Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(91)

“Like all of it?” Talisyn said. “There are rumors, but these monsters are not supposed to exist.”

Some said the hybrids were a children’s fairy tale, a story about what happened if there was some kind of disconnect between your soul creature and who you were.

That thought sent a shiver trickling down my spine. After all, I wasn’t supposed to host a dragon’s soul.





Caldren



I was leaving academy grounds when I heard the swoop of wings overhead. I turned my face up, looking for my brother, but he was nowhere to be seen. Damyn’s dragon form swooped overhead, his scarlet wings folding as he landed.

I had other places to be, but he caught me before I could reach the street.

“Getting a well-deserved break, Cal?” he asked, surprising me by catching my wrist and clapping my other bicep. “It’s good to see you going out.”

That old greeting was the way the older dragon knights tended to greet each other, and once upon a time my brother and friends and I used to mirror them. But of course, I was no longer a dragon royal. I hadn’t seen Jaik performed that little ritual with his friends since, but I no longer was invited to their parties anyway.

I shrugged off the random memories. “It’s good to see you too. Doing anything interesting this weekend?”

He shook his head, his blue eyes too bright as they gazed into mine—as if he saw too much. “You?”

My father would certainly have me quietly murdered if he knew what I was doing with my life.

“Just running some errands, getting a drink with some friends.”

“I’m glad you’ve made new friends. It hardly seems fair your brother got to keep all your mutual friends.”

Damyn referred to him relentlessly as your brother. “You seem to forget I don’t have a brother anymore. Or any other family. I was disinherited, remember?”

“Even King Pend cannot control whether you and Jaik choose to still see yourselves as brothers, no matter what he’s decreed.”

“Did you give Jaik a similar lecture?” I shoved my hands in my pockets, even though if I slipped on the dozens of steps down to the street, I’d have no chance of catching myself. Maybe I’d rather die than discuss Jaik.

“You know me so well.”

“And how did Jaik take being lectured?”

“Your brother seems humbled by the past few years. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still arrogant, but... I think the weight of his responsibilities has changed him.”

“One can only hope.”

Damyn sighed. Disappointing him always bothered me. But I couldn’t make up with Jaik; he walked away every time I tried to talk to him, and if he stayed still it was only long enough for us to come to blows.

If he ever wanted to apologize to me and try to make things right, I’d try to repair our relationship. But he was the freaking heir to the kingdom, and I was nothing now. It seemed as if maybe he should be the one to make the first move.

And Honor seemed to be falling in love with him. My hands fisted at my sides. She chose him. She’d see me as nothing too.

“Are you going into the city all night? I thought you might want to train a while.”

“Do you want some company on your errands? We could grab a beer if you have time.”

“You know how much I like beer, but... Are you feeling sorry for me, Damyn?” Just because my brother has taken my throne, my place as firstborn and… Honor’s face swam into my mind, her mischievous smile that always made me want to lean in and kiss her.

“No, I wouldn’t say that.”

“You wouldn’t say it, but you’re awfully polite by dragon shifter standards. You might mean it.”

Damyn laughed and slapped me on the shoulder. “No, I would never feel sorry for you. I know just how much you are capable of.”

Given my plans in the city tonight, Damyn’s compliment made something knot in my stomach. Maybe Damyn knew what I was up to. But he still had that jovial look, so it didn’t seem likely.

By now, someone had surely betrayed some hint of what I was doing to my father. If my father knew that I had rebel sympathies now, at some point he would send someone to kill me. I just hoped it wouldn’t be Damyn.

“Maybe we could train tomorrow morning,” I suggested. “Catch up then.”

“I would like that. I know you have some free time in your schedule with Honor gone.”

Where the hell was Honor? I wasn’t going to ask, but Damyn studied me, his eyes glinting. Then he said quietly, “You are allowed to care for her, you know.”

“Am I? As soon as I want something…” I broke off, swallowing my ire, my pride, like I’d swallowed so much since I was cast off from my family.

“Don’t make your brother into a villain,” Damyn said quietly. “He’s a fool sometimes. Too proud by half. But he’s decent through and through, just like you.”

“The two of us are nothing alike.” My voice came out level, even though that was hardly how I felt. We’d reached the bottom of the steps and the bustle of the street below. Vendors lined the street, trying to sell wine and beer and roasted nuts and pastries to students. I turned to face Damyn. “What do you want from me? We see each other every damn day—”