Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(97)

It was nice to have Talisyn beside me for support while I watched Alis marry another man who she would drain.

After the ceremony, Talisyn said, “I know you want to dance with me.”

I grinned at him. “I really do, strangely enough.”

But just then Henrick wandered toward us. He moved slowly, ambling along, stopping to glad-hand people. And yet I had the unsettling feeling his gaze was fixed on me the whole time, that he was stalking me like a predator.

Talisyn followed my gaze to my new stepfather, and something must have shown on my face. He took a step in front of me as if he were blocking Henrick from reaching me. I didn’t think he even realized he was doing it, but his sudden protectiveness made me smile.

“Down, dragon,” I teased him. “You’d think you were a wolf shifter, getting all possessive.”

“Who knows what dragons would be like if they had mates?”

“Probably unbearable. Dragons are already unbearable in every other way.”

Henrick stopped in front of me, offering a well-oiled smile. “Could I have this dance with you, Honor?”

I gave Talisyn the faintest nod, letting him know that I was going to be just fine on my own, then stepped into Henrick’s arms.

As the two of us whirled around the room, I held myself stiffly away from him. I’d never been a stellar dancer, but I felt graceful when I danced with Talisyn. With Henrick, I was all knees and elbows.

He kept moving closer to me so that sometimes our knees collided with each other. I stumbled and his hand on my waist seemed to drop lower, his fingers curling against my ass.

He smiled. “Steady there.”

The words, which seemed so paternal, didn’t really match with the way he was handling me.

I fixed a wooden smile on my face.

“Is it true that you don’t remember anything before you were nine years old?” He asked the question still beaming, as if it were small talk.

That was a really strange place to start if he intended to get to know me. But I didn’t want to get to know him anyway. “Yes, it’s true. My father always said that it was for the best.”

“Your adoptive father?” he corrected. “Or was he?”

I didn’t bother to answer the question. I knew what people thought about my uncertain parentage. Sometimes I wished it were true, that he was my father and that I was the love child he’d had with some mistress.

The story of how he’d rescued me was far more painful. And the worst thing was, he died so suddenly that I’d lost any hope of finding my first family. He’d always said that he would tell me when I needed to know all the gory details, but he’d asked me to wait. He’d worried replaying the story would awaken those dark memories. He wanted me to live part of my life unburdened by the abuse and shame that I’d been through.

I didn’t understand how it helped me to deny the past. But he’d meant well, and maybe it was better to have a blank book than a book full of torture and abuse and neglect.

“You know, those memories are still there.” He twirled me, and stumbled through the rotation before I reluctantly slapped my hand in his. “Buried deep within. No enchantment can destroy your memories, they can only hide them from you.”

“I’m aware.” As far as he knew I was a squirrel shifter, not a nitwit.

“You’re a grown woman now. You should awaken those memories. Why are you still hiding?”

I kept the wooden smile plastered on my face, but let my eyes say how unimpressed I was by this conversation. I had to be polite and avoid defying him in public to protect Hanna, but didn’t owe him my inner thoughts.

“My father said that this way was better,” I said stubbornly, “and I still trust him more than any man alive.”

He looked as if he were coaxing his lips into the thin smile that spread across his face. “You must have loved your adoptive father very much for rescuing you, even if you couldn’t quite remember your old prison.”

He’d said adoptive father twice now, and I let heat bleed into my voice. “My father was a good man.”

The dance ended but he didn’t let go of me. If anything, his finger seemed to find the cutout in my dress and press into the bare skin just above my ass. His fingers felt too intimate, and my stomach squirmed.

Talisyn was suddenly there, smiling and saying, “May I cut in?”

Henrick gave him a respectful nod of assent, then kissed my hand. “We’ll talk about this more later, Honor.”

“Wonderful.” I had no intention of discussing my last memories with him. I didn’t know why he was so invested. But I didn’t want to face my past without my father. It was bad enough I’d lost my mother, who had helped with the rescue.

I didn’t remember what had come before waking up in their house. But in those early days when I was nine, I’d explored the house with a sense of wonder. Everything had felt like a delight: breakfast porridge and berries in pretty crystal dishes, books and blankets in front of a glowing fire, the vibrant gardens that seemed to stretch on endlessly. Those first memories were lit with their love and my easy acceptance. I didn’t think it would have been that easy if I’d been fighting nightmares.

I was still shaken after I’d taken a ridiculous number of turns around the dance floor with Talisyn, despite his best efforts to be cheerful and fun.