Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(106)

Jaik came back, lifted the body in his arms, walked underneath the trees. When we’d patted the last shovel of earth back into place, Arren led the way into the forest.

Jaik leaned against his shovel. The grave was unmarked.

“Find his daughter for me, Branok,” Jaik said quietly. “It’s time we returned to the academy. We’ll have to find a way to continue our work from there.”

The mood couldn’t have been darker as we carried the villagers’ supplies back to the village and piled them outside one of their sturdy wooden homes.

As we walked under the enormous spreading trees of the forest, Tal said, “This has to be the Olds’ work.”

Jaik cast him a warning look.

Tal said, “There’s no keeping Lucien out of it now. He was with us in the tunnels.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s with us when we go home.” Branok said. “For all we know, he’s the Elders’ spy.”

I glanced around at the hard faces of the men I’d come to love, then jammed my hands in my pockets. “Is there any way I can prove to you who I truly am?”

Only silence answered.

How could I ever prove I was trustworthy when I lied to them every day, anyway?

“Shift,” Jaik ordered.

I was always the slowest. The others waited for me in grim silence, then Jaik took wing, leading the way back home.

We weren’t any closer to an answer about our hybrids.

All we’d found were bodies.





Honor



Over the next week, Jaik, and Talisyn grew even more grouchy, even by Jaik’s standards. It was impressive.

Branok, Lynx, and Arren seemed to be impacted by the sour mood settling over everyone too. If anything, Branok and Lynx seemed more vicious in the training yard than ever before, as if that were the backlash to how Tal and Jaik had softened toward Lucien. They were merciless, and I still grinned at them through my bloodied teeth and thanked them before I limped to the healer. I was growing stronger every day, ripping into them almost just as much.

“Branok, don’t be a hero, you need the healer too,” Jaik snapped at him one morning.

Branok looked as if he wanted to argue, but Arren gave him a friendly shove that knocked him halfway across the yard toward the physician.

Jaik and Arren shared a quick look that I was pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to catch. I caught the rogue flash of Jaik’s thoughts. I need to figure out how to fix this. Lucien’s not going anywhere.

His voice was tinged with frustration. I almost stumbled, and it wasn’t from the pain that throbbed through my side. Now I was hearing Jaik when we weren’t both dragons?

Was he catching glimpses of my thoughts too?

There seemed to be a powerful bond between us, something new, and I didn’t know what to make of that when I had to lie to him.

“You all right there, Luce?” Jaik called.

“Living my dreams,” I called back.

The physician glanced between Branok and me. “I’m not sure which of you to heal first.”

Branok made a disgusted face and spat blood on the ground. I, on the other hand, couldn’t help grinning, even though it promptly made me wince as I touched the split-open skin over my left eye.





One evening, I went into the library—as Honor—and found Lynx there, as he so often was. I knew he’d been searching for any mention of the hybrids or the tunnels; even in our classes, he ignored the instructors, still paging through his books.

When he saw me, he stacked his books, then rose abruptly, the legs of his chair scraping across the hardwood floor.

Lynx’s rejection sent a surprising ache through my chest, and I raised my chin in response. “You don’t need to leave on my account, I’ll get my book and go.”

“No.” He paused, the books clutched in his arms, and made an attempt to smile that didn’t quite work. “You should get the chance to spend time in the library. I’m not angry at you.”

“Really?” I asked, because it usually felt as if he was.

“Maybe this mess isn’t your fault,” he said, “but it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t know how to fix it, and I hate seeing my best friends gut—” He abruptly broke off as if he couldn’t handle having a heartfelt conversation with someone like me.

“Gutted?” I tried to supply the missing word.

He gave me a half smile as he headed for the door. “Good night, Honor. I hope you find something good to read.”

I had spent a significant portion of my life wishing everyone would leave me the hell alone to read. Now, I didn’t really want to be alone.

The library felt too quiet when Lynx had gone. I tried to read, but that damned man had ruined the library for me, and I couldn’t stop worrying about the effect I had on the royals. They all seemed to be obsessed with me, although some wanted to kiss me and some wanted to kill me.

I wandered the stacks one more time, my fingers trailing over the gilt-and-leather spines, searching for the book that would answer all our questions. None of the royals would open up to me about their relationships with their fathers. Honor had no reason to ask and when it came to Lucien, they had no reason to answer. But something was happening that involved the elders, something dark and sordid. I had the feeling we were unknotting threads that would wrap around us and drag us down, too. I pulled one book out, then another, knowing how unlikely it was I’d find answers.