Chapter 302: Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do?

Maddox leaned forward and placed his first bottle cap on the table with the calm of a husband whose day had included catching a falling star followed by an STD disclosure.

"That’s when I caught her falling from the sky. Unconscious. Brought her back to Lunaris where Kael had destroyed her room."

Kael did not dignify that with a response.

"She woke up after a few minutes," Maddox continued. "Mentioned accidental property damage and a run-in with the law. Then she warned me that Kael caught the runes and I should consider myself exposed."

Kael flicked a bottle cap at Maddox’s face. Maddox snatched it one-handed before it landed and grinned like the devil had just paid him a compliment.

"What?"

"Rephrase that. Immediately."

"Fine. The runes on her skin were contagious through contact and Kael was already infected. Better?"

"You just told a room full of people I caught something from your wife through skin contact. There is no phrasing that fixes that."

Maddox’s smirk disappeared faster than his wife did in white light.

"She was under the impression that both the runes and the Luminari light were contagious," Kael explained for the class. "She also thought Maddox and I were life partners playing house."

"She did not," Maddox snapped. "The vocabulary she was using made it come out wrong. She didn’t think that."

"She asked us how long we have been engaged in cohabitation and as partners of life in general. I wish I were lying," Kael stated flatly.

Jaxon picked up a bottle cap and studied it like it was scripture because he had a front-row seat to that exact moment and Kael was not exaggerating even a little.

"Then white light. Crack. Poof. She vanished." Kael placed the next bottle cap down the way a man lays down a card he knows is going to ruin someone’s evening. "The Commander of the Luminari Kingsguard barges into her chamber less than a second later. Impeccable timing. Warrant in hand for—" he made air quotes "—’attempted murder.’"

Ryker raised his hand. "Quick question. Are we just going to keep sliding bottle caps every time something bad happened to her? Because we’re going to need more caps."

"I’m rationing," Kael replied.

Everyone had a piece. Nobody had the box lid. The puzzle was missing the one person who had been present for every event and she had the habit of vanishing before anyone could ask her what the fuck was going on.

Finally, Lux was the one who voiced what everyone outside of Maddox had been thinking.

"Look. The math isn’t hard. I’ll say it so we can stop circling the drain. Bloody weapon. Attempted murder charge. Stab wound on her, which means there was a fight. You don’t get a firing squad for being in the wrong hallway."

Maddox’s eyes flashed dragon gold for a half-second. "Are you suggesting that my wife is actually guilty?"

"I am, Commander." Lux’s voice carried zero apology. "But, if Guinevere needed to stab someone, then there was a good reason for it. I am not questioning her character with that. Hell, I’m willing to bury the body for her. We have no confirmation on Solveil—living, dead, or otherwise. We have a bloody weapon, a stab wound, and an arrest warrant issued. Facts. Not feelings."

"Agreed," Ryker seconded. "Killing or stabbing is never her first instinct. The example I keep coming back to was her memory-wipe debut in Kael’s room. She didn’t attack. She ran for her life."

"Consensus: if she put a blade in him, he earned it," Sterling stated. "Also consensus-adjacent: the warrant exists. Ignoring it will not make it vanish."

Kael let out a long breath and clamped a hand to the back of his neck. Support structure. Or surrender.

"Maybe it was an accident and she doesn’t realize it."

Every mouth in the room opened at the same time. Kael held up his free hand and they all closed.

"Let me paint the picture. She confessed to me about accidentally ruining a flower bed like she had committed arson. Full guilt. If she had actually stabbed someone or tried to kill them, she would have said something different to me."

The implication of ’to me’ landed on the room like a stone dropping into still water. Every person heard what it meant: she trusted Kael.

Maddox wiped a hand down his face like he was trying to erase himself from the conversation.

"I don’t buy her as the attacker. There’s another version of this. That isn’t her."

"Maybe it wasn’t her," Kael said. "Possessed Guinevere, who Sterling and I followed into a treasure room. The one who swiped you and me across the room with one hand."

"I don’t agree with any of that. But it doesn’t matter because the optics are what they are," Maddox said. "The suspect was caught with the murder weapon. An arrest warrant was issued."

He leaned forward.

"So here’s the play. As soon as we find her, bring her to Kael so he can absorb the light. We bring her back home to Drakencrest. Lux and Jaxon start working on the flashes and whatever the hell happened to her memories. And the Landon charge does not leave this room. If she doesn’t remember what happened with Solveil, we don’t bring it up. She’s already frightened enough and adding ’you might have killed a king’ to the list will crush her."

"Agreed," Kael said without hesitation. "If anyone asks, she was with me all night. That includes her if she asks. She knows about the flashes but doesn’t understand them. So we tell her that’s the story she needs to commit to until further notice." He looked around the table. "And we keep her away from Solandris. We also tell her to stay away from the Luminari if she happens to see one. There’s a warrant for her arrest and the last thing we need is her walking up to one and asking about their goddamn onboarding process."

"She would absolutely do that," Ryker said.

"She would introduce herself, ask if they have a pamphlet, and then get arrested mid-sentence," Lux confirmed.

"While apologizing for the inconvenience," Sterling added.

"While offering to pay for the fountain damage," Jaxon finished.

Maddox looked at all of them.

"Are we done roasting my wife or can we go find her?"

"Both," Kael said. "We can do both."