Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)
May Dawson
Honor
In my world, dragon shifters rule. Dragon shifters are always Royals. They’re always male. And they’re always assholes.
I have to obey if I want to survive.
But I don’t have to like it, and I don’t have to like them.
It was lunch time, and I was thinking about just how much I disdained the royals as I watched them from the balcony of Prince Jaik’s room. I’d been cleaning his room when the noon bell tolled, and I hadn’t hesitated to dump his dirty laundry in a pile by the door and head outside.
Red strands lashed my face until I raked them back into a ponytail, tying them with a leather thong from around my wrist. I needed that breeze after being up-close-and personal with the prince’s laundry.
Prince Jaik was sword-fighting with one of the young dukes, Arren. Arren moved impossibly fast for a man so tall and muscled, his dark hair pulled taut from his chiseled features. Jaik’s gorgeous cheekbones, wavy dark hair and tall posture in his dark uniform made him look impeccable.
But I knew better. The man’s armpits stunk like any other’s when he was done with a day of training.
That was what he—and the other dragon royals—were up to at the moment. The rest of the shifters at the academy had already melted away to lunch, but the five of them continued to banter and fight. Their swords rang against each other’s, their muscles rippling and flexing under tanned skin. They seemed to coordinate without ever saying a word, two of them attacking the other three, moving in fluid tandem.
They should stay shirtless like that forever.
And not just because it was easier on the laundry.
“Honor.” My friend, Calla, leaned across the opposite balcony, waving to catch my attention. “How did I know you’d be watching them?”
“I wish we could train too,” I said, before she could accuse me of having too much fun watching them.
I could enjoy the sight of the pretty men even if I didn’t have any respect for them. Not that they needed my respect; they had the adoration of an entire nation, because they stood between us and the Scourge.
“I know, I know. Come over here, I’ve got cake.”
I threw my sandwich back into my bag and tossed it over my shoulder, just as Calla hurriedly said, “Use the door, Honor. The hallway is your friend.”
I grinned back at her as I backed up and ran toward the balcony ledge. Calla backed up, shaking her head, until her back pressed the stone exterior of the building.
I jumped, got my balance on the edge of the railing, and leapt easily from one side to the other. In a second, I was beside Calla.
She sighed. “You scare me.”
“You’re still afraid of heights.”
She leaned over the railing, taking in the training yard far, far below. She was silhouetted against the shimmering lake and the blue outline of the mountains in the distance. “You don’t have to be afraid of heights to know that jumping balconies is a bad idea if you want to live until our first Shifting Moon.”
She was excited for our first shifting. I imagined that would be nice.
“Mm,” I said. “Maybe I don’t want to live long enough to find out my soul-creature is a field mouse.”
“What’s wrong with being a field mouse?” She raised both eyebrows at me, reminding me—too late—that Calla was from a proud family of chipmunks. Perhaps field mice and chipmunks were cousins in her eyes.
“Nothing,” I said, too late to be convincing.
“You want to be something fierce.” She put her hands up beside her face and imitated claws. It was adorable. It was charming. It was not remotely fierce.
“Hey, when you’re an orphan, the first shifting moon is an exciting gamble.” Although our soul-creatures were supposed to be manifestations of who we truly were, most times, they ran in families. Only males shifted into dragons, the highest of creatures, but their royal sisters tended to shift into lions or wolves.
And servants like Calla and me tended to be smaller, meeker, and far more edible.
“It’s an exciting gamble for everyone,” Calla reminded me. “Greta Sandstone discovered her real father was a hawk.”
I groaned. “What a terrible day.”
Greta had squawked and run away from the temple as if her true soul creature were an angry chicken.
One of the Royals whirled, throwing his sword—and a long, horned head and a powerful tail whipped out of his body as he grew long and scaled. The next second, his transformation was complete and he was an enormous dragon. He let out a long, blast of fire at the other royals, who threw up magical shields to block the attack and jumped over his wicked tail.
Their power was incredible, I had to admit. The Scourge had recently surged right outside the gates of the city. The royals had stopped them as the rest of the city cowered in their houses.
Calla propped her chin on her hand, forgetting to eat as she gazed at the royals. “You know, Lara got her hands on this amazing story being passed around about the dragon royals.”
“A true story?”
“No, it’s a fantasy. A romance. One of Lara’s cousins wrote it.”
I groaned. “Look at those men down there. They might be the heroes of the kingdom, but they are wildly arrogant. They’re probably terrible in bed.”