Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(8)

“It’s a formality. They serve at the front already. They’ve been training to fight the Scourge since they were toddlers.”

“Why are you taking up for the royals? They don’t need you. I do.”

She laughed. “You don’t need anyone. You’re a force of nature.”

I wished that were true. I adored Calla, and Hanna, but neither of them could help me fight the world that was trying to beat me down so badly. It felt as if we were all likely to be crushed under the weight of expectations and roles and regulations.

But despite the sudden heaviness, I managed to grin and ask, “Which one do you have a crush on?”

“Does it matter? They’re each more gorgeous than the last.” She heaved a big sigh. “Jaik. Talisyn. Arren. Branok and Lynx. They’re all amazing. All gorgeous.”

“You already used that word.”

“I’m just a simple maid. I don’t have a big vocabulary.”

“You’re so full of—” I broke off as Head entered the room.

Calla waggled her eyebrows at me. “I’m not the one who’s full of nonsense,” she whispered right before she headed off, humming a bawdy tune under her breath.

My friends were simultaneously amazing and astute—and incredibly annoying.

An hour later, I circled the room looking for empty glasses to whisk away, when I saw some of the noble girls I used to know. I turned in the opposite direction, but a cheerful noise—like the bay of a hunting dog—went up from Larena, and the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by girls with pretty dresses and black hearts.

“Honor! I haven’t seen you in ages.” Jaini was always genuinely nice and probably meant it; she just couldn’t read the room.

“Because her stepmother finally put her in her place.” Larena glanced over me with a sneer, then dropped her soiled napkin onto the tray I was carrying. “It was an embarrassment how Danen paraded the mousy maid around as if she were his real daughter. A bit of delusion until he had his own real one, my mother always said.”

“Your mother was always a—” I began, only to find a hand suddenly settling on my shoulder.

A tall, muscular body brushed against my backside, and the girls’ eyes went wide.

There was a royal standing behind me. The shiver of danger and arousal that traced my skin like a callused palm was the surest tell, along with the dark, heady scent of expensive cologne.

“Nobody likes you, mm?” Talisyn asked quietly. His voice was rich like honey, low and sexy.

“I’m an acquired taste,” I shot back.

“I wasn’t talking to you.” He stepped beside me, resting his elbow lightly on my shoulder.

My heart stuttered, then started beating again. It was such a randomly possessive gesture, and it was almost… sweet. But I knew this asshole wasn’t sweet.

His gaze met Larena’s evenly. “What’s your name?”

“We’ve met eight times,” she said, then pressed her lips together tightly under his glare.

Talisyn was using his powers for good for once.

“Larena.”

“I’ll remember your name this time,” he said, promise in his voice. He raised one hand and flickered his fingers at her condescendingly. “Shoo.”

The girls scattered. Everyone bolted away from Larena as if her skin were poisonous, and she stared after them. Shocking that they weren’t loyal and true and kind. Absolutely shocking.

He still had his elbow on my shoulder as he glanced down at me. “Who was your father?”

“Lord Danen.”

“He was a decent man.”

“You knew him?”

“A little.”

I missed my father so much. Hanna was so young when he died that she didn’t have many stories about him, and Alis always made a mockery of his memory. I wanted to ask more, but there was a sudden rawness in my chest, the one I never dared acknowledge. I had no time for grief.

I cocked my head at him, then gestured at Larena, who was hiding—badly—behind an enormous centerpiece of white roses and glaring at us. “What was that about?”

“I don’t like those girls.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “They’re always trying to sleep with my friends and me, trying to win our hearts.”

“Don’t they realize there’s no hope for your cold, dead hearts?”

His lips quirked at the corners. Oh gods, did the man have a kink for being insulted? Because I could happily dominate him if that was his thing. I had a lot of insults stored up for the royals. I could go for days on his laundry alone.

“Aren’t you a clever little thing? Dance with me.”

“No, thank you,” I said.

He laughed as if nothing I said mattered, then pulled me close. My breath came out in a gasp as I found my body against his. The tray dropped to the ground with a clatter, and he kicked it out of the way before we waltzed across the floor.

“I’m going to punch you in the face if you don’t let go of me,” I whispered, ignoring the way lust pulsed through my body when he touched me.

“That will definitely get you fired.” His hand wrapped my hip, and he smiled down at me, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. “Are you really the one woman in the kingdom who can’t stand me?”