Page 120 of The Horde King of Shadow

“Ever since my mother died, I’ve felt like an outsider. Long before I ever came to Karak. I know what it feels like to be dismissed. Overlooked. I know what it feels like to be whispered about, for others to judge your worth before you ever even speak to them,” I said, thinking about all the years living in my father’spalace. Dannik had tried to shield me, but he’d only been able to do so much. “Then I came here, and I was on trial all over again in the eyes of your people. I willnotlive my life here feeling as I always have. I will not be ignored. I will not be made to feel small. And so, I would have been back at the Tharken cliffs, year after year, if that was what it took to prove myself.Ineeded to believe that. I needed you to believe that too. Your horde is your everything, Sarkin. I couldn’t disappoint you because it would’ve been a disappointment to myself.”

“You’re my everything now, you fool,” he said simply, so nonchalantly that for a second I thought I hadn’t heard him right. “Can’t you see that?”

I blinked. “What?”

Sarkin scrubbed his hand over his face. He lookedtired, I realized. The first time I’d ever really seen him this tired.Worn.

“I felt fear today that I haven’t felt—ever,” he confessed, those eyes burning into mine as the words dripped from his tongue. “Seeing you on that ledge, I was faced with the possibility that I couldn’t save you if something went wrong.”

“But I?—”

“No, now it’s my turn,” he rasped. I bit my tongue. “Youscaredme today, Klara. Scared me to the point that I was confronted with a reality in which I couldloseyou. And that frightened me. More than anything ever has.”

My heart went fluttery and heavy all at once. “Really?”

“I felt so fuckinghelpless,” he said gruffly, raking his hand through his tousled hair. “This morning, I realized that you’ve somehow managed to steal this cold, shriveled thing I call my heart…just like you stole my Elthika, you little thief.”

I thought it inappropriate to smile, but he sounded so damned grumpy about it that I couldn’t help the small one that slipped.

“Really?” I whispered, my eyes going watery.

Sarkin closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. I watched them shift beneath his lids, going back and forth, and I reached forward to place my other hand on the center of his chest. To my surprise, his heartwasrapid, a pounding drum beneath my palm.

“Zaridan would do whatever you asked of her,” he finally said. His eyes flashed open to regard me. “And I would too.”

A bloom of realization, soft and gentle, spread like warmth from a fire. Something I’d only ever dared to wish for.

“You love me,” I declared.

He inclined his head. “On Muron, I do. I love you,aralye.”

I grinned, feeling like sparks of joy were sizzling in every vein of my body. Sarkin might never be the type of male to express exactly what he felt. Hewasa Sarrothian, after all. A king. He could be brooding and detached, internalizing many of his emotions—out of necessity and stemming from his old wounds. But he could also be passionate and sensually bold. Cutting yet charming. They were all the facets that made him who he was, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

“I love you too,” I breathed, smiling though my vision blurred, “in case it wasn’tcompletelyobvious.”

I reached up to wind my arms around his neck. He was comforting and warm, a solid presence against me and an unyielding pillar of support. How could I not have fallen in love with him?

He breathed in deeply, embracing me back.

“I should’ve listened to you, Klara,” he said softly. “When you told me about Lygath.”

I pulled back so I could meet his eyes. “Please know this, Sarkin. I would haveneverrisked my life, knowing how you would feel, if I believed Lygath would reject me again. I wouldn’t do that to you. I was as certain about him as I am about you.”

“How did you know?” he asked.

“I found Lygath in my dreams. Early this morning. He was in the meadow where we watched the starfall. I think he might’ve seen us there, that night. I think he called me to him, leading me there, like a beacon.”

“You can dream walk,” he said. There was a prick of awe in his tone.

I swallowed. “It’s possible. My ancestor, Vienne…she could speak to others in her dreams, even if they were dead. She saw things. It’s possible part of her gift is now mine, passed down through bloodlines.”

“And what happened with Lygath?”

“I just talked to him,” I said. “He was so…lonely. He’s not vengeful or full of rage. He’ssad. He felt the bond though. He started to give me hissy’asha. I knew what I had to do after you told me about your father. I was never going to rest until I could be seen as an equal in your horde’s eyes. And Lygath gave me that gift of a bond. He’d already made his choice when he came to Tharken. So, you see, I was never in any danger.”

He brought his forehead to mine. “Never sneak away like that again, Klara.Please.I should’ve listened to you, yes. You felt you couldn’t tell me what you needed to do, and I will forever feel the guilt of that. But from now on, we never hide anything from each other.Lysi?”

I didn’t like that he feltguilty, but I knew that he wouldn’t hear otherwise. And so, I nodded against him. I pressed a kiss to his lips.

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