Page 17 of The Horde King of Shadow

As if I were outside of my body, I felt myself move. Zaridan’s wing was surprisingly steady, like unyielding earth, beneath my feet, a testament to her strength. The climb was steep, my footing uncertain, the weight of my satchel at my back throwing me off balance.

I heard Sarkin’s sharp, impatient exhale when I nearly stumbled, catching words under his breath that I didn’t understand.

Zaridan breathed deeply, lifting her wing, and I cried out, landing hard on the mount, right into Sarkin’s side, my satchel nearing falling off my shoulder. My face was burning with fear and mortification, knowing my family had witnessed the pitiful scene. I wasn’t used to being so on display, but I could feel dozens of eyes directly on me.

“Sit behind me. Find your balance and hold my waist tight. If you fall, you’re dead. Remember that, princess,” Sarkin rasped. The mounting saddle was as hard as a boulder between my thighs, though I guessed it was marginally better than Zaridan’s scales. For a moment, he said nothing as my arms wound around his body, digging into his unyielding strength.

My breath was coming out in quick gasps and pants…and we weren’t even off the ground. Overhead, I heard the others flying.

“Learn quickly,” Sarkin said. His voice might’ve been quiet, but there was no mistaking the menace in it. “The Sarrothian will never accept you otherwise.”

Those words sounded like a promise.

With that, Sarkin’s hand tightened on two black tethers hooked into place.

“Thryn’ar.”

I felt Zaridan’s body respond to his command. She seemed to hum to life, vibrating in her unmistakable power. Heat rushed. I swore I could feel her heartbeat, and for a moment, my fear was replaced by awe.

I felt her launch from the ground. One moment we were stationary. The next, the air was hurtling around us and we climbed higher and higher at a steep, terrifying angle. My stomach dropped at the unfathomable speed, the pins in my hair whipping out immediately.

The wind was so loud that I couldn’t hear myself scream.

But then we leveled out. Already I was panting and could barely hear over my pounding heartbeat.

“You’ll leave your own scar on me with those claws,” Sarkin grumbled when the world quieted again. I was gripping him so tight I was surprised Ihadn’tdrawn his blood.

Yet I didn’t loosen my grip. I didn’t care if I hurt him.

When the other nine dragons fell into formation around us, with Zaridan in the lead, though flying lower than the rest, I couldn’t help but look behind me.

There was Dakkar. In all its expansive, wild beauty. In the rising sun, I’d never thought it looked more beautiful. The mountains, the plains, the river that ran toward the coast from Dothik…

Outside the East Gate, my brother was a mere speck on the earth, growing smaller and smaller by the moment.

And Iknewthen…this was how the Karag saw us. Mere specks. How could they not on the backs of their mighty dragons?

I swayed, going dizzy. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the height. I imaged myself falling. How long until I reached the ground?

“Turn forward,” Sarkin ordered me.

In front of us was Drukkar’s Sea, glittering and seemingly endless.

My future lay beyond it.

The moment we crossed the threshold of the continent’s coastline, flying past the jagged cliffs and rocky shores beyond Bekkar’s Shield…I couldn’t stop the tears that dripped from my cheeks, though the wind whipped them away mercilessly. I imagined them landing in the sea below us.

Though Sarkin had ordered me to turn forward, I disobeyed him.

My heart ached as I watched my homeland become a mere speck behind us too.

Chapter 7

SARKIN

The storm hit hard in the late afternoon.

Levanth, my navigator wing, had been tracking the storm system through the night—I knew she’d barely slept. And just as we passed over where the Dakkari’s sea met our own, the dark clouds turned the day into night, just where she’d predicted.

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