Page 127 of The Horde King of Shadow

I’d brought up the terms to Sarkin, and he’d presented them. In exchange for the location of thethalaratree and half of the heartstones that were still rooted within the earth, my father would have to agree to strip the priestesses’ power in the North Lands. He would have to return back to the old customs, where the only people allowed to step foot within the temple were priestesses whochoseto dedicate their lives to Kakkari, our goddess.

No longer would they have free rein to take anyone who showed signs of having heartstone magic. No longer would they try to create heartstones with experimental practices, killing innocent people in the process. It was an abomination, what they’d been allowed to do. Too long my father had ignored their growing, hungry power. If it wasn’t checked and bound now, I feared what would happen.

“It’s for the best,” I repeated. “Surely you know that.”

“I do. But their power stretches far, Klara. They have their influence in every horde, every outpost, every district in Dothik. It will not be easy to extinguish their reach entirely,” Dannik pointed out, sighing.

“This will be a start,” I said. Lowering my voice, I said, “And once you take the throne, I know that you will be a strong king, one whose mind is not swayed by greed and power.”

“And what if I don’t want it?” Dannik asked quietly, a strange tone in his voice that had me straightening.

“What?” I whispered, quick and sharp.

He smiled, but it didn’t quite meet his eyes. He stood while I frowned up at him, my heartbeat quickening in my chest.

I…I had never asked him if he evenwantedthe throne. I supposed I had always assumed because he was so well suited for it.

“Do you think that King Arik and Queen Kara intended the throne to always pass through bloodlines? Wasn’t that the knotted mess that they’d been trying to unravel in the first place?” Dannik asked. “Maybe it’s time for the people of Dothik to choose their king or queen. Maybe we should be more like the Karag in that regard. Or like the hordes of our wildlands that have withstood centuries of hardship and still have managed to flourish.”

I stood, taking his hands in mine. “If that’s what you want,” I replied, sincerely. “Perhaps we can help you make that change, but I don’t think it will be easy.”

“Nik,” he replied.No.“It won’t. Don’t listen to me. It feels like years have passed since you left. I’m merely…tired. And I don’t have the luxury of being tired.”

“Sarkin gets like that sometimes,” I told him. “When so many rely on you, the weight of it gets heavy.”

“How does he stand it?”

I laughed. “Maybe you need a wife. He says that I’ve helped him.”

“Maybe I do,” Dannik said, the corner of his lip quirking, though the rest of his expression remained serious. “Regardless, I do think the heartstones would help. Because when this one dies…” He gestured behind him. “I fear what will happen.”

“Then sway Father,” I said, squeezing his familiar palm. “That’s the only way forward. That’s the only way to a stronger Dakkar—one allied with the Karag. It would be a new age for us all.”

His eyes were bright. “It would,” he agreed.

I smiled. “And I, for one, would love to see that.”

Chapter 44

SARKIN

One week later…

Deep in a forest called the Ancient Groves, I stood by Klara’s side as we watched the Dakkari-steel chains fastened around thethalara’s wide trunk.

It was a beautiful tree—black with graceful, regal boughs and white, velvety leaves, highlighted with blue veins.

It was an oldthalaratree. And it was different than all the ones I’d ever studied. This might’ve been the oldest I’d ever seen, and I could feel the raw power swirling from it, drawing in energy from its surrounding, feeding on it to grow the dying heartstones at its roots.

Across the clearing, theDothikkarstood with Dannik. The old king and, potentially, the new one. There were a few of his council members. Gevanth and Harnek stood close by. Alaryk had remained as well, though he’d sent his commander back to Grym to relay to Elysom that what were now known as the Heartstone Accords had been struck with the Dakkari.

In these accords were our agreements.

Each nation would get half of the heartstone yield. Seventy percent of each yield would be replanted into careful groves ofthalaraorchards, just like the forests that used to grow in the Arsadia. A handful of experts would come from Karak to assist the Dakkari in their growing and care, ensuring that the trees would be healthy to sustain heartstone yields for centuries.

The remaining heartstones could be used as we saw fit. But theDothikkarhad finally agreed to curb the priestesses’ power in the North Lands, to stop trying to create heartstones, especially after we had told him such a thing was not possible. Did I believe it would happen?

I would like to. But I had seen greed for decades, even in Sarroth before I’d taken the throne from the previous king. I was more than a little jaded, especially when it came to the promises of strangers.

---