I wondered if they would try to kill me and the baby.
I would. I had every intention of removing Jaik from the line of succession and making myself Pend’s queen. How convenient that one of Pend’s sons had already been eliminated from the line.
“So what are you up to now, Faleen?” Rond asked.
We went down endless stairs until we stood by the rushing sea, which would drown out our voices. I assumed Branok had spies everywhere. I waited to answer him until I leaned against the railing, overlooking the dark sea. I kept an eye on Rond through my peripheral vision; I liked him, but I didn’t trust him.
“Doing my King’s bidding, as always. Pend wants Honor dead, and Branok framed for it. Let’s ruin some royal lives tonight, shall we?”
His smile spread slowly across his face. He liked to hurt people.
But if he was like me, he would take special pride in hurting the young royals.
Chapter
Eighteen
Damyn
I was still in my office the next morning when Jaik started pounding on my door. Honor stood beside him, her arms crossed and a distinct look of exasperation written across her face.
“Morning,” Jaik said curtly. “Since Pend wants to see the five of us, will you look after Honor for me?”
“Would you tell Jaik I don’t need a babysitter?” Honor said sweetly. “I managed just fine without him for twenty-four years.”
“Fine is probably an overstatement,” Jaik muttered.
“You two have been fighting, hm?” I asked.
“Always,” Jaik said.
Honor rolled her eyes, but apparently that was one statement she wouldn’t disagree with. “I need to get to work.”
“I’m going to give you everything you ever wanted,” he said.
“And if what I want is my independence, Jaik?”
His jaw ticked, then he amended, “I’m going to give you almost everything you ever wanted. I’m just worried about your safety!”
“I’ll look after Honor,” I promised. I opened the door wider to let her in, and Jaik looked as if he were inclined to come in and settle down on my sofa instead of going to the meeting with his father. I shooed him off and closed the door between us, leaving an irritated-looking prince in the hall.
I turned to face her as she flopped down on my sofa in exasperation.
“It’s hard to be adored by wealthy, powerful men who’d do anything to protect you, hm?” I asked, mock-sympathetic.
“Don’t you start too. He is ridiculous.” She got up and joined me at the door.
As soon as I breathed in the sweet honey-and-vanilla scent she carried, I took a sharp step back. My cock was already hardening. Honor was seven years younger than me and already a wild storm of drama; I should stay far away.
She listened at the door for a moment. I could easily imagine Jaik standing on the other side of the door, watching and listening to make sure she stayed put.
“You’re both exhausting, by the way,” I told her. “It should be a match made in… well, maybe not heaven. Maybe the other place.”
She pulled a face. “Jaik told me you lectured him.”
“About what?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’ve lectured Jaik quite a bit.”
She considered, then said, “He needs it.”
“Mm? Well, I have a feeling you do too, little dragon.”
She tilted her head to one side, studying me. I’d been trying to think of her as just a girl, too young for me, almost a child. But I had a feeling I’d just gone too far with the diminutive nickname.
The more time I spent around Honor, the more I found her intriguing.
Misguided, stubborn, far too feisty for sense… but intriguing.
“Maybe you need some lectures as well,” she said suddenly, stabbing me in the chest with one finger.
She was far smaller than me and her pointy little finger couldn’t do any damage, but she looked so fierce, I almost took a step back.
“How come you haven’t helped me find a way to tell the royals that I’m a dragon?” she demanded. “The guys and I have this whole mess with the Olds. I need them on my side.
“Honor… even if it were a good idea to tell the royals, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I swore oaths as one of the Order of the Dragon. I have to follow the orders of the Olds—the Elders, I mean.”
“Then break them.” Her big, luminous eyes turned up to mine, and she sounded so sure of herself, not pleading at all. “It’s the right thing to do. The Olds have no right to control my life.”
I scoffed. “Well, they might not have the right but they have the ability.”
“You don’t owe people promises when they don’t give a damn about you!” she exclaimed.
“You don’t know everything, Honor.”
“I’m standing right here,” she shot back. “Tell me whatever I need to know.”
I stared down at her, debating what to say. Those oaths bound me as tightly as Pend’s oath not to strike down one of his own sons. He carried the reminder of his broken oath in those fingers that wouldn’t bend, in the wasted muscles and pitted skin.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you,” she said, her voice brittle. “The royals all look up to you. They want to be like you, the good warrior, the great man. But are you really worthy?”
Her words struck me hard.
“Honor, I’ll help you any way I can,” I began, but she cut me off impatiently.
“I need to go be Lucien,” she said. “If you have any great advice for me, Damyn, on how to balance my two lives… feel free.”
Silence hung between us for a few seconds.
“Let’s get you back to your room, Lucien,” I said.
Honor’s lips parted in an empty smile. “That’s what I thought.”
Chapter
Nineteen
Lynx
“Lucien,” I said coldly when he finally opened his bedroom door. He’d taken his sweet time. He never seemed to give a damn about anything.
“Morning.” Lucien yawned theatrically, scrubbing his hand across his face.
“Sorry to wake you.”
Lucien waved his hand airily. “It’s all right. I’ll forgive you”
Having two weeks off from dealing with Lucien had left me feeling temporarily mellow… until I had to see his smug, punchable face again. He always sounded so flippant.
And despite myself, there was a part of me that liked the stupid bastard. Then I’d remember all over again that he’d won Alina over too—just to betray her.
“Can we get moving?” I demanded.
I took Lucien to meet the others, who were waiting on the steps, all dressed in their royal tunics and house cloaks instead of their usual utilitarian academy tunics.
While Jaik was always unsmiling, his posture became even more rigid and perfect as we neared the castle. His face returned to those stoic cold lines that I knew so well. He had to pretend to be someone else to see his own family. I didn’t feel sorry for myself often, even though my relationship with my father was just as warped. When I felt protective of Jaik, it made me realize how bad things really were with our families.