Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(71)

I turned to him, confusion flaring like dragon’s breath. “You want to…sit quietly?”

I’d never heard Talisyn stop talking.

“If it’s what you need,” he said, “I can be quiet as a mouse shifter.”

“I doubt that very much.”

“Try me,” he said. “I care about your needs as much as I care about my own need to chatter incessantly, as Jaik has so kindly described it. And if you need quiet, then quiet you shall have.”

“All right, let’s see it.” I patted the garden bench.

He sat, his broad shoulder briefly brushing mine. He rested his hands on his knees, looking around at the night garden.

I waited for him to break and speak. But he was remarkably silent. I genuinely hadn’t known he was capable of such a thing.

How was it possible that this man had led me into the terror that I’d just experienced in the labyrinth, and yet, there was something so comforting about his warm solid presence beside me?

“All right, you win,” I said finally.

Talisyn looked over, his eyes widening, then shushed me. “I’m enjoying the peace.”

“You are so full of crap,” I said, and he finally gave in and laughed.

But he still didn’t dictate the conversation. Instead, he rested his hand lightly on my shoulder and said, “If there is anything that you want to talk about, or anyone you want me to kill, please let me know. I’m here for you, Honor.”

“You probably shouldn’t be. You’re not going to make Jaik very happy.”

A pained look came over his face.

“Or Arren,” I added. “Arren really hates me.”

“Arren hates everyone.” He didn’t argue with the statement. “He’s just very protective of his family.”

“You guys see each other as family.” At least the miserable fuckheads had each other—and it worried me that I longed to be one of them sometimes.

“Yes,” he said. “At their best, I feel like I’m very lucky to have them. And when things aren’t at their best… I mean, we are like a family. They drive me crazy.”

He distracted me from my worries for a few moments but I quickly found them coming back. After all, Alis and Henrick had just threatened to hurt Hanna, and I didn’t want to see how imaginative Alis could be when she was trying to get back at me. Worst of all, if I didn’t stay on my stepmother’s good side, she could refuse to let Hanna go to school at all, and I wanted so badly for Hanna to have the chances I hadn’t had.

He glanced over at me as if he were very curious about what was going on in my head, but he didn’t push. The pained look on his face made me smile, though.

“What?” he demanded.

“I can tell that being quiet is killing you slowly.”

He plunged to one knee, kneeling beside me. “For you, I’ll die, Lady Honor.”

I couldn’t resist giggling at his dramatics. I had so much to worry about, but he made me feel like I could forget my pain for a few hours. I could pretend indulging my desire for Talisyn was the surest way to ruin the royals, but the truth was a complicated stew in my heart. “I had a bad night, Talisyn.”

“I can tell. You’re normally so irrepressibly bubbly.”

“Jaik usually uses the word reckless.”

“He is so judgmental.” He heaved a dramatic sigh.” Don’t worry, he judges me all the time too. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” The rose Lynx had picked for me lay trampled on the stone, and I rose to pick it up, careful not to prick myself. “I have to face situations that are far beyond my capacity to cope with them.”

“How did you end up becoming a maid?” He tilted his head, studying me. “I didn’t expect to see you here. I didn’t know that you would be Alis’ daughter.”

“I’m not really her daughter, as she’s always made clear.” I stripped the thorns absently off the rose, one by one. “She married my father, but not until I was twelve. I’ve spent most of my life trying to stay out of her way.”

“You aren’t close.”

“Not at all.”

Talisyn rose to his feet and took the rose from my fingertips. He tucked it behind my ear, and I breathed in the dark, heady scent that seemed to be his own. “She seems like a very foolish woman then.”

“Why’s that?”

“If I had the option of being close to you, I’d take it.”

I studied him. Arren had told him to stay away from me that one day on the stairs. Had Jaik warned him off too? Jaik was the undisputed leader of their little group.

If I could make Tal rebel against Jaik, I could destroy their peace with a kiss.

Warmth and sexiness radiated from Talisyn. Jaik and I had lied to each other that we were playing once and letting our longing for each other go. But it hadn’t worked for me. I longed for more of him, for more of Tal.

“Talisyn,” I whispered.

“Yes, Honor?”

He looked at me as if he knew what I wanted, but a devilish gleam danced in his eyes. Jaik had kissed me first, had taken complete control of the situation. And that was Jaik to a tee. But Talisyn was different. Talisyn would probably make me work for it for his own amusement.