Page 129 of The Horde King of Shadow

The trees shook when she landed back to the ground, the black Dakkari-steel chain rattling.

Klara had gasped, her eyes on thethalaratree, lying on its side, black earth spilling from the underside of its roots like dripping ink.

The sudden blue glow of the heartstones was almost blinding as it filled the clearing.

“There,” I said finally, wanting to see her reaction more. “You were right, Klara. They were here. All this time.”

She turned her watery gaze onto mine. I knew her emotions were out of relief, of happiness…but also of grief. Her mother had been killed trying to create the very thing that had been under Dakkari earth for centuries. That would cut her, deeply, for a long time. It might neverstop, and I wished desperately that I could shield her from that ache.

But…there was also hope in her gaze. Hope for a new future. One in which our people would work together, creating tighter bonds, pushing us toward greater thingstogether. She’d told me that Dannik might be struggling with the call for his own destiny, the weight of it…but I knew that he was part of that future. That we wouldn’t be able to succeed without him.

“Sarkin.”

“Hmm?”

Klara turned into my arms as life burst in the clearing. There was excited chatter from the guards and mykya’rassa, the scholars here to write about this day—her friend Sora among them, theDothikkareven, Dannik, Gevanth and Harnek. It was a celebration. A day to remember.

“I know we still have work to do here,” she said to me. “But after it’s done…I want to go home.”

I couldn’t help the small smile that edged its way onto my features. “And where’s home?”

She grinned. “Sarroth, though truthfully…it’s wherever you are.”

Briefly, I rubbed at my heart when it fluttered in my chest.

“Lysi?” I asked, my tone teasing, before winding my arms around her back.

“Lysi.I’m eager to get back home. To start a life with you, by your side. To train Lygath. To begin chronicling the first Dakkari hordes. To learn everything I can about being aSorrinato the Sarrothian. That’s what I want. So…”

Behind her, I saw Dannik crouch down at the roots of thethalaratree, his face glowing blue from the magic as he reached out his hand. My eyes returned to Klara.

“So?” I asked quietly, leaning down briefly to brush my lips with hers, unable to resist stealing a kiss.

“Will you take me home?” she asked.

“Yes,aralye,” I replied.

Dannik’s fist curled around the heartstone, the first of many, plucking it from the roots of the dyingthalaratree.

A new age had begun.

“Let’s go home,” I said.

Epilogue

KLARA

Lygath was snapping his sharp teeth at a wild shearling that was getting too close.

The shearling was no larger than an Elthika egg and was covered in soft brown fur, its tufted paws peeking out from beneath it. It hopped closer and closer to Lygath, the small mammal seemingly not intimidated by the Vyrin, though its long ears straightened and twitched as it approached.

Lygath and I were in a forest clearing. Private, quiet, and peaceful. It had become our afternoon routine after I was done with my interviews in Lakir. I’d review my notes, and Lygath would snooze happily.

I tried to bite back my grin, watching the exchange with the shearling under my lashes. Every time Lygath raised his head to glare at me—as if telling me to deal with the small nuisance—I darted my gaze down to the notebook spread open in my lap, my quill scratching hurriedly across the parchment.

Lygath huffed. Then he growled, a guttural sound in the depths of his throat. And yet, though my bonded Elthikawasconsidered a somewhat unpredictable danger—or at least, heused to be—I’d never seen him hurt even an insect. So I didn’t fear for the shearling’s life.

It was a dizzying yet harsh juxtaposition. That he’d let riders fall to their deaths—my husband’s friend being one of them—yet he was infinitely careful with the creatures I’d seen him interact with.

---