Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(23)

I’d better get myself back into my human form before I accidentally roasted our high king. I concentrated on my imaginary nest, on sending my dragon back to sleep, and found myself shrinking. I’d been looking down at the royals; now suddenly these four terrifying men towered over me again. I smoothed the lines of my dress, grateful that it had shifted with me.

The lesser shifters, as the dragons and wolves called us, didn’t transform with their clothing intact until they mastered their magic. I’d assumed I’d be a squirrel, drowning in the silky puddle of my dress. But this way I had more dignity in front of the Elders, and that was a relief.

Pend let out an exasperated snort.

Well, I didn’t have much more dignity.

“What are we going to do with her?” he demanded. “The people don’t want a female dragon. She’s not even of royal blood.”

“Where does she come from?” Joachim looked troubled.

No one was talking to me. I hated that, but I crossed my arms over my chest and pretended to have the same personality as the marble columns. They were about as interested in hearing from me as from the furniture.

“She’s an orphan. Rescued by Danen,” Pend Deragon said. “She’s nobody.”

They all looked annoyed by my existence.

“What if we disguise her as a male?” The muscular man in the corner suggested. “We can see if she can even survive academy training.”

“Damyn has a point. If she doesn’t survive, the problem does resolve itself,” Teris mused.

Right here, assholes.

“If she’s unworthy, she’ll die the first time she faces the Scourge,” Gorion agreed.

“How are you going to disguise me as a man?” I blurted out.

Teris raised a finger to his lips and shushed me. The movement was condescending as it was, but even worse, my lips tingled, my tongue suddenly heavy and numb. There must have been a curse in his motion. I tried to make a noise, and my lips wouldn’t form words.

Damyn gave me a sympathetic look, the only one of them to acknowledge me directly.

I pressed my numb lips together, resisting the impulse to try to speak again, even though I felt as if I’d go mad. I wouldn’t lose my composure in front of these bastards.

“We have that damned noble who stole from me,” Joachim said. “I can bury him somewhere. Give her his identity.”

They were going to kill a man to give me his identity? I tried to tell them that I didn’t want that, but I couldn’t form the words. I couldn’t form any words.

“Teris,” Damyn said quietly. “I believe the young lady has taken your point.”

Teris frowned, but waved a hand impatiently. Suddenly my lips parted, and I drew a ragged breath. Ugh, they could probably tell how panicky that had made me feel.

“I’ll take care of the situation,” Damyn said. “The people will be looking for their new royal.”

“We’ll create an apparition to appear to fly with us,” Joachim said airily. “She can pretend to have passed out in fear or hidden under a table or something during the evacuation of the temple.”

I was offended by the implication that I’d hide under a table, even though I’d done just that quite recently…with Teris’s son.

“One thing,” Pend Deragon told me.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t mention this to your mother.”

“Stepmother,” I corrected automatically.

He glanced me over, his gaze steely, and I added, “I won’t.”

“Let’s make sure she can’t say a word to anyone,” Teris said breezily.

I shook my head frantically, but Teris merely shushed me again, magic flaring across my lips. I turned toward Damyn frantically, expecting not to be able to speak, but the words tumbled from my lips. “I don’t understand any of this.”

I stopped, relieved.

Teris gave me a long, lingering look—perhaps he did know what I’d done with Talisyn—but the others were already storming from the room, and he turned and left too.

Damyn lingered, waiting for me.

The dragons soared overhead. I cupped my hand over my eyes, searching the sky. As they’d promised, there were five dragon forms that blotted out the stars for a moment, then they were gone.

Their magic was even more powerful than the stories I’d heard.

“Now what?” I asked shakily.

“Now you’re going to look terrified, and I’m going to take you out of here,” he said. “I’ll help set up your disguise.”

“Look terrified? That’s going to be a challenge.” I grumbled.

I desperately needed some time to process what had just happened. But I clearly wasn’t going to get that because Damyn whistled.

Caldren came in, as if he’d been lurking nearby, hiding. His hands were jammed in his pockets, his posture stiff, but he relaxed when he saw me.

“I knew you’d have slunk back in here,” Damyn told him.

Caldren flashed him a bright smile, then looked to me. “I thought for sure you’d talk your way into having your head bitten off.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

He shrugged. “Just calling it as I see it.”

I glanced between the two men who faced me. “What happens if I fail at the academy?”