Page 95 of The Horde King of Shadow

All I knew was that it would be hell to see her like that. To see her a shell of the female before me now, with tears shimmering in her eyes and a soft, hopeful smile on her features.

Her mother raised her beautifully,came the sudden thought. But why keep that to myself?

And so I repeated the thought out loud, my voice gruff but certain, and I was rewarded with a radiant smile. I felt deep affection swell in my chest, a feeling that was becoming more and more difficult to ignore when it came to Klara. I rubbed at it, not sure I’d ever felt it so keenly, so heavily before.

“I wish I was more like her,” she told me, pulling away to trail her fingers through the starlight grass at the edge of the spread blanket. We were whispering in the meadow like two young lovers who’d snuck away from a village to be together. “Growing up, my mother longed for freedom more than anything else. I’ve been having this overwhelming thought that she would havelovedto fly with the Elthika. It would have suited her perfectly. She was brave and fearless. She savored moments, like she was memorizing every last detail. She was this warm, perfect beacon of wildness and joy. She had the loudest laugh in the entire horde. I remember her laugh so distinctly, even though I’ve begun to forget her face.”

There was solemn grief mixed in with her soft smile as she spoke about her mother. I remembered my own. My mother’s quietness, her distant love, her mental retreat from me. Shehadbecome a shell because her body had betrayed her. Perhaps she’d kept me at arm’s length so that it would hurt less…when the inevitable happened.

I couldn’t help but think that our mothers were opposites of one another…and they had both loved us in different ways.

“I hate most of all that she grew fearful,” Klara told me. “She changed in Dothik, especially after my dreams became more and more frequent. Anything to protect me, to hide me from the priestesses’ watchful eye. Their ever-watchful eye. I think I became afraid too.”

Swiftly, I pulled her into my lap, catching her quick gasp, but I couldn’t stomach the defeat I heard in her voice. I rolled until we were lying on the blanket, with her stretched out underneath me, her hair a wild, wind-swept halo around her head.

“Oh,” she breathed, her eyes reflecting the falling stars above us as she looked at me.

I leaned down. She arched up, but I didn’t capture her lips in the kiss I so desperately wanted to give her. Instead, my gentle words brushed her ear as I said, “You are beautiful…Klara Dirak’zar.”

She sucked in a sharp breath, as I felt a sense ofrightnesstake root within me, spreading through bone and vein. It was the first time I’d ever called her that. It was the first time I’d ever claimed her for my own line.Ourline. The name our children would one day bear.

“Klara Dirak’zar of Rath Serok and Rath Drokka, queen of the Sarrothian. I hope you know how much of a rarity you are,” I finished, pulling back so I could meet her eyes. She looked struck. Surprised. “And you were wrong on the wildlands outside Dothik that night. Youdohave a great name, and it will be remembered long after you’re gone. And when you claim your Elthika, you will claim their name as well. You will be a fearsome thing.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. Her expression was serene. Her hands came to press into my chest, curling her fingers into the scales, and I wished it was off of me. I wished I could feel thenaked press of her skin against my own. It had been too long already. “Kakkira vor.”

“I don’t see you as a tool for me to use, Klara,” I said again, risking this calm, pleasant moment to bring this thread of conversation back to the forefront. But I needed her to understand how I felt.

“Sarkin—”

“Let me say this so you never have to doubt again,” I said, brushing my fingers over her scar on the side of her face. “You were marked for me. I believe in no god or goddess in this life except in my Elthika. She marked you for me. And I answered her call.”

I felt her breathing quicken against my chest.

“We may never understand the Elthika. Not fully. They live on a different plane of existence from us. They draw their energy from heartstones, their power is like the sun to them. They are magical beings, gods and goddesses in their own right,” I said. “And Zaridan led me to you. As a rider, you learn much from your bonded Elthika and they learn from you, more than you thought possible.”

“What did she teach you?” Klara asked.

My lips quirked. “Patience and discipline. I was reckless once.”

“I can’t imagine that,” she confessed.

I brushed my thumb over her cheekbone. “My purpose in saying this is that you were a gift to me,aralye. Not a weapon to use against your people. I will spend our lives learning from you, just as I have from Zaridan. My only request is that you continue to have some patience with me.”

Her gaze warmed. She had that same struck expression, like she was seeing me for the first time.

Perhaps she was. For this was the first time I’d ever truly felt open with her.

“Of course,” she whispered. “Of course, Sarkin.”

“And I meant what I said earlier. You can ask me whatever you want, and I’ll answer you.”

She smiled. Leaning forward, she pressed a kiss to my lips, a chaste thing, but it made me restless for more.

“Let’s just enjoy tonight,” she said, her eyes trailing past me to look at the falling-star storm overhead. “Let’s just enjoy each other. We have a lifetime to talk. And we have meat pies to eat.”

I chuckled, though I’d be lying if I said a part of me wasn’t relieved. Tonight was a first step in the right direction for us. As long as she understood I would take that journey with her, that was all that mattered.

“Sarkin.”

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