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I glanced at the knights again, worried they’d overhear.
“I absolutely am,” he said. “If you leave them alive, you’ll just have to kill them later, Honor. They’ll do anything to keep from losing their places as dragon knights.”
“I’m the queen,” I said.
“You’ve chosen not to be,” he reminded me. “You said you still had so much to learn.”
“And I probably always will.” I grabbed his arm again, reeling him close to me. His smoldering, furious eyes locked with mine, and my heart skipped a beat. “But you aren’t going to kill them. You’re my knight, aren’t you? And I’m your queen.”
“Which is why I’ll kill for you.”
I leaned close to him, my lips brushing his ear. I could’ve sworn I felt a shudder pass through him, as I gripped his corded forearm and my breasts pressed his chest, but maybe it was my imagination. “And that’s why you’ll obey me. Because you don’t want to lose my respect.”
He pulled back, looking even angrier than before.
“You’ll regret this,” he said. “And I’ll end up killing them later, and it will be harder for all involved.”
I rolled my eyes. What a psychopath. Adorable though he was.
He swore and sheathed his sword.
“Can we have a truce?” He called toward the dragon knights.
They looked unconvinced by the idea. I pulled him out of sight into the castle—I didn’t want anyone to know I could shadow-travel—and before the knights could round the corner, we disappeared.
CHAPTER22
Damyn
Honorand I went to another of Joachim’s houses. It was sheltered by the trees high in the mountains, almost hidden to anyone who didn’t know where to find it. Joachim had always loved being up high, as if his dragon was always just under the surface of his skin.
The inside of this house was undisturbed. The front room was furnished in a mix of lush royal blue velvet and icy blues, and Honor shivered as she looked around. “I hate Joachim the most of them all.”
“Makes sense,” I said. “He’s still alive. Maybe you’ll actually be willing to let me kill him for once.”
Her eyes met mine, blazing, startling me. “I’ll kill him myself, thank you. For what he did to me.”
I raised my hands in supplication, but I liked seeing Honor fierce. It reminded me that the catatonic child was left behind in her past.
Although I thought she carried that child deep within her. And so did I.
The two of us searched the house. I defeated the spells on his locks, but there was nothing in the small treasure room that Joachim had tucked behind his bedroom. I stayed upstairs, searching the walls and floor for a hidden compartment, as Honor wandered off.
Honor called urgently, “Damyn!”
I was down the stairs in a heartbeat, my hand on the hilt of my sword. As I burst into the room, Honor looked startled.
“I’m safe,” she teased me as she relaxed. “But you’re always so ready to be valiant. I feel very safe.”
She stamped the floor with one foot. “The floor sounds different here.”
Together, the two of us peeled up the floorboards. Thishadbeen the one undisturbed castle, but now we piled up boards across the fine furniture to stack it out of our way. Beneath the boards was a metal chest.
The chest was just long enough to hold a sword.
I pried it up out of the ground, and the two of us set to work defeating the physical and magical locks on it. Finally, I drew open the lid.
Amily’s sword glinted up at us. The milky-colored Scourge stone glimmered from the finely shaped hilt, which was inlaid with emeralds. It was a beautiful sword, but the most important part, the blade, looked dull from disuse. Something stabbed into my chest at the sight. It had been a long time since Amily held that sword to face down her enemies and was cut down.
