Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(47)

“As dragons,” Damyn said, maybe hoping that would help level the playing field.

Branok smiled, a smile that promised bad things for me, the last thing I saw before the scales swallowed his face and suddenly he transformed into a monster ten times my size.

I hurried to shift too, barely feeling the ripple of pain this time. By the time my four paws hit the earth, he was already diving at me.

His jaw struck my shoulder, his mouth twisting and angling for a bite to the throat, but I turned my horns, trying to jam them down his throat. He struck at my wings instead, and I snarled at him, taking flight just long enough to get out of his reach.

He clung to me with his claws before he fell toward the earth, but I didn’t have time to catch my breath before he bounded off the ground and tore into my exposed stomach before I could catch myself. He ripped away a bloody mouthful of flesh, tossing it to one side, and I kicked out at him desperately with my clawed feet.

We fought back and forth, snarling and snapping at each other. When I couldn’t take his bites to my shoulders and chest anymore, and he’d gotten a mouthful of flank, almost tearing it away from me, I ran.

I galloped away from him, felt the wind tease at my wings, then soared into the air. He was right behind me, a breath of fire licking at my back legs. Then he tackled me in midair, both of us flapping our wings and snarling as we locked together, angling to bite.

As the two of us tumbled through the air, I caught glimpses of nervous students running out of the way. There were no other shifters as big as the dragons. We were several times the size of the bears, so it was no wonder they ran.

I couldn’t entirely give the fight my full attention either because I had to remind myself to transform back into Lucien, not Honor.

As the two of us finally crashed landed, I shifted back into Lucien.

I lay there on the ground, bleeding profusely from my torn open shoulder and stomach and chest, as the physician hurried over.

“Wow, you almost lasted a minute this time,” Jaik said helpfully.

I groaned in response. That had felt like a lot more than a minute. That had felt like a decent chunk of a lifetime that I’d spent trying to avoid Branok’s fury and to pin him down myself. He was impossibly fast.

The physician came over. He winced sympathetically as he looked at my wounds, his hands pressing against them as deep red magic radiated between his fingers.

I glanced at Jaik curiously, knowing that he was the one who called all the shots.

He told me, “I figured it would be more efficient this way.”

“Good idea.” Pain surged through my body as the wounds healed over. The physician offered me a hand up, and I took it, my clothes wet and clinging to me with my own blood even though the damage beneath was healed.

“Thank you,” I told the physician, pulling my hand away from him. I ran my hand over my side, feeling a ghost of a wound that was all in my head.

“All right.” I turned toward the golden twins. “Well, let’s try this again.”

“I should really take you to the infirmary,” the physician said. “Just because it feels like you’re healed doesn’t mean you are completely. That kind of damage still takes a toll on your body. It’s exhausting.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “I’m not afraid of a little hard work.”

After all, I did the royals’ laundry.

“I have to give this to you,” Jaik said. “You’re stupid. But you’ve got grit.”

“Compliment?” I asked him in wonder.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a compliment. More like a grudging admission.”

“I’ll take it,” I answered.

Even Branok had to eventually get tired of kicking my ass.





Later that day, I skipped lunch to frantically attend to my chores. I was rolling up the rugs in an unused drawing room so I could mop when Calla slipped into the room with me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Oh, I would never miss a party,” she said.

“A cleaning party?”

“It’s the only kind of party I get invited to.”

I could have hugged her. But when I went to try, she batted me away with a scrub brush.

“We have a lot of work to do, I’m not skipping lunch just so that you can get fired.”

The two of us were frantically scrubbing and cleaning when she added, “I got the gossip, about what happened between Lucien and Alina?”

“What is it?” I asked, my heart sinking as I was almost scared to know.

“I guess they had a secret relationship. And from the sounds of it, he dishonored her.”

“What exactly does that mean?” I paused, clutching the mop so tightly my knuckles ached. “There’s a big difference if it was consensual or if it wasn’t.”

Gods, if Lucien had raped Alina… I’d never be able to fix that.

Although the thought made me more comfortable taking his place while he rotted in an unmarked grave.

“You know how some people are. I don’t think it really matters to her family. They feel that Lucien violated her honor. Their family has very old-fashioned values.”

I snorted. “Branok is an absolute man whore and a hazard to the cleanliness of any flat surface at the academy.”