Page 34 of The Horde King of Shadow

Chapter 13

SARKIN

“What is that you need to watch out for?” came Klara’s quiet question.

I’d been observing her as she stood by the edge of the cliff, my eyes taking her in as I would an opponent…or a lover. Watchful and careful and hungry.

She turned to regard me with those light gray eyes. Her hands were clasped demurely behind her back. Her hair was plaited into a neat braid, wispy tendrils of it having escaped on the flight up here, which framed her soft features. I spied the small tips of her pointed ears peeking out, distractingly delicate. I couldn’t see her scar from this angle. For the first time, I wondered if I’d stolen her from a lover in Dothik. A mate.

Good,came the sudden, stray, and surprising thought. I was used to feeling possessive over things I considered mine, but I hadn’t expected those uncontrollable feelings to extend toher.

She’s my responsibility. That’s why I feel this way,I reasoned.

When I quirked a brow, she asked, “You said you were taking the first watch. For what?”

I grunted, tearing into the chunk of bread filled with meat. Flying always made me ravenous even though Zaridan was doing most of the work.

“Elthika,” I answered.

Her brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. I thought the Elthika were friendly to the Karag.”

“Bonded ones, yes,” I answered, my nostrils flaring in slight frustration. She was like a child, wasn’t she? She knew nothing of our kind, of our race. But I needed to have patience with her, which was never a strength of mine. “We are nearing the northern border into Elysom’s channel. The East is Elthika territory. The Sarrothian have territory there too, but it is still wild land and under Elthikan rule.”

Klara turned fully to regard me, the moonlight illuminating the scar—Muron’s mark—on her face.

“We are in the outer lands,” I told her, sweeping my hand toward the view she’d been admiring. “The Elthika that live in this territory are not bound by traditional Elthikan law. They are the dragons that have forsaken it, and as such, it is dangerous territory to be in for very long. Zaridan does have sway here, as does Levanth’s. But that will only extend so far if we overstay our welcome.”

“So much to learn,” she said softly. Her spine straightened. Her chin rising. “But I’m up to the task. I was a scholar in Dothik, you know.”

I snorted. “You think your scrolls and books will help you here?”

“No, perhaps not. But my need for knowledge will,” she answered, surprising me. I heard the quiet confidence in her voice.

“Are you not frustrated by your lack of it?” I wanted to know.

“Of course I am. But I know that knowledge comes slowly. It is absorbed and savored like a wine. It might be tempting tochug it down, to quench that unyielding, maddening thirst, but in order to understand something fully, with the appreciation it deserves…knowledge, complete knowledge, demands patience. And even then, it is ever changing. That’s what my mother always said.”

I had stopped eating to regard her, her words holding me like a vise.

“It will frustrate you to know then that your soon-to-be husband has never read a book in his life,” I lied, to see what she would say. “The Sarrothian pride themselves on physical and mental strength, unshakeable honor, and willpower. Perhaps you would have been better suited for a nobleman in Elysom.”

When I’d first met her in the marketplace in Dothik, she’d had a book then. Had been aghast when I’d dared to touch it with myfilthyhands, coated in Zaridan’s scale dust.

“Knowledge is not always about books,” she replied, her eyes shining in the darkness. Shewasa beautiful woman, the surprisingwantcurling in my belly. “You have far more knowledge than I—I’m sure of it.”

I frowned. “Knowledge is what you pride yourself on, and you give that achievement to me so readily? Why?”

“Because knowledge is like…love,” she answered, a soft smile curling her mouth as she settled on that particular word. “It should be freely given. It shouldn’t be a selfish thing.”

Her words struck me and held on. Like she’d plunged her fist into my chest, wrapping her little fingers around my shriveled heart, squeezing tight.

Discomfort swam in me. Karag didn’t speak of such things so freely. Though perhaps the Dakkari did.

“You said Zaridan holds sway in this territory? What did you mean?” she asked, stepping toward me.

The Elthika in question was perched to the far left, curled up and resting along the cliff edge. But the spikes of her ears, whichusually flattened against her skull in flight, were perked and twitching at the slightest sound.

Klara leaned against a rocky boulder, crossing her ankles in front of her as she regarded me. The pose lengthened her legs, encased in her tight trews. I couldn’t help but look. Did her cheeks pinken because of it?

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