Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(34)

Talisyn groaned.

“Believe me,” I said. “I’m not that happy about it either.”

“Why am I being pressed into being his babysitter?” Talisyn demanded as the six of us ran down the hallway.

I followed them with my heart pounding. I’d been raised on horror stories of the Scourge, all my life. And I’d rarely heard of them coming anywhere near our city

Damyn told us, as we traveled through the halls where the classrooms were all locking down, that the tunnels beneath the school had been breached. He added, “As far as the rest of the school knows, this is a routine drill.”

“But we have these kinds of drills all the time,” I answered.

Talisyn looked at me as if I were stupid. I didn’t ask any more questions, but suddenly I wondered if my whole life was a lie, if I was never as safe from the Scourge as I thought I was even when I was inside the city, in my own castle, in my own bed.

“We’re going to clear the tunnels,” Damyn said.

Dragons couldn’t fly in tunnels. But I quickly realized that their ability to wield fire would make them enough of an asset in burning the Scourge out of the stone tunnels beneath the academy.

I’d never known those tunnels existed, either, but I followed them down long, twisting flights of metal stairs. The temperature dropped with every spiral around the stairs.

When we reached the bottom, we were in a cavernous room with tunnels branching off every which way. There had to be two dozen of them, all unmarked, all leading into darkness. Where did they go? And how come no one who lived at the academy—like Calla and June—knew they slept above this nightmare?

Talisyn slapped the back of my head. “You can sightsee later,” he growled. “For now, I need you to not be a moron because it’s my job to keep you alive. And even though I’m not really that invested in my mission, I don’t want to piss Damyn off.”

“Very generous of you,” I answered. “Good looking out, I appreciate the protective impulses.”

Talisyn gave me a long look. “I don’t remember you being capable of sarcasm, Lucien.”

Oh fuck, was I doing a bad job of pretending to be the asshole? They should have let me meet Lucien before they murdered him. It still really bothered me to think that they’d killed someone so I could take his place.

But I couldn’t control what the Elders did. And I was lucky that I wasn’t the one they had murdered.

I needed to get my hands on that prophecy, because I was pretty sure that was the only reason they hadn’t murdered me on sight. They’d certainly looked as if they were fantasizing about my untimely death.

There was a roar from the tunnels. It seemed to echo through them, like dozens of voices turning into hundreds. My vision narrowed as adrenaline crashed through my body, and I couldn’t help but glance at the guys.

“Make sure they don’t reach the stairs,” Damyn said calmly, moving in front of me.

“Is the rest of the Order on their way?” Jaik asked.

“There’s no time,” Damyn answered.

“We’ll hold them,” Jaik said confidently, glancing around to each of his friends. They locked eyes with each other, giving each other small nods, as if they bolstered each other’s strength. “Arren, Branok, Lynx, shift. The rest of us will stay agile.”

Staying in human form to face the Scourge seemed terrifying. But I understood why he’d ordered some of us to stay human. The tunnels themselves were narrow, too small for a fully-grown dragon to move easily.

But it didn’t matter, because the Scourge pulsed out of the tunnels like blood spurting from an artery.

Arren strode forward, shifting as he headed toward the Scourge. By the time a dozen of them had poured out of the tunnel, he was an enormous dragon, aiming a blast of fire at them. The Scourge screamed as they burned up.

Talisyn fought with his sword in one hand and flame in the other. He drove a sword into one of the Scourge, yanked it out, splattering blood across the stone.

“On your left,” Jaik called, and Talisyn spun to blast fire at the Scourge who lurched toward him.

The scent of the Scourge was overpowering, the sickly-sweet rot of death, and I almost choked. Their faces were fixed in rictus grins, and one of them stared at Talisyn with beady eyes as he lurched toward him.

I got there first, drawing my own sword. The Scourge turned toward me too late, just as I drove my sword through its chest. It let out a scream as I kicked it off my sword, and its body fell into two pieces, the scent of rot washing over me.

“Nice of you to join the party,” Talisyn said.

“Shouldn’t you be too busy to make wisecracks?” I demanded.

Dozens more Scourge poured out of the tunnels.

Jaik called out commands, making sure none of us were surprised. “Lucien, behind you!” he shouted, and it took me a moment to realize I was Lucien. By the time I whirled, Arren was there, stomping on the Scourge who had been seconds away from slashing into me.

Arren grabbed the Scourge in his powerful jaws and tossed him across the room where he slammed into two other Scourge. I could’ve sworn that I saw Arren roll his golden eyes in his enormous, horned lizard head, so I didn’t bother thanking him for the save.

The guys worked seamlessly as a team. The Scourge were the monsters from our nightmares, but they didn’t seem shaken. They bantered with each other as they fought, always watching each other’s backs.