Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(24)

I knew what would happen if I failed fighting the Scourge. I’d die, or end up worse than dead, becoming like them.

“You’ll give them an excuse to say you were never worthy,” Caldren began.

Damyn shook his head, cutting him off.

“What?” I demanded. “I’m pretty sure harsh words aren’t the end of it. What happens if I’m not worthy?”

Caldren cut his eyes toward Damyn. “She deserves to know what’s at stake.”

Damyn said, “Just make sure she doesn’t fail, Caldren.”

“I can’t,” he said. “I’m not even a dragon.”

“But no one knows them better.”

“And I didn’t offer to take on a charity case.” Caldren glanced me over skeptically. “The best thing for her is to run.”

Hanna was waiting for me in her tree right now. She’d keep waiting for me if I disappeared, too.

“I’m not running. I’ve got nowhere to go.” I raised my chin. Maybe I could do this, anyway.

I’d wanted the chance to prove myself.

Now I had it.

Even if the cost was a little terrifying.

Damyn stopped and rubbed some scorch marks on the marble—had I done that?—and then used them to smudge my face.

He offered me his elbow. “Let me help you out. Try to look weak. And Caldren—don’t get caught. You know the King’s Guard is lingering.”

“I never get caught,” he said.

“Even the cleverest get unlucky sometimes,” Damyn said, “and I’m not as certain as you that you are, in fact, the cleverest.”

Caldren rolled his eyes, then touched my arm. Electric sparks seemed to tingle across my skin where his fingers had brushed. “Until we meet again, Honor.”

As soon as he was gone, Damyn said, “You should stay away from him. And he should stay away from you.”

I studied him, my mind still reeling too much to judge his advice. I’d turn it over later.

Damyn was dressed in the armor of one of the shifter knights. I frowned at the emblem on his shoulder. A dragon, the same as the princes wore on their training tunics. There were only a few dozen lower dragon royals, besides the kings and their sons, and I was standing beside one of them.

And he was holding his elbow out insistently.

I gave in and took it. He smelled good and strange at the same time up close, a mix of leather and something metallic.

I pretended to limp as the two of us headed out of the temple.

Calla rushed over to us, and Damyn released me just before Calla threw her arms around me. “Where have you been?”

“I got stuck in the temple,” I said.

Damyn gave me a hard look, and I added, “I…hid. I got scared.”

“Oh,” Calla gave me a sympathetic look. “I can understand that! What happened with the dragon?”

“She’s hurt,” Damyn interrupted. “I’m going to see the young lady home.”

I cringed and touched my ankle. Calla fussed over me briefly, then let Damyn pull me away. She gave me a knowing look, and I gave her a scandalized one back. He must be ten years older than me, at least. And a dragon royal, too. And probably an asshole, even if he was looking after me for the sake of the other royals.

“You have sweet friends,” Damyn observed as we headed down the dark streets, leaving the noise of the party behind.

I nodded. It occurred to me now that it was just the two of us, and I wasn’t entirely sure the Royals wouldn’t just go with burying me instead of the unfortunate noble son whose identity I was taking.

I should have been entirely focused on the possibility this man would murder me, but Calla was right—he was really handsome. His corded forearm rippled under my fingertips in the most distracting way. I tugged my hand free, then crossed my arms.

“You have to lie to them.” Damyn didn’t seem to notice that I’d pulled away. “Do you know what will happen to anyone who knows your secret?”

“I’ll keep my mouth shut,” I promised.

“You’d better. For their sakes. Don’t try to evade Lord Teris’s enchantment.”

“Isn’t anyone going to notice when I just disappear from my life though?” I asked, wondering how it was possible my own friends wouldn’t notice me when I re-appeared at the academy as a student.

“You’re not going to,” he said shortly. “You’re going to keep up…what is it you do now?”

“I’m a maid at the academy.”

“How convenient.”

Convenient wasn’t the adjective I’d use for that job. “You think I’m going to be a student there and work at the same time?”

“Yes.” The two of us passed under a streetlamp, which cast a glow over his russet hair. He looked angelic in a hard-edged way, a strange contrast to the clipped, demanding way he spoke to me.

“That’s impossible!”

“Nothing’s impossible for a dragon royal. Or a girl who wants to live to see next Tuesday.”

I glanced around the empty street. “I’m not a dragon royal. I’m not a royal at all. There’s been some kind of…”

“Mistake?” His brows rose. “A mistake of magic?”