Page 109 of The Horde King of Shadow

My heart twisted in my chest when I saw the drops of her tears roll down her face like translucent jewels.

“Aralye,” I breathed, going to her, sighing. I took her shoulders and then wiped away her tears with the pads of my thumbs. “It’s not your fault. Don’t ever think that. They made their choice.”

Coming from me, after what I’d experienced with Haden, I knew she understood what I was telling her. Sheknewit wasn’t her fault, that she couldn’t have prevented their falls. I’d been able to save one acolyte, but I knew she was thinking of the other.

“Don’t take on that guilt,” I ordered her. “Ever.”

“I’ll try not to,” she promised me. “But what do you recommend for the shame?”

I shoved down the urge to flinch at the words.

“I hear them talking about me. I feel their eyes,” she said, looking down at the ground. “You’re my husband, you’re their king. What does that make me?”

“My wife,” I growled. I cupped her face, lifting it so I could see her eyes. There was a lantern burning on the table, giving us a small glow of light. “The one I chose. The one I vowed myself to in Lishara’s temple.”

“And is that all I am to you?” she questioned softly, reaching up to place her hand over mine, though she didn’t remove it. “Is that my purpose here? To be your wife? To warm your bed and smile beside you? To support you, to agree with you?”

I scowled. “Of course not.”

“But that’s what they want, isn’t it?” she asked. “They won’t respect me now. Because even though I am your wife, I am not their equal.”

“You are their queen, and they will treat you as such,” I argued, hating the tone in her voice.

“Only if I give them reason to. And when I fell off Lygath, they cast their judgments on me,” she said. “This was my worst fear, Sarkin.Thisfeeling.”

I softened again when I saw her tears. I pulled her into me, and her face pressed into my chest.

“Aralye,” I murmured, restlessness stirring in my chest because I didn’t know how tofixthis. “I faced their fire too. Remember that.”

Her shoulders shuddered. There was something I needed to explain to her, something I’d been avoiding, something she’d likely heard about in passing but hadn’t asked me about. And it was something that would help her. That was all I wanted. To help her. To try to protect her heart and guard her against the horde.

“The Sarrothian’s fire is a trial in itself,” I continued. “But for me, it was doubly so.”

“Because of Haden?”

“No, because of my father.”

I felt her shoulders stiffen. She lifted her eyes until they met mine.

“Have you heard about him?”

“Briefly,” she admitted, her tone slightly sheepish. “Only that…his bonded Elthika rejected him after he stole Elthika eggs. That he was considered disgraced.”

My nostrils flared. “He was forever marked by that story. As was I.”

“Will you tell me about it?” she asked when my pause lingered too long, uncertainhow, or even where, to begin.

“Come,” I said, leading her over to our bed of furs. She followed, our fingers intertwined, and only when we were comfortably situated did I continue with “There’s more to the story.”

“There usually is,” she said. “I didn’t want to hear about it from anyone else but you.”

I pressed my lips to the back of her hand, feeling the softness of her skin.

“I will say this first because it is the ugly, tragic truth. My father killed my mother,” I said, matter-of-factly, hearing Klara’s gasp, “and then he followed her in death. It is not an easy thing to understand, but believe me, it was a mercy. And he did it because he loved her.”

Her brow furrowed. I saw the edges of her horror but also the desire to understand.

“Everyone else believes a different story, however. One spread by Elysom. My aunt, my mother’s sister, who you met at our keep in Sarroth, was responsible for the lie. Her and theKarathwho came before me.”

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