Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(29)

“I want you to be home for the engagement announcement,” she said. “There will be a party, and I hope you’ll be presentable and pleasant…for once.”

“I’m very happy for you,” I said woodenly.

“Mm. I’ll have a new dress ordered for you.”

“I’ll wear whatever you want,” I said.

She was always happiest when she had the opportunity to control the stupidest little things about Hanna and me.

Still, I had her blessing—and the creeps, thanks to Henrick’s busy eyeballs—by the time I shut the door behind me.

Then I hurried off to my first day at the academy.

Caldren had drilled into my head that the younger dragon royals couldn’t know who I really was—for my own well-being—and I felt anxious that Teris’ spell would slip.

Caldren had told me, “They’re going to be cruel enough to Lucien Finn.”

I checked in with the brooms and mops and Head, then headed to the bathroom I was supposed to be cleaning. We kept the academy spick-and-span and our duties rotated every day; I thought I could skip out on my actual work for a while without being caught, and every day longer I went with a paycheck would help Hanna. Hopefully, I’d wear the Royals down into giving me money for playing their little game and posing as a boy.

I made sure the door was locked. “Here goes nothing,” I muttered to my reflection in one of the enormous mirrors. My reflection-self looked very skeptical.

I murmured the words of the spell that Damyn had taught me. Every type of shifter had unique powers, but Dragons were supposed to have the rawest magic to form spells. I’d been raised believing magic was so difficult for small shifters, that we shouldn’t even try, although I had tried a few spells over the years—mostly in an attempt to inflict small revenge on mean or petty people, and mostly with little apparent consequence. Mean people seemed to keep going with their lives with a level of cheerfulness that suggested the universe was deeply unfair.

My face distorted in the mirror, and it sent a jolt of horror through me before I’d shifted completely.

Lucien Finn stared back at me: wavy reddish-blond hair, a big jaw and nose, soft, full lips. I ran a hand through my hair, surprised to see the movement reflected in the mirror.

Lucien looked a little ridiculous wearing my brown dress.

I had purposefully left the top few buttons undone so I could more easily wiggle out of it myself, although it still felt as if I were dislocating my shoulder as I tried to undo the rest of the buttons. I slipped the dress off, stowed it in the magic trunk Damyn had left me and dressed instead in the academy tunic, pants, socks and boots. The new clothes were about a thousand times more comfortable than my gown.

I shoved the trunk into one corner of the room, muttered the word to hide it, and it vanished from sight.

If I could really make myself look like a man and hide a chest, then maybe I could use magic to clean, too, so Head would never notice. I’d probably have to go somewhere other than to Damyn for that spell, though. The royals definitely didn’t seem to do a lot of cleaning, magical or otherwise.

I let myself out of the bathroom just as the first bell rang, the one for morning meeting. I joined the throng of students winding their way toward the enormous outdoor amphitheater where the royals loved to stay and train… or show off, depending on one’s perspective.

Everyone must have heard I was a dragon shifter, because the crowd seemed to part around me. People greeted me cheerfully; I’d never had so many people happy to see me. It would’ve made me smile if I’d been me.

But these people wouldn’t clap my shoulders and wish me good morning if they knew who I really was.

I walked into the enormous rows of the amphitheater, and all I could see was them.

The Dragon Royals were in a knot at the top row of the amphitheater.

Jaik leaned forward when he saw me, muttering something to the others. Their attention all went to me, and suddenly five pairs of hostile eyes fixed on me. The noise of the crowd faded away.

They didn’t want me here—not even as Lucien Finn. Caldren hadn’t known exactly what happened between Lynx and Branok and Lucien; he said he wasn’t part of their inner circle. But he’d warned me that these guys would not be friendly.

Better to face the dragons than run.

Those bastards can fly.

I marched up the steps, ignoring the murmurs and greetings and invitations to sit with my fellow students. When the royals stared at me, the rest of the world faded, as if there were only me and them in all the universe.

And therefore, there would be no witnesses to stop them from murdering me.

Just kidding. No one would stop them from murdering me anyway.

There was space at the end of the bench. I plunked my ass down there, defying them to tell me to move.

Talisyn was beside me, his elbows resting on the bench behind him, his feet kicked up in front. Everyone had left a respectful distance around the royals.

“Make yourself at home,” Talisyn drawled.

I fixed him with a smile. “I thought we should get to know each other.”

“I think I already know you quite well enough, Lucien,” Branok said. “I don’t care to know you any better.”

“All right,” Jaik said. “We should give Lucien a chance. He’s one of us…to my great surprise.”