The Horde King of Shadow
HORDES OF THE ELTHIKA
BOOK ONE
ZOEY DRAVEN
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Copyright © 2024 by Zoey Draven
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, places, or persons are purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Editing by Mandi Andrejka at Inky Pen Editorial Services
For more information visit www.ZoeyDraven.com
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The Horde King of Shadow
The fearsome creature came from across Drukkar’s Sea…and there was a rider on its back.
As a scholar in Dothik’s library, Klara has spent her life trying to understand the strange dreams that have plagued her since she was a child—visions of dragons and a world with no written record. Rejected by her royal bloodline after her mother’s death, Klara hides her chilling secret, knowing her rare magic could get her killed.
But when a dragon suddenly appears in Dothik, those dreams become a monstrous reality.
Sarkin Dirak’zar, king of the Sarrothian horde, cares only about finding heartstones—the dwindling power source for their revered dragons. Ice-cold and merciless, the last thing Sarkin wants is a wife, especially a weak and unwanted princess who likely won’t last one night on dragonback. Yet the key to acquiring heartstones lies in Klara’s visions, and so he gives her a cruel choice: marry him to save her people…or let Dothik burn.
Her first duty as queen? Claim a dragon of her own. What’s even more alarming is that unexpected desire begins to simmer with her beguiling but guarded husband...even though his barbed cage of a heart is only meant to keep her away.
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Contents
Content Considerations
Karag Glossary
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Epilogue
Bonus Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Connect with Zoey
Also by Zoey Draven
Thank You!
About the Author
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Content Considerations
The Horde King of Shadow contains some themes and depictions that might be sensitive to certain readers. Please click here for a full list of content considerations.
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Karag Glossary
Akymor: holiday after Elthikan mating season
Aralye: darling or ‘sweet’
Arasykin: heartstones
Elthika: dragon race; ‘death wind’ in Karag
Endrassa: thank you
Ethrall: death mist
Faryn: stop
Illa’rosh: choosing ritual at the Tharken cliffs
Sy’asha: dragon song
Karath: territory leader
Kya’rassa: rider horde
Lyiss: rest
Mysar: divine, mandatory atonement commands
Naro: apple-like fruit
Osh’ila: a novice rider
Sen endrassa: thank you (sen is a respectful term when used to address an Elthika)
Sethra: diving command
Shy’rissa: sleep
Sorrina: queen
Syn’ra: pleasure bump
Tarosh: work
Thalara: heartstone tree
Thryn’ar: flying command
Thryn’rosh: the final commitment ceremony
Trilikki: pepper spice on Dakkar
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PrologueKLARA
The fearsome creature came from across Drukkar’s Sea.
At the time of the first sighting, I had yet to be born, but I’d heard the stories all my life. Over the years, the account of that fateful day—the day the entirety of Dakkar realized it knew nothing at all—had become so tangled and twisted that it was difficult to ascertain what was true and what was merely grotesque, frightened fantasy.
Had the creature landed on the rocky shores of the West Lands and viciously gobbled up a traveling horde? Or had the creature stalked the horde on its travels, disappearing from view with a lift of its mighty wings whenever threatened, vanishing into the cloud cover like a ghost? Or had the horde stabbed it through the heart with a volley of spears and arrows, one striking true, and it had fallen to Kakkari’s earth with a great tremble, its body sinking into the soil upon its death?
No one knew the truth anymore.
But what held true was that after that first sighting, nearly a year later, another creature had been discovered. Again in the West Lands. Again it was thought to have landed among the rocky shores of Drukkar’s Sea. The saruk—a small village—of Rath Hidri was near. The Sorakkar himself, a trusted and great leader descended from that ancient bloodline, had told the king what he’d seen.
The creature had circled the saruk, flying in the sky, its great wings flapping hard enough to send gusts of wind swirling below. It circled the saruk for three days, using the dense, coastal fog in the mornings to remain unseen, though the beat of its wings had been like the throbbing of a mighty heart. No one had slept. Many had retreated into the forests, hiding their children and sheltering beneath the thick boughs, until the creature had left, until it had become quiet again.
It was the Sorakkar’s account that had sparked fear and hysteria and awe among Dakkar’s people. The news had traveled quickly until it spread from village to village, from horde to horde.
What great creature, larger than any witnessed and catalogued in our lands, could fly?
And where had it come from? What lay beyond the shores of our land?
Ships had been built on the foundation of that question, explorers and warriors sent across the tumultuous waves at regular intervals for the next several years. Some had been gone for months, though eventually most of them returned with no news of discovery. One ship had been lost forever, never to return.
Memory faded. Many stopped looking up at the sky in trepidation every morning. Another horde king was selected, the ensuing grand celebration in Dothik helping to dampen and distract from our fear. Another saruk was built in the South Lands. Life continued, though there were those who believed it was foolish to ever pretend to forget.
