Page 116 of The Horde King of Shadow

“Fuck,” I breathed, watching Lygath reach Klara’s ledge. I felt helpless—as helpless as I’d felt watching Haden fall off the very Elthika that my wife was hell-bent to claim.

Kyavor appeared, coming up on the other side of me, clasping his hand onto my shoulder. “Breathe, Sarkin,” he murmured quietly, though his eyes were rapt on his pupil along the cliffside. “She wouldn’t do this recklessly.”

She needs to do this,came the realization. A realization I hated. I hated everything about this. But I couldn’t control her. I couldn’t cage her to make sure she was safe. The purpose of my training her had always been toprepareher. That was how I could protect her best.

That was how I could love her best.

A collective rippling gasp among the horde made time seem to slow. The world quieted. Even the wind. Everyone was there. Every Sarrothian soul at Tharken had come to see their queen. Even Klara’s peers. Vyaria. Kan. All watching with bated breath.

Lygath flew close to the cliffside.

I watched the small speck of her back up on the ledge, and then she sprinted. My nostrils flared wide, my heart beating at its bony cage so hard I thought it might burst free. I watched the heart that was outside of my own body, the heart of vulnerability that was flayed wide open, leap off the cliff, silhouetted against the gray stone of Tharken.

She landed on Lygath’s back cleanly, just as she’d done a couple nights prior.

“Come on,aralye,” I whispered, watching for the flash of the tether.There.

“She latched it—it’s on!” Kyavor exclaimed, straightening as his gaze tracked her every movement. “Now to see if he’ll…”

There was a rippling of energy going through my horde behind me. No longer was it trepidation. It had now turned tohope. Scarce, unbelievable hope.

“He’s not fighting her,” I said softly, with dawning realization, watching Lygath soar through the pass with Klara on his back.He wasn’t fighting her.

Klara took the primary riding position—bent low over Lygath with a straightened back and locked thighs. She had a good grip on the tethers…andLygath wasn’t fighting her.

“She’s claimed him,” I said, throat tight.

“On Muron, she has!” Kyavor said, a broad grin—the biggest I’d ever seen on the aging male—appearing.

Raising his voice, Feranos cried out to the horde, “TheSorrinahas claimed Lygath!”

The cheers erupted. So loudly that it nearly shook the entire mountain.

Another Vyrin for the horde. Another descendent of Muron. Zaridan’s own blood. Sarroth would speak of this day for the rest of our history as we watched theSorrinatake her first flight with her bonded Elthika.

Klara Dirak’zar of Rath Serok and Rath Drokka. Rider of Lygath. Queen of the Sarrothian horde.

Pride burned so brightly it nearly stole my breath.

Yet it was mingled with hot anger, bubbling relief, with pricking love and sharp desire. My emotions were such an overwhelming mess that I didn’t trust myself to move. I didn’t trust myself to speak or react as I listened to the loud celebration that erupted around me. And so I stayed as still as a statue, though my eyes were only on Klara as Lygath ascended above the Tharken cliffs.

Something dark shot from the shadows beneath the pass.Zaridan.

The horde quieted, a hush of awe descending as Zaridan hurtled straight after Lygath, her wings close to her body. Lygath roared. Zaridan’s response was a call of her own, beautiful and chortling. They spun around one another as they ascended together, and then the rising dawn blotted them from view.

The two Vyrin siblings, descendents of Muron, reunited once more.

Another Vyrin for the horde of Sarroth, claimed by a Dakkari princess, who everyone had underestimated. Even me.

Sarroth would never underestimate her again.

She’d ensured that, hadn’t she?

Long moments later, they appeared again. And they were flying straight for the horde. The Sarrothian began to race for the landing field to the right of the encampment.

Feranos and I moved with them, and the horde parted for us as I walked to the front.

“Sorrina, Sorrina, Sorrina,” came the chanting cries, the closer she drew. I could see her now. Her cheeks flushed, hair windswept, eyes glassy with her success and relief.

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