Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(64)

I tried to transform into my dragon, not daring to hope it would actually work.

My horned head slammed into the stone ceiling so hard that stars burst in front of my eyes. I let out a roar, flames briefly illuminating the dank, tiny corridor around me

My dragon was in the mood to annihilate someone, and I was not in the mood to stop it.

I slammed my tail into the wall, over and over, and the ground seemed to shake with my power.

The wall began to crack, beads of water beginning to trickle in. My sense of fear gave way to burning hot rage as I lost myself in my dragon.

The wall collapsed, a wave of water bursting into my tunnel like a hurricane. For a desperate second, it seemed it was going to flood my tunnel and I would drown.

No. I’m not doing those bastards a favor and dying.

I slammed my horned head furiously into the barrier, and it finally ruptured completely.

A wave of water slammed through the broken wall. The force drove my head into the ceiling hard enough to stun me.

The water drove me through the narrow tunnel. My grasping claws struck out at the rock, trying to fight my way to the broken wall.

The water moved so fast, so deadly dangerous, that I couldn’t get my feet beneath me, couldn’t get a breath of air. I’d never been so trapped—except for in my nightmares.

Fresh waves of panic washed over me. And with those waves of panic also came fresh waves of homicidal. I was going to live to discuss this situation with the royals

My claws scraped into the stone, and I dragged myself up, pushed my head through the crack in the wall and managed to gulp a mouthful of air—right before the stone wall crumbled, and I fell back into the water.

My rear legs found purchase on the wall and I pushed through the crack in the stone, breaking the rest of the wall out of my way, then emerging into the dark channel.

My face broke the water and I drew in a desperate rasp of air.

Those men were definitely going to have to suffer. I had very inventive ideas of what I was going to do to them.

My mother used to say I was a very creative little girl. She probably wouldn’t have appreciated the way my imagination worked these days though.

At first, I didn’t know how to move my big dragon body through the water. It seemed as if I was heavy as a stone, and I was going to sink to the bottom of the waves like one. But eventually, I began to move steadily through the water.

Eventually it felt as if I might survive. I swam through the dark water that ran steadily through the tunnels underneath the city, listening as best I could for sounds above that might guide me out.

This was one of my nightmares come to life, trapped where I could hear people above, but couldn’t reach them.

Then I saw light that shone from above, a thin crack of lamplight leaking around a metal panel that wasn’t seated right in the road above. I spread my wings and flew, slamming into the ceiling.

I was so much stronger than I remembered being in my human form that I accidentally over balanced and sent the sewer lid flying up into the sky. I broke through the cobblestones, too big to fit through the sewer opening, and clawed my way up.

I collapsed in the middle of the street.

Fuck the dragon royals.

Wide-eyed people scattered to the sides, staring at me but keeping their distance. Jaunty music played, lanterns lit the evening, and the air was filled with brightly colored banners and the scents of roasted nuts and popcorn.

A fair.

I’d just crash-landed in the middle of a fair.

Dragon royals were supposed to be dignified, and here I was, sprawled in the middle of the broken street and gasping for air like a dying fish.

Jaik would probably be pissed. I was making the royals look bad. But if he didn’t want to be embarrassed, he should stop trying to murder me.

Gods. I wasn’t dead. That meant I was late to my stepmother’s goddamn engagement party.

I never wanted to go to parties, I wanted to be left alone in the library to read, or possibly—at the moment—to die of shock or cold or possibly embarrassment.

I’d kissed Jaik and Talisyn. They hadn’t known I was both Honor and Lucien, but still. If one of them tried to kiss me again, I’d remember the looks on their faces right before those metal doors slammed shut, trapping me in nightmares.

I had wounds to lick and no desire to party. But… The guys had said they had to attend. I had pretended disinterest as they complained. They hadn’t put together yet that Honor Hannaby was Alis’ stepdaughter.

Honor, I’d been looking forward to seeing them tonight. But I felt a lot less excited about the prospects now that I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping with any of them. They didn’t deserve sex with me.

As far as they knew, killing Lucien Finn had nothing to do with flirting with Honor. But I didn’t want to be around people who were so miserable and unkind. They couldn’t forgive Lucien for whatever he’d done, despite his endless striving to prove himself, to win their approval.

Now I was done. Done with these guys in every way, unless… It occurred to me that maybe staying close to them as Honor was the way to exact a little revenge. After all, they’d expect Lucien to seek revenge.

Branok, Lynx and Arren might see me coming, but Jaik and Talisyn would never expect to be hurt by sweet Honor.





Honor



I transformed back into Lucien behind an abandoned building. I still didn’t entirely trust myself. I worried that I would accidentally transform into Honor instead. Besides, I couldn’t risk the royals seeing me as Honor, in my current very damp state.