Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(95)

We returned from our weekend with even more questions than before. We’d never tracked down a hybrid.

As soon as I’d dropped my pack in my room, I made my way down the hall, intending to slip out as Honor to see Hanna. I washed two days’ worth of grime off, then stuffed my dress into my leather backpack and threw it over one shoulder before dashing out the door.

“Luce,” Talisyn called. I stopped and turned back at the end of the hallway, almost to the dragon’s head door. He looked as if he already regretted stopping me, but still asked, “Do you want to come with us to have a drink?”

Gods, I wanted that so badly. But then I imagined my sister’s freckled face, pensive with worry, and the dream of laughing and talking with these men I enjoyed so much faded.

“Another night,” I said, knowing another night might not be offered.

“Going to fuck around with our girl, despite Jaik’s best efforts?” Talisyn tried for a light tone and failed. He sauntered toward me.

“Not everything revolves around Honor Hannaby,” I shot back. “She’s not even pretty enough to be worth all the—”

“Lucien,” Talisyn broke in, his eyes darkening. I rarely saw my light-hearted friend take on such a warning air. “Don’t finish that fucking sentence. This way I can pretend I misunderstood you.”

Gods, he was still so protective of Honor. I could’ve melted.

Talisyn frowned at me. “What the fuck are you smiling about?”

“Nothing, sorry. I’m just meeting an old friend. I’m staying away from Honor, I promise.”

Talisyn stared hard at me, and I waited until I was hurrying down the steps of the academy before I let myself smile.

I watched my back as I hurried along the dark streets, knowing that one of my royal friends might’ve tailed me, but I didn’t see anyone. I ducked behind some bushes in a park to change, struggling into my dress, then altering my face. Lucien the dragon royal sauntered in, and Honor—slightly bedraggled with a leaf caught in her hair—wandered back out.

I ran along the roads to the big coral house. There was a guard at the gate, which made me frown, but he didn’t stop me and I ran up the stairs to my sister’s room.

“Honor!” She threw her arms around me. “Where have you been all weekend?”

“Work,” I said. “I’d rather have been with you.”

“Of course,” she said.

My stomach growled just then. She caught my arm and we went together to the kitchen, stole an apple pie from the pie safe and two forks, then went on into the dark garden.

Hanna and I sank into the soft grass, the pie between us, almost hidden by the dark shadows of the flowering bushes around us. I ate a mouthful of sweet, caramelized apples and almost moaned in pleasure.

“Don’t they feed you at work?” she asked me.

I’d discovered over the course of the weekend that Jaik, for all his positive qualities, was a terrible cook. He’d almost murdered me serving half-raw rabbit. I shuddered. “Not well.”

The two of us were chatting about nothing when a figure suddenly loomed over us. We were caught in Henrick’s shadow, and he grinned down at us.

“Alis wouldn’t approve, she wants you girls to keep your figures.” He eyed our pie, then gave us a benevolent wink. “But I won’t tell her.”

“Thanks,” I said dryly, wishing he would move on.

He sank into the grass next to us, and I side-eyed him.

“Do you plan to invite anyone to the wedding Friday?” he asked me. “One of those dragon royals, perhaps?”

Did he know? I wasn’t sure how close he was to Joachim, who had recognized me at the shifting ceremony.

“Not if I can help it,” I said loftily. “Those royals do tend to follow me around like lost puppies.”

Hanna stared at me, her lips agape as if I’d lost my mind. I wished I could tell her everything.

We made painful small talk with Henrick until he finally left. By then, I was counting the hours I had to sleep until I had to be up for training with Caldren. I hugged Hanna goodbye and dashed off, pretending I didn’t see how disappointed she was.

The harder I tried to please everyone, to be whoever they wanted me to be, the more I felt as if I were disappointing them all.

That week of military training seemed to drag on forever. It seemed as if every day got a little bit more brutal in preparation for our field maneuvers. As the weekend approached, the guys began to talk about going out again, to track down the source of those hybrids.

Alis and Henrick’s wedding was on Friday, which didn’t make me very excited about leaving to hunt monsters as soon as the sun rose on Saturday. When the six of us were sitting in the amphitheater, I bemoaned the fact that we couldn’t sleep in, even on a non-academy day, which had earned me a withering look from Branok. But Branok gave me a withering look pretty much every time I spoke, or sighed or smiled, or in any way interacted with other human beings. So I wasn’t going to get too tangled in his opinion.

On Friday night, I ducked Jaik, who was probably going to nag me about making sure I attended dinner, and made my way hastily to Hanna’s house. The beautiful coral home rose in front of me as I passed under the trees.

There were dozens of guards posted outside the front gate. At first glance, they looked ceremonial, but they were awfully heavily armed. Alis was marrying a pretty important person in the royal kingdom. Were they so afraid of the Scourge? Or did Henrick have other reasons to expect an attack? I wouldn’t give a damn—Alis and Henrick deserved to have enemies—but my sister lived in that house.