Page 97 of The Horde King of Shadow

“Let me think,” she said, her tone relaxed and languid. “Hmmm…what does Zaridan’s name mean?”

I chuckled. “What made you think ofthat?”

She shrugged her shoulder, her hand returning to my back to explore more of me, tracing over deep ridges of muscles and raised edges of scars. “You said I could ask you anything.”

“That I did,” I said, huffing out my lazy amusement. “Her name comes from a word that meansshadow.Zarikin.”

“That seems fitting,” she replied. “Did you name her?”

“No. She was first seen over a century ago,” I told her. “I read the records in Elysom myself. A horde traveling to the Arsadia from the north. They typically pass over the Zarikin Mountains on their way here. That’s where we believe she lived before I bonded with her.”

“She lived there with Lygath?”

“Yes,” I answered. “Or so the stories tell. The Elthika are nomadic by nature, much like your Dakkari hordes. But they do tend to return to one location more often than others, where, more times than not, they choose to nest. To hatch their young.”

“But Zaridan never took a mate, right? Or had hatchlings of her own?”

“Not yet,” I said. “The Vyrin are particular and stubborn, like I told you. As such, there are not many left.”

She went quiet, processing the information.

“And Lygath?” she asked.

“What about him?”

“What does his name mean?”

“Ah,” I murmured. “It meansghost.Spirit.Wraithling. If you ever saw him, you’d understand why. He’s so quiet. He appears out of thin air sometimes. You never hear or see him coming unless he wants you to know.”

“What?” she whispered, frowning, pressing up from my chest. Even I sensed the sudden, startling change that went through her. “Quiet, you say?”

“Yes,” I said. “Why?”

“He’s silver? A little smaller than Zaridan?”

I stilled. Silver-scaled Elthika were rare. “Yes.”

“I—I think I may have seen him.”

My heart leapt in my chest.

“Where, Klara?”

There hadn’t been an actual sighting of him foryears. He’d hidden from Zaridan, even.

“At the Tharken cliffs. That night, just as we were leaving. I?—”

She cut herself off, looking down at her own lap, unseeing. She shook her head.

“What is it?” I asked, sitting up to cup her cheek with my palm, lifting her face so I could see her eyes. “You’re sure you saw him?”

“Ever since she marked me, I’ve always seen Zaridan in my dreams,” she told me. “But I’ve always seen another too. For even longer than Zaridan.”

I jerked. “What?”

“I saw him in my dream when I went over the cliff that night in Sarroth. There was an Elthika flying over the heartstone forest, and I was running, trying to chase him down.”

She shook her head as a knot lodged itself into my chest.

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