Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(48)
“Old-fashioned values are really just for girls. You know that.”
She started to mop, leaving me to stew. I shoved the mop back and forth, fuming at how much more frustrating this turn of events was. I couldn’t fault Lynx and Branok for wanting to beat Lucien half to death, just for Jaik to have me revived. But it was also very hard to forgive people who mashed my body each day like they were going to serve me over toast.
Calla sang cheerfully as she worked. After a few moments, I joined her. The two of us sang a bawdy sea chanty she’d learned from her parents before their ship went down forever.
Arren walked through the hallway, paused with his boots making a mess of the damp floor as he glanced at me curiously. “So you do something around here besides stalk the royals.”
“And you do something around here besides sulk?” I asked brightly. “I thought you didn’t talk.”
“I don’t usually waste my breath on people who don’t listen.”
“And what would you say if I were listening to you?”
“I’d tell you to stay away from my brothers,” he growled. Then he turned and stalked out.
Why did he think that I was so dangerous to them? A little flirting never killed anyone.
Calla’s curious smile was bright with delight.
“What?” I demanded, some of the irritation I felt whenever I was face-to-face with Arren spilling into my tone. Even though Calla never deserved anything but sweetness and light reflected back at her, given that she was sweetness and light herself.
“Why is Prince Arren flirting with you?”
I snorted. “That wasn’t flirting. That was an intimidation attempt.”
“Oh, it definitely was, even if he doesn’t know it yet, it just wasn’t good flirting.” She ducked her head, failing to hide her smile. “But we can’t all be our best selves all the time. I guess you don’t bring out the best in the dragon royals.”
That was an understatement.
I wasn’t sure they brought out my best either.
Honor
That afternoon, we assembled in the amphitheater to begin practicing the maneuvers we’d use in the field in small groups. I had missed this part before when I was recovering in the infirmary.
“Ready to get bloody while the dragon shifters soar overhead?” A wolf shifter with mussed russet hair grumbled to his companion.
The man he was standing with shushed him, glancing toward me.
I pretended I hadn’t heard him and pushed through the crowd, joining the other dragon shifters waiting on the hard-packed sand. Half the school stood on the other side, ready to pretend to be the opposition.
Jaik glared at me, which was nothing new. “Where’ve you been? You missed lunch.”
“Sorry,” I said, my tone making it clear I wasn’t sorry at all. “I thought I wasn’t allowed at lunch.”
“You’re allowed wherever I tell you to be,” he said.
“Well, you threw me out of dinner the other day, so you’ll have to forgive me for finding other options rather than dealing with your capricious ass.”
“I don’t have to forgive you. Where were you during breakfast?”
I glanced forward, where the instructors were making sure everyone was in position. It took a long time to form two mock armies, and in the meantime, I had to suffer through Jaik. “I was busy.”
“Meals are one of your assigned places to be at the academy. You’re going to ask my permission if you want to skip a meal.”
“You’re not one of my teachers,” I pointed out
“You need to gain some muscle anyway. You can’t do that without eating. And eventually when you and Lynx and Branok get your heads together, we are going to be a team. You need to pull your weight, and that means you need to eat.”
“Why, Jaik, I didn’t know you had such a maternal side,” I answered.
He crossed his arms over his powerful chest, looking down at me with that dangerous gleam in his eyes that should’ve warned me off. Instead, it made me shift impatiently, my nipples pebbling against the soft material of my tunic.
“Keep being a smartass. See where it gets you in life.”
“So far, it’s gotten me here.”
“Did they knock the sense out of your head in that dungeon?”
Gods, once again, I was not doing a good job of acting like Lucien. Apparently Lucien was boring as fuck.
I could handle pretending to be Lucien in most regards, including the part where I got knocked on my ass a thousand times. But giving up my sarcasm? That was never gonna happen.
“You’ll be at breakfast, lunch and dinner from now on,” Jaik said.
“And you’ll let me eat?”
“If having food in your mouth keeps you from running it, I’m definitely for you eating.” His gaze focused on the instructors as they began the briefing.
He seemed so bored every other time with our training and, watching the intent expression on his face, I wondered what made the difference now.
Soon we were staging for the training exercise. I was assigned to stay with Jaik in the frontline when we were all assembled for battle, but I knew we wouldn’t stay there long. We’d charge the enemy, send an initial blast of flames their way, then take to the skies strafing our enemies with fire. That meant that we’d have to soar over the enemy’s side to keep from burning our own side, while the wolf shifters, panthers and bears held the main lines and did the actual hand to hand fighting.