying a stack of bound leather ledgers and a face that communicated he had already read them on the way up and wished he hadn’t.

Darrow flipped to the overnight entry. His eyes scanned.

Then stopped.

"There was an intruder."

"Yes, Commander. Multiple sightings reported between oh-four-hundred and oh-four-fifteen. A male disguised as a female who evaded twelve security patrols, triggered the Sovereign Alert threshold on the main concourse, and was fired upon by Unit Six when he retaliated with a counter-attack."

"Disguised?"

"They assumed female on sight. When the target used light to catch himself mid-fall, he gave himself away. Luminari women don’t bear light, so the conclusion was a male disguised as a female."

Darrow looked up from the log. "Fired upon means he is not alive. Where is the body?"

"Standard warning before discharge. The person of interest used light in a manner consistent with a counter-attack. Unit Six escalated to lethal force. The target vanished before confirmation of contact."

"Vanished how?"

"Unknown. The unit reported a flash of white light followed by complete absence."

"Her light needed to calibrate with King Solveil’s," the healer cut in. "That may have been unintentional. It was surging on her which is why His Majesty was lying with her to begin with."

Darrow closed the ledger.

"So we have a woman methodical enough to target the carotid and poison the sovereign. But also happens to be a volatile, uncontrolled light-bearer who evaded arrest."

He turned to the Master Healer with an expression that would freeze lava.

"Under Article Seven of the Sovereign Protection Act, any person who causes physical harm to the reigning monarch through direct contact, introduces a foreign substance into the sovereign’s body, or flees the sovereign’s presence after either of the above, is classified as a prima facie threat to the crown. That classification carries automatic arrest and trial under the High Tribunal. The burden of proof rests on the accused."

The Master Healer’s face went grey.

"Under Article Twelve, Subsection C, flight from the scene of a sovereign injury elevates the classification from threat to presumptive assailant. Continued evasion constitutes an admission of culpability under Luminari precedent."

He paused.

"Translation: she bit the King. She poisoned the King. She fled the King’s chambers through a balcony, evaded twelve security patrols, and disappeared after being fired upon. Every element of the corpus delicti is present. Injury. Intent inferred from method. Flight as consciousness of guilt."

He turned to the sentinel at the door.

"Disregard the gender mix-up. The person of interest is a woman who bears light. I want a description of her on every patrol board in the Citadel by sunrise. Armed and presumed dangerous. Wanted for the attempted assassination of King Landon Solveil."

The sentinel saluted and was gone.

"High Sentinel," the Master Healer said, his voice strained. "I want to flag that she is his fated mate. She is from the wolf kingdom. It is possible this was a biological response to mating. The prophecy—"

Darrow slammed the leather patrol log shut.

"Find her."

On a continent across the ocean, the woman they were hunting was busy trying to not look heartbroken as she congratulated two dragons on their progressive relationship.