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I watched them dance. They swayed and weaved in the moonlit sky, dipping and circling together, flaring their wings wide or gliding them close to their bodies.
And the music…
When I closed my eyes, I heard their song. It was like the sy’asha, the whispered song of their scales, only it was joined by trills and guttural bellows. The beat of their wings were like the sound of drums. They produced a symphony in the sky, echoing off the mountain ranges and fu
Before I knew it they were right overhead, the gust of their wings creating a storm of wind, whipping my hair, tangling my dress against my ankles. I tracked Zaridan, watching as she joined their dance, swooping overhead in a looping motion, making me smile. She let out a longing cry.
“She’s looking for Lygath,” Sarkin observed quietly, as if he didn’t want to interrupt their song or the awe of this moment.
That breaks my heart, I couldn’t help but think as I squeezed Sarkin’s hand.
For long moments, we watched the hundreds of Elthika overhead, a special performance that I hoped I could see every year. We said nothing, but he kept my hand in his. Sarkin had gone out of his way to share this with me…I would never forget that.
Falling stars sizzled and glittered in the sky behind the Elthika, a magical backdrop that seemed too ethereal to be real.
When we finally sank back down onto the blankets, I was gri
Sarkin was quiet, watching me, and I spied something in his expression that I’d never seen before. Something that made my skin tingle, awareness making me shiver. An expression that made my heart begin to throb in my chest, a caged little monster wanting to be free.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” I said, a little breathless, feeling more of the wall between us chip away. “I’ll never forget this.”
The scales on Sarkin’s vest rustled together when he shifted forward. He wrapped his hand into the wild tendrils of my hair. I was open to his touch, lifting my chin.
“I’m not any good at this,” Sarkin’s soft voice came, sounding almost amused, though I also heard a thread of frustration. “I’ve never needed to be. But I am trying, Klara.”
“We can figure it out together,” I said softly. “We have to.”
“Ask me whatever you want tonight,” he told me. “I’ll answer your questions.”
I tried to hide my surprise by curling my fingers into his wrist. “Really?”
“Yes. But I want to ask you something first.”
“All right,” I said, not denying I was a little nervous by the seriousness in his expression.
“Did you really believe that I would have unleashed the ethrall on Dothik?”
I blinked.
“You did,” I reminded him softly, the question coming as a surprise though I answered swiftly. “Not for long, but you still did.”
He grunted. “Did you think I would have let anyone die?”
“In that moment?” I said, meeting his eyes, squeezing his wrist. “Yes. I didn’t know you then. I didn’t know your intentions or how far you would go to claim what you wanted.”
“And now?”
“No,” I breathed, my brow furrowing at the restlessness I heard in his tone. “Now I know you meant the ethrall as a bluff. You knew exactly how long to let it linger. But even if I didn’t give you what you wanted, you would have stopped it. You’re a good leader to your people, Sarkin. You’re honorable. You’re fair. You wanted to frighten us, and you succeeded. But I know you wouldn’t have hurt anyone.”
He inclined his head, processing my words, and I spied relief on his features. Was this what he had been worrying about? That I thought him a murderous monster?
“I…I keep thinking about what we fought about at the Tharken cliffs,” I admitted.
“Me too,” he grunted.
“It was wrong of me to suggest that you would seek war with my people,” I told him. “I’m sorry for that. But…they will always be my people, Sarkin. I will always think of Dakkar as home. It’s where I was happy once, it’s where I lived with my mother, it’s where Da
His tone was low when he admitted, “It was wrong of me to suggest that you choose.”
“I’ve already chosen,” I said, wanting him to understand that. “I won’t ever choose to return to Dakkar. I’m here now. With you.”
His swirled eyes—all the shades of bright golds, endless greens, and warm browns—flickered, his pupils widening. He was so beautiful that it hurt to look at him sometimes.
I pressed a kiss to his cheek to soften my next words, but they needed to be said. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I didn’t say them. “But that doesn’t mean I want to see my own people suffer. And at first, it hurt me to realize that you would use our marriage for your gain.”
His sharp breath whistled, and he reared back to meet my eyes.
“Did you mean that?” I asked, swallowing the fluttering of my heart.
“You’re not just a tool for me to use, Klara. You’re my wife. And I am as bonded to you as I am to Zaridan.”
“But I understand that this began as a kind of…political marriage,” I said. “I’m highly aware that there is a benefit for you, taking me as your wife. Just as I’m aware that I can be an advocate for my own people, to soften your sharp edges toward them.”
Sarkin tilted his head as the words bloomed between us. My hand slid down his wrist, following the ridges of his arm and up his shoulder. I stopped my exploration on his chest, feeling his breath rise and fall beneath my palm.
“Wives have swayed the minds of their husbands for centuries,” I whispered. “It’s an ancient understanding. I’ve been thinking about why I felt so hurt by our fight, and I think it’s not so much the knowledge that you might use our union for political benefit but that I’d be kept out of that decision. There’s nothing I hate more than being in the dark. Than being ignored or overlooked or cast aside. And I…I think…”
My cheeks went a little warm. Sarkin’s voice was rumbly when he commanded, “Tell me.”
“I think part of the reason why I chose to go with you was because you were the first person in a long time to actually see me,” I confessed, my vision going a little blurry. “To look at me and see someone of value. To look at me like I was a puzzle you needed desperately to solve. I’d been numb for so long. I’d felt alone. Then you appeared out of nowhere with your dusty Elthika-scale hands and your unrelenting ethrall. And it was like the flip of a page. A new chapter had begun. And suddenly I was forced to live again.”