Chapter 460: Was It Scary? Yes. It Was. Oh No. (Chorus.)

Guinevere Drakencrest, future queen of Velkaris, was currently butt-ass naked in a foreign king’s courtyard after a fivesome, surrounded by four unconscious men. And the night was still young.

Landon Solveil’s pants were gone.

She turned in a slow circle. Scanned the ledge. The grass. The steps. Nothing. Then she spotted a dark shape rippling at the bottom of the deep end, drifting lazily across the glowing floor of the spring like a jellyfish that had given up.

His swim shorts. In the deep end.

"Yes, this is happening. I am diving for those pants," she announced to no one as she waded in.

They had somehow migrated to the deepest part of the pool where none of them had even been, ten feet below the surface.

She dove. One breath down, one breath back, shorts in hand, surfacing beside a king whose unconscious body was glowing across the stone stairs.

Swim shorts should be easier than trousers. No buttons. Just two leg holes and a prayer. She had earned the easy one. The easy one owed her. This should take ten seconds.

One. Two. Three. Tug.

The shorts made it halfway up one thigh and quit. She stared at them. They had TWO jobs. Left leg. Right leg. They were failing at both simultaneously, which shouldn’t have been possible with elastic.

Getting swim shorts onto unconscious Landon Solveil was about as easy as the first three, which is to say, not easy at all.

There was lifting. There was a moment when she considered giving up and leaving him with a strategically placed towel only to realize there were zero towels in the courtyard. There was a point where his knee bent the wrong direction and she said "sorry, sorry, sorry" to a man who could not hear her.

But she got them on.

Snug. Done.

She stepped back and surveyed her work.

Four men. Four sets of pants. Various states of comfortable. A wolf king and a dragon king leaning on each other. Can’t fix that.

That left her.

She was still very naked. But her dress had been shredded by two dragons and two wolves. What was left of it was confetti that had lost the will to live.

The courtyard had two doors. One wound back toward the sitting room. The other went straight into Landon’s quarters.

She chose the quarters.

It was on the opposite side of this very large courtyard.

Her eyes landed on Maddox’s folded clothing. No, that would get it wet.

What did she do?

She shifted. White light flashed. A wolf appeared where a woman had been, and the wolf ran to Landon Solveil’s chamber door at a dead sprint.

Shifted back.

The optics were not ideal. Visiting princess. Future queen. Ex-prisoner. Naked.

She cracked the double doors open and peered inside, praying no servants were in there.

Empty. Relief hit her chest.

She found the bathing chamber off the main room. Grabbed a towel off the stack with the urgency of a woman racing a clock made of waking monarchs.

Her pajamas were folded on a bench near the basin, exactly where she’d left them. The thin pajamas with the little bralette, her boots, her cloak. Everything she’d been wearing before Landon had presented her with that dress so she could have the full Luminari cultural experience.

The full Luminari experience had not disappointed.

"I did love that dress," she muttered to herself.

She dressed then swung the cloak around her shoulders and fastened it at the throat. Then she gently dried her hair with a towel so it was just damp.

Crisis averted.

She let out a long breath, scooped a fresh pile of towels off the stack, hugged them to her chest, and headed back out to the courtyard to deal with the men she’d knocked unconscious.

???

THE PANTHEON WATCH PARTY

WARNING: Clothing is optional on all channels. Viewer discretion is advised.

The terrace split-screened into three panels. The God of Dignity, who had returned for the calm portion of the evening, immediately left again.

SCREEN ONE: Pretty Little Liars

After an impromptu fivesome, a wolf princess is going to gaslight four mates until the wheels fall off. "Oh no, you all fell asleep in the pool, how strange, let me help you."

SCREEN TWO:The Bachelor

Two nerds. Same ex. One High General who learns in real time that those two nerds are catnip to the Luminari. One rebellious Luminari princess undercover. Shit is about to go down.

SCREEN THREE:The Traitors

A Dragon Princess, two mages, and two Betas solve a mystery. One of the Betas has fallen for the princess and the princess decided ’fuck it.’ This is going to leave a mark.

Celestial beverages were poured. The kind the gods only broke out when mortal programming exceeded expectations. Screen One had set the bar high or low depending on which god you asked. Screen Two and Three were loading.

"The Luminari adore Brennan Pike. And the adoration has... migrated," the God of Celibacy pointed out.

"Migrated is generous. It metastasized. All three of them are being devoured."

The Moon Goddess raised three divine fingers. "Three of those women are not who the men think they are."

"Two are Landon Solveil’s cousins."

"Correct."

"One is the princess of Solveil."

"Correct."

"Who is currently in the lap of—"

???

THE KING’S PRIVATE LOUNGE

The courtyard had two doors. Guinevere Lunaris had vanished into the one that led to the king’s chambers. The other door, the one Octavian had power-walked through thirty minutes prior, led to a lounge where two dragons and one mage were having the best night of their lives.

Up first: the mage.

Brennan Pike was receiving the full Luminari treatment and had the expression of a man who could not believe his luck and was terrified it would end.

Three Luminari women had him surrounded, babying him like he was one strong breeze away from the grave.

Two were perched on his legs, one on each thigh. Brennan had one arm around each. One of the two had her fingers in his hair, combing through it slow, the way you soothe a spooked animal.

The third knelt in front of him with a small dish of something that glowed faintly gold, lifting a spoonful toward his mouth.

"Oh, you poor dear." The one stroking his hair leaned in. "Was it scary?"

Brennan’s expression turned grave. "Yes. It was."

"Oh, no." A chorus. All three at once.