“I don’t know you, Sarkin,” she whispered. “I have no idea what you would or would not do. I know nothing of the Karag. Nothing of the Elthika. I know what I saw. And I saw your own rider horde react in a specific way when you went off with her. Alone,” she said again. “Into a dark forest. What would you have me think?”

Bright anger tightened in my chest. The dishonor she thought me capable of…it was maddening!

“I know these forests better than most, Klara,” I snapped. “Levanth needed my help locating the closest stream for our water supply. I showed it to her so she could direct others to it, and then I returned to the camp. To you.”

A sharp breath left her. “Oh.”

“Let me ask you this,” I began, trying to keep tight restraints on my temper. “Do you expect your husband to be in your bed alone? To never stray? Even given the circumstances of this marriage?”

Her brow furrowed. A spark of her own irritation shone hot in her eyes, and the mere sight tightened my abdomen. “How could I even begin to answer that? There’s too many factors to⁠—”

“Your heart’s reaction, then,” I exclaimed, my voice beginning to rise, pressing my hand to the thundering beat of her chest. Her eyes widened. “Don’t think. Give me an answer. Now!”

“Yes,” she breathed, glaring. “Yes, then.”

“Tell me why.”

“Because I’m the child of an affair, of a broken sacred vow, spoken before Kakkari!” she retorted. “It hurt a lot of people, including me.”

Shock went through me. My lips pressed together, and I leaned back, understanding dawning.

“You…you must have known. You’ve been watching us for a long time.”

“I didn’t,” I confessed. “We were there to observe, not to ask questions that would get us exposed.”

To the Karag, especially the Sarrothian…her birth would certainly cast Klara in a bad light if the truth got out. The Sarrothian were a regimented people, almost to a fault. Rarely did they see the shades of gray in this life. They saw right or they saw wrong. And if you fell onto the wrong side of that divide…it would take you years to be seen as an equal again.

Memories were long, unshakeable things among the Sarrothian.

I would know that better than anyone.

“Then we are in agreement,” I finally grunted.

Her lips parted in disbelief. “What? Agreement about what?”

“We arrive to the Arsadia soon. We will seal this marriage, and I expect you to uphold your oaths to me, your husband,” I said. “Just as I will to you.”

Realization was dawning over her expression.

“Levanth and I were involved once. When we were young, not old enough to know better, and never since. But I trust her with my life, just as I do with all those in the kya’rassa—my rider horde,” I told her. “Believe me or not. That is for you to decide. But do not accuse me on a whim when you know nothing about what I value.”

Klara held my eyes. She must have heard some truth in my words because she said quietly, “I’m sorry.”

“The Elthika,” I began, matter-of-factly, “mate for life, and so they choose carefully, if at all. They never stray from their bonded mates. It creates unnecessary division within a legacy. It is not romantic, Klara, so get that out of your mind. A mate bond is logical, bordering on cold, and it takes discipline. The Sarrothian believe what the Elthika believe, more than any other Karag might.”

Did I spy a flash of disappointment? “I didn’t know,” she said.

“Now you do,” I said simply, releasing her and stepping away.

I’d laid it out for her. I didn’t want her to think this would be a passionate, consuming union between us. Perhaps she had wanted a marriage like that. Perhaps she had wanted a love like in her precious history books, of the Vorakkar of old and their mates…but she wouldn’t find it with me. I wouldn’t allow that. Love was a distraction and nothing more.

Better to disappoint her now so she knows exactly what she’s committing to before the Arsadia, I reasoned.

“Anything else you wish to address?”

She rubbed at her forearm as a cool breeze made her shiver. “How…how do you expect your people to ever accept me?”

I inhaled a slow breath. I shouldn’t have been surprised by her oddly vulnerable question. My chest even gave a little twist, my instincts telling me to comfort her. I’d watched her get rejected by numerous Sarrothian tonight.

“Klara,” I said, waiting until she met my eyes. I spied sadness there. Loneliness. And it made even more discomfort wiggle in my chest. “Don’t get discouraged by the horde. And tonight…you handled it better than I expected.”

She snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. “By slinking back to Zaridan?”

“Who presented you with her sy’asha for all the horde to hear,” I growled. She blinked and then looked over at my Elthika. “She honored you tonight, and she knew exactly what she was doing.”

“But why don’t you do that?” she asked. “If I’m to be your queen and you leave me so quickly to my own devices, as if you cannot wait to get away from me, what image does that present to the Sarrothian?”

“Klara,” I bit out. “The horde values strength. I’m doing you a favor, whether you see it or not. They need to see you stand on your own. They need to see that you are comfortable with Zaridan, that she respects you to obey your commands. And this is only the beginning.”

“You…you’ve been calculating out how they see me,” she realized softly. “You planned this. It was a test?”

“An opportunity,” I corrected. “I won’t lie to you. You are an outsider, a Dakkari—who no one will trust because they know you are not loyal to me or to the Sarrothian.”

She opened her mouth, her brow furrowed.

“It’s the truth,” I rasped. “Because given the choice, this very moment, would you not turn your back and return to your true home? If I promised to release you from a marriage and no harm would come to your people? Wouldn’t you wish to be back in Dothik by tomorrow? We could leave right now.”

“You don’t know what I would choose,” she argued softly, and I stilled at the surprising honesty I heard in her voice. “There are many reasons for me to be here, and some of them don’t concern you at all. Or your people.”

“That may be the case, but it proves my point. None of your reasons are out of loyalty.”

She didn’t answer, just raised her chin slightly, as if in challenge. And I felt the burn of her sass curl straight to my cock.

Much too long since I’ve had a female, I thought, irritated.

“Let them see your strength,” I rasped. “This rider season will be tough on you. But as queen to the Sarrothian, there is deep-seated expectation that you cannot ignore. And the first test will be your strength and your willpower. You’re much too small and weak to claim an Elthika of your own.”

She sputtered, her eyes wide. “Excuse me?”

“But they will never accept you if you don’t, so…you will have to claim one regardless.”

Her jaw dropped. “What?”

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Chapter 14KLARA

“You need sleep,” Sarkin growled into my ear once I descended down Zaridan’s wing. I nearly cried in happiness when I stepped foot on the earth. Nearly fell to my knees too, every muscle in my body on the verge of giving out.

“Don’t worry about me,” I said, though I felt the heaviness of my eyelids threaten to close.

“I told you—you don’t need to fear sleep. You think I’ll let you wander away again?” Sarkin argued. “I don’t make the same mistakes twice.”

I believed him. And yet…I’d barely slept since the night I’d seen the heartstone forest in my dreams. We’d been traveling to the Arsadia for the last two days and nights. We’d stopped again last night, at the edge of a vast, wide lake that tumbled down into a waterfall. Even though we’d flown up to yet another cliffside for Zaridan’s sake, away from the camp, I couldn’t relax enough to rest and I’d been too exhausted to speak.