Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(32)

Jaik leaned over me, his hands braced on his knees, his hair tousled by the breeze. “You’re going to have to learn some manners if you’re going to be one of us.”

But I knew damn well that I was never going to be one of them.

I was supposed to be going to more hand-to-hand training after that but given that I’d just gotten my ass roundly kicked within three minutes of walking into the arena, Damyn told me to hit the infirmary.

“Talisyn, walk with him,” Jaik said.

Talisyn looked grim but didn’t bother to argue. He led me out of the amphitheater without looking back.

I had to assume he knew why Lucien had pissed off Branok and Lynx so badly, but he’d kind of expect me to know how I’d wronged them, so it was going to be hard to get any information.

“I sure wish they’d get over it,” I said as we entered the quiet, cool marble halls of the academy. I’d do my best not to bleed on the floors; it was the least I could do for my sisters in Housekeeping.

Talisyn glanced at me over his shoulder. “Just because I’m babysitting you doesn’t mean I want to be your friend.”

“You’re just here because Jaik told you to?”

“Well, yes.” Talisyn didn’t even pretend that Jaik wasn’t the leader of their little band. Interesting. “But also I have to admit I have a morbid sense of curiosity. You’re the last one that I ever would have expected to see become a dragon shifter.”

“The last one?” I asked skeptically. “I think that there are more surprising people who could become a dragon shifter.”

“Who?” He scoffed. “I would like names.”

“For one, I could be a peasant, instead of a royal.”

“You barely count as a royal. Your family legacy might be one of honor and heroics, but you’re a fucking carriage wreck.”

I decided to continue ticking things off on my fingers and ignore him. “Second of all, I could be a woman.”

“You are awfully chatty for someone who has blood all over their face.” Talisyn looked disgusted. “Try not to bleed on me.”

Oh, if I had anything to say about it, I was definitely going to bleed on this asshole. He seemed so charming when I first met him. Even now, just thinking about how he touched me sent a weird twitch of desire traveling up my spine.

“Anyway,” he said, picking up the thread that had been dropped when he was busy being disgusted by me. “There’s never been a female dragon.”

“But there could be,” I said.

“Dragon shifting is a masculine magic.”

“I don’t see any reason why magic has to be gendered,” I said.

“Only because it’s been that way since the rise of the shifters,” he said. “Since the dawn of the Scourge.”

There had always been shifters, but before the Scourge, they had been reviled. Dragon shifters had been considered monsters. Once the Scourge emerged, the dragon shifters had become our saviors.

According to ancient prophecy, magic had spread across the land when it was needed most. Now everyone was some kind of shifter. The dragon royals led the war against the Scourge. Lower shifters that were still predators served on the battlefields beneath them. And the lowest shifters kept the home fires burning and fled into the burrows if the Scourge overwhelmed them.

I touched the bridge of my nose, then cursed.

Talisyn said, “Yes. Having a broken nose hurts. Is that really the first time someone has broken your nose? I would have thought that would be a regular occurrence for you.”

“I would assume it was a regular occurrence for you too,” I snapped back.

I turned to the left, into the infirmary door, just as Talisyn said, “Here’s the infirmary.”

I had cleaned the hallway outside the infirmary plenty of times, so I knew where it was. But now I realized I shouldn’t seem like I knew my way around so well, since Lucien Finn had never scrubbed and polished every last inch of the academy.

“I’ve been here before for balls,” I said smoothly.

“You mean, before you were imprisoned in Lord Joachim’s dungeon?

“Yes, before that,” I said dryly.

“Are you going to acknowledge what you did? To apologize to Broderick and Lynx?”

Oh, an opening. “What should I apologize to them for?”

Talisyn’s jaw tightened. “You know, I almost want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you are just such a stupid asshole.”

“I don’t think anyone has given me the benefit of the doubt.”

“If you weren’t getting any benefit of the doubt, Jaik would have just let Lynx beat you to death right there.”

“I’m sure Damyn would have stopped him. It would look kind of bad if the royals were murdering people in broad daylight.”

“No one can really stop us, if we want to hurt someone.” Talisyn offered me a slow, wicked smile. “You don’t want to get on our bad side.”

“Seems like it’s too late already.”

“Seems like it.” The physician was hustling from behind the counter. “I can help you.”

“Thank you,” I said gratefully, my voice hoarse from the blood still flowing slick down the back of my throat.

I turned in time to catch Talisyn striding out the door, letting it slam shut behind him.