Damyn paused in the doorway. “I’ll be… near, Honor.”
Jaik felt so protective of me, but he didn’t have the whole picture. Damyn and Caldren were the only two people who knew Lucien was in just as much danger as Honor.
Calla gave me a long, curious look as Damyn melted away.
“Isn’t he an instructor? The one the girls call—”
“Don’t,” I interrupted. I didn’t need any more reminders that Damyn was both completely inappropriate for a crush and unavoidably sexy. He was a teacher, I was a student/servant/liar. And while we were certainly both adults, he seemed like…a real adult. I still felt like I was pretending.
“Where’ve you been?” she demanded.
“It’s a long story. I was kidnapped. Not the most interesting story, I’ll catch you up later, but right now I’m in trouble.”
“Of course you are. Also not the most interesting story? There’s something really wrong with you. But what do you need right now?”
“I need you to cover for me today. Prince Jaik doesn’t want me left alone for a moment of peace. Probably because if I had a moment to myself to think I would realize that sleeping with him is insanity.”
“I thought the two of you were staying away from each other.”
“I thought he was staying away from me, that’s where we left things a while back. But it was devastating. Then he burst in to save my life, and ever since then, he seems to realize that life is too short not to have a lot of sex.”
She stared at me, looking slightly fazed. Then she said, “We definitely have a lot of catching up to do. But go, I’ve got your back.”
“I love you, Calla.”
“I know you do.”
As quickly as I could I turned myself into Lucien and sprinted to the training yard. Jaik had been so sweet to me this morning, full of kisses and compliments. Now we moved on to the part of the day where he kicked my ass.
I had to wonder if Damyn was right, and it would hurt Jaik when he realized what he’d done to me when I was in Lucien’s form.
For now though, I had to face the daily bruising.
“Who do you want to deal with today?” Jaik asked me, as if he were getting tired of his friends attempting to turn me into Honor-jelly on a daily basis. “Branok or Lynx?”
I must have been feeling punchy because I said, “Why not both? Why do I have to choose?”
“Because you’re not insane? Because you’re not ready for two men?” Jaik suggested.
“I think I’m ready for anything you all can throw at me. I think maybe you’re the ones who aren’t ready.”
Talisyn stepped up beside me. “I think maybe Lucien is still drunk from last night. Since we do need him… why don’t I team up on his side against Lynx and Branok?”
“Whatever,” Jaik said dismissively, one of his eyebrows cocked. “I’m going to spar with Arren who doesn’t seem to be insane today. Unlike the rest of you.”
You know you’re not doing well in life when Arren seems like the sane and normal one.
The four of us began to spar, but Talisyn seemed really protective of me. He kept turning away from his fight with Branok to check on me. When Lynx and I slammed into the ground, wrestling for supremacy, Talisyn turned his back on Branok to kick Lynx off me. Lynx grunted as he flew off me, landed heavily on the ground.
“But now you’re dead,” Branok growled, his sword at Talisyn’s throat. “For Lucien. What the hell are you doing?”
Lynx rolled up to his feet, smooth and quick as ever, but his elbow pressed against his side protectively after Talisyn’s kicks. “Let’s shift.”
I tried, but couldn’t shift yet. I could’ve sworn Branok grinned as he lunged to bite me, his enormous golden eyes gleaming. I saw my own reflection for them in an instant before I danced to one side, escaping his snapping jaws.
Then Talisyn dove in front of me, leaving himself open to Lynx, as he put his body between me and Branok.
Branok turned into his human form, just to throw his sword halfway across the training yard. “What the hell was that?”
I actually had the same question as well.
Talisyn looked innocent. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. We’re all just sparring. Having fun, right?”
“I don’t know what’s going on with you, Talisyn,” Branok snarled. “but I don’t like it.”
I looked up and found Arren staring at me. He looked at me the same way he looked at Honor sometimes, as if he worried I would destroy the most important things in his life.
That look haunted me.
When I saw Calla again, I quickly told her about what had been going on with Alis and Henrick—as much as I could, anyway.
When I fell silent, she hugged me. “Do you need any help looking after Hanna?”
I couldn’t think of what to say, as my best friend’s gaze searched my face, so I just threw my arms around her and squeezed. “What did I ever do to deserve a friend like you?”
“You were a friend to me,” she said, the words somewhat garbled since she was speaking into my shoulder. She hugged me back then pulled away, looking at me with a hint of concern. “Those noble girls you grew up with were dreadful, weren’t they? You still seem so amazed by… friendship.”
“If you spend enough time alone, friendship starts to feel like a miracle,” I admitted.
“Maybe friendship always is a miracle, and we just don’t notice,” she said. Then she studied my face, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just worried about someone else’s friendships,” I admitted.
I wanted my five royals to stay as close as brothers, but I worried what was coming.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Honor
That night, Jaik’s fingers tightened on my hips as the two of us traded kisses in the doorway to his room.
“Are you sure you don’t want to take me with you?” I asked.
“I’d like to keep as much distance between you and my father as I can. He won’t hurt me.”
He promised that so confidently, but Pend had hurt him before.
“Be good,” Jaik told me, giving me one last kiss goodbye as if he were painfully tearing himself away. He’d been called to the castle, which I could see looming out the windows to the balcony, a foreboding dark tower.
“Always,” I said.
He quirked an eyebrow disbelievingly, then he stepped backward into the hall and called, “Tal.”
The door down the hall swung open.
“Honor’s planning to be good tonight,” Jaik said. “It should be a quiet evening at home for the two of you.”
“How disappointing.” Talisyn flashed a smile at me.
Jaik gave us both the sternest look I’d ever seen since my mother caught me drinking whiskey in her den when I was sixteen. I’d pretended it was tea. Really, Honor? Drinking whiskey out of a tea cup? Who raised you?
Then, apparently having decided the two of us should be sufficiently cowed by that glare, he left, his steps echoing in the expansive hall. On a night like this when he was the only one called to the castle, an air of loneliness seemed to cling to him just as much as his usual cool authority. I stared after him, wishing I could be at his side.