Chapter 445: The High General’s Breast-Kept Secret

Sterling looked at Brennan’s back. Looked at the women. Looked at Brennan’s back again.

"Women love Brennan. That tracks. Our ex had high standards."

He bounced his ball once and started walking again, falling into step next to Brennan, leaving Ryker in his wake.

Brennan had still not noticed anything out of the ordinary. His head was already turning toward a street vendor arranging glowing fruit in a pyramid.

"On our left, a Luminari male is constructing what I believe is an offering altar from the local harvest."

"He’s selling fruit, Brennan," Kael called over his shoulder.

Brennan waved. "Beautiful harvest. Very luminous. Your pile speaks volumes."

The vendor did not wave back.

Ryker caught up to Brennan in two strides, falling into step on his other side. His face carried the specific focus of a man who had just witnessed something that violated his understanding of the universe and needed to investigate immediately.

"Brennan."

"Yes?"

"Did you see those women?"

"Ah, yes! The non-luminescent females. All of them are like that. Fascinating species. Yes. Lovely group."

"Those women were interested in you."

"Of course they were. I was narrating their architectural heritage. People love that."

Ryker wobbled his hand from side to side, visibly unconvinced. "Yeah, close but no. People don’t love that."

They passed another cluster of Luminari women near a staircase, who giggled and waved at him as they passed. Brennan waved with his ball hand again.

"Ah. A vocalization display. The female Luminari uses laughter as a mating beacon. The mating invitation is not for me specifically, it’s a species-wide broadcast. Any passing male would receive it. They’re advertising availability to the LOCAL population. We just happen to be in the broadcast radius."

Ryker and Sterling exchanged a look over Brennan’s head. The look was long. The look was questioning. The look was two men silently agreeing that no one else got waves except for one of them who was narrating the experience.

"If I said that, I would get smacked," Ryker remarked.

"That is because Dragon women have been courted by men who breathe fire. These women have been courted by men who get shinier when they’re interested. Different threat level," Brennan explained.

Sterling shrugged. "He has you there."

In front of them, Nicholas stepped onto the first step of a very long staircase to the Citadel. Maddox skipped the first step and was on the second.

Nicholas skipped the second step, pulling ahead. His focus was forward. His face was neutral. His pace was increasing.

Maddox was already on the fifth step.

Neither of them looked at the other. Neither of them acknowledged the acceleration. Both of them had identified, independently, that the man beside them was walking at a pace that was approximately one half step faster than their own, and both of them had corrected that.

A classic mutual pace-matching hostage situation.

Kael’s stride lengthened to close the gap. He was not going to be caught walking slower than two kings up a staircase to retrieve his mate from a third goddamn king and he was not going to admit that he was participating in the race either. Because he wasn’t.

"Are they racing?" Brennan panted from the back.

"They are still technically walking," Sterling answered, who was also keeping pace and also pretending he was not.

"Nobody walks at this speed, Sterling," Ryker commented.

By the top of the staircase, Nicholas and Maddox were moving fast enough to generate wind. Kael closed the gap behind them, wearing the expression of a young dragon out on a leisurely evening stroll and not at all running.

Ryker, Sterling, and Brennan arrived a full minute later. Ryker’s chest was moving. Sterling’s three knots were pulsing in sequence. Brennan had stopped the historical tour.

"Commander, if you three race again up a flight of stairs like that, I’m going to shift and fly. You have been warned," Ryker panted.

"We were walking," Kael stated, flatly, as if that would make it true.

He turned on his heel, moving down the corridor like he owned the place. The group followed him without question.

Maddox tucked the glowing ball into the inner fold of his cloak. The ball glowed through the fabric like a lantern inside a tent.

Ryker, who was in the middle of doing the exact same thing with his red one, paused mid-tuck to appreciate the view.

"Commander. I don’t know how to tell you this. But your cloak is glowing."

Maddox looked down. His chest was emitting a soft, pulsing amber light that was visible from the opposite end of the corridor and was arguably visible from the opposite end of the continent.

"It’s fine."

"It’s a beacon. You’re a lighthouse. Ships are going to crash into you."

Maddox shifted the ball to a lower pocket inside the cloak. The glow migrated downward with it. He now looked like a man with a very enthusiastic hernia.

"That’s actually worse," Ryker called, finishing the tuck of his own ball into his inner cloak pocket, opposite side of the green one he had bought for Griffin.

Both orbs settled at chest height, glowing through the fabric in two perfectly round, perfectly spaced circles that gave the High General of Drakencrest the unmistakable silhouette. A portrait titled ’The General’s New Assets.’

He did not, in fact, notice his new assets.

Sterling pocketed his in his trousers. Gravity did what gravity does. The ball migrated south until a violet glow bloomed from his crotch.

Neither he nor Ryker looked at the other. One was walking through Solveil with illuminated breasts. The other was walking through Solveil with a luminous erection. Both were looking straight ahead. Both were making first impressions that would outlast their visit.

Brennan walked in between them, without a care in the world. His blue ball was in his hand. Openly. Proudly. Cradled against his sternum with the two-handed reverence of a local historian carrying an ancient relic.

"Brennan, you could put it in your cloak," Ryker suggested.

"No. It would be hidden that way."

"That’s the point, buddy. We’re walking inside a Citadel."

"The Luminari trust a man who carries their light where they can see it. If I hide it, I show them that I am hiding something they value. When on their land, I honor their customs," Brennan explained.

The corridor narrowed.

Double doors. Six guards. Kael didn’t spare them a glance, continuing forward.

SHING.

Six glowing spears snapped into defense formation. Two pointed at Kael’s sternum. Four formed an X grid in front of the double doors.

"STATE YOUR BUSINESS," one of the guards thundered.