Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(21)

We separated when we reached the front of the lines into the temple. In the old days, we were supposed to slaughter a sacrifice; I was grateful that now I could just drop a handful of coins into the priest’s hand. He nodded and stepped back, letting me enter the temple itself.

There were shifters at the front of the room, but they melted out, leaving me alone for the moment of truth. I approached the altar and performed the ceremony, lighting the incense and murmuring the beginning of the spell.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I whispered the last word.

Then everything changed.

Suddenly pain ripped through my back, through my shoulder blades. I found myself on my knees on the cold marble floor, staring at my hands and arms as they rippled and grew over with scales.

Something moved behind me, startling me, and I jerked my head around, only for my tail to bash into one of the marble columns. I stared at the long spiny tail and tried to make sense of what the hell was happening.

Several priests and shifters ran into the room. They looked small. And worried as hell.

They looked small, because I was big. I looked up and saw stars overhead; if I raised up onto my legs, I could crane my neck and see through the open roof, to the city outside and the people thronging the streets. Someone screamed when they saw me and I ducked my head back down, too late.

“Get back.” Caldren shouted at the other men. What was he doing here?

Caldren stretched out his hand toward me. “Easy, girl. It’s weird waking up in a dragon’s body, hm?”

“That’s not a girl,” one of the other men said, sounding dumfounded. “It can’t be.”

“Pretty sure,” Caldren snapped back, but his tone was kind again as he stared up into my eye.

Just one eye. I turned my head so I could see him with the other one. Man, my vision was amazing now. I could even see the scar through his eyebrow, the gold flecks in his brown eyes. He was a very pretty man.

“Come on now,” he said quietly to me, as if he were afraid. Afraid of what? That I’d accidentally thrash around with these new wings, this tail, and bring the whole temple down on us all?

Ah. Suddenly I realized that was an option, and I didn’t feel good about it.

“Leave us,” Caldren told the men. “Clear everyone out of the temple.”

The men scattered, clearing the area.

I tried to say everything would be fine.

Instead, I accidentally blasted fire at Caldren.

He ducked to one side, throwing up a shield of magic, and the flames burst harmlessly against it. He didn’t look mad; he let out a laugh.

“You are going to make the world a much weirder, more interesting place, Honor.” He reached out his hand again, not afraid of me apparently, and began to pet my snout.

I had a snout. That was weird.

So was the fact that Caldren was touching it.

He murmured soothing words to me. “You can turn back into a girl at any time. You just have to imagine putting your soul creature back into her home deep inside you, the place where you’ve kept her sheltered all this time. The soul of a dragon, sleeping in her nest, surrounded by her gold and treasures…”

I didn’t know why he was droning on about treasure, but the more he talked about it, the cozier that nest sounded.

I yawned.

“That’s right. Back to sleep for a little while. Now that you’ve found each other, you’ll be back again soon,” he said encouragingly, stroking my cheek, then up over the bumps of my horns.

I yawned again, found myself shrinking—this time it felt odd, a pulling of my muscles, a tweaking of my bones, but it didn’t hurt like it had the first time—and then suddenly, his hand on my horns was in my hair instead, and the two of us were standing intimately close.

His gaze met mine, and for a second, I thought he was going to kiss me, because he was looking at my face so intently.

Then he cleared his throat, breaking the spell, and his hand dropped back to his side.

“Thank you,” I said, my voice coming out hoarse. It was my turn to clear my throat. “Well. I guess breathing fire hurts your vocal cords.”

“It’s only weird at first,” he said. “You’ll get used to it soon.”

“How do you know? I thought you were a wolf.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time around dragons. Too much.” He offered me a strained smile.

For some reason, that hurt. “Oh.”

Then I remembered what the one priest had said about how I couldn’t be a girl. “Oh! I’m not supposed to be a dragon!”

“Aren’t you?”

“I’m a girl!”

“Yes,” he said. “Yes, I imagine the Order of Dragons is going to have some… thoughts.” Then he seemed to think to himself, before amending, “Well, opinions. The Order of Dragons doesn’t always have thoughts, but they do always have opinions.”

“That’s an epidemic everywhere,” I agreed.

A small smile touched his lips, but his gaze was still worried. “By now, everyone will know there’s a new member of the Order of Dragons. Normally, the Knights would come and introduce you to the crowd outside, but… I don’t think they’re going to do that for you.”

Besides the High King and his three dukes, and their sons, there were a few dozen other nobles who were also dragon shifters and the king’s beloved knights—the Order of Dragons. All male, of course.