Forbidden Honor (Dragon Royals #1)(98)

I plowed through a crowd of noble girls to the punchbowl, where I met Hanna, who was occupied eating miniature chocolate cakes as if her life depended on consuming the maximum quantity of sugar.

“How are you enjoying the party?” I asked her dryly.

“Wonderful,” she replied in the same tone. We were definitely sisters. “How did you enjoy your dance with our new stepfather?”

“I thought he touched a bit more of my bare skin than anyone should.”

“Anyone besides Talisyn?” she asked innocently, her gaze following mine to where the young lord held court with half a dozen girls.

He said something and they all laughed, probably harder than they needed to. Talisyn was funny, but no man was that funny.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t make light,” Hanna said. “I didn’t really enjoy dancing with him either.”

“Did he touch you?” The moment I imagined him gripping Hanna’s hip the way he gripped mine, I could also imagine myself ripping his head off and flying his headless corpse to drop into the sea.

“No,” she said hastily. “It wasn’t bad. He just gives me the creeps.”

“Me too. I hope Alis treats Henrick as well as she treated Father. Father never deserved it, but he certainly does.”

“What do you mean?” she asked me curiously.

“I mean how she never seemed like she really loved Father. Sometimes, I think she married him for his fortune—that we just came along with his money. Then she murdered him and was left with us.” I said the words in a whisper, a hot angry whisper, then immediately stopped, biting my lip, wondering what I’d just done. Stupid, stupid, stupid. That wasn’t the kind of thought that I should ever have shared with my little sister.

Her eyes had gone wide. “Do you really think that she might have?”

“No,” I said hastily. “Please forget I said that.”

“How am I going to forget it?”

“That’s a big accusation, and I don’t have any proof. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, I’m glad you told me if you think that’s what happened. I’m not going to do anything stupid, Honor. Who do you think I am?”

Who did I think she was? I thought she was my little sister.

And that was exactly why I was worried she was going to do something stupid.





I wasn’t sure Talisyn even realized, but just like at the ball at the academy, people treated me differently when he was around. When Talisyn treated me like a queen, everyone else bowed too.

When I walked into the knot of noble girls who surrounded Talisyn, his eyes lit up, and he ignored everyone else. They were suddenly interested in speaking with me.

I eventually dragged him away, in the guise of hunting for wine, and told Talisyn, “People treat me a whole lot better when you’re around.”

“Well, then I guess I’ll have to always be around.”

He said the words lightly, then paused. Maybe he’d seen the shadow that must have crossed my face because Talisyn wasn’t supposed to be around. All week, I’d only gotten to see Jaik and Talisyn when I was being Lucien.

I blurted the truth. “I’ve missed you.”

Talisyn was kind to Lucien, at least compared to the others, but it was different being Lucien around him than being Honor.

His face softened. “I can’t imagine why.”

“It’s hard for me to believe too. You are very annoying.”

“We talk too much,” he admitted.

“You talk too much.”

“You talk just as much as I do.

“I do,” I agreed, “but there’s only room for one person who talks too much in a relationship. And I already claimed that role. I’m the girl.”

He gave me a skeptical look, and my heart pounded. Could he know I was Lucien? There was a way Talisyn looked at me sometimes, whether I was Lucien or Honor, that made me feel he saw right through me.

“I don’t think it’s fair that you get to claim things just because you’re the girl.”

Relief flooded my chest. “Well, what do you want to claim?”

“I’ll be the funny one.”

I scoffed, and he said, “You are so hurtful.”

The two of us were laughing when I caught a glimpse of Henrick watching us from across the room. The smile immediately froze on my face.

Talisyn noticed and gripped my waist. “Why don’t we go for a walk in the garden?”

My mood shifted in a second. Teasingly, I said, “My garden seems like a dangerous place for us.”

“Honor,” he chided, “You know I’ve got to follow Jaik’s rules.”

I wondered if Jaik thought that I was in just as much danger with Talisyn, or if he couldn’t stand to see me with one of his best friends. And either way, I could empathize—the thought of one of them being with another woman struck me with a bolt of rage.

“What are we going to do, Talisyn?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he admitted as we entered the garden. He glanced around to make sure we had privacy, and my curiosity was piqued by the time the two of us had reached a far corner. His voice was still very quiet when he said, “There’s a way out Jaik and I’ve been discussing.”