Page 1 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

My story so far…

THYRA

There’s nothing peaceful about my existence.

The Dragonstone Blade embedded in my arm carries the terrible curse that was cast by the False Queen, who was the first female Oracle ever born.

Her curse ripped the Kingdom of Serulia into three kingdoms and forced them into an endless war.

When I tried to take a first step toward breaking the curse, I was exposed to a blood bind made of dark runes. Those runes are now attached to the image of the ivory ribbon that trails along and around my arm.

At first, I didn’t know what the blood bind was doing to me.

Then I discovered that the bind changed the nature of my blade visions—visions I don’t control that are induced by the blade. For the past week, my blade visions have only happened while I was asleep and because of that, I remained completely unaware of them.

Every night, the blood bind has been quietly siphoning each of the three kings’ powers and giving those strengths to me.

Not so much that I can control frost or iron or flames. Not yet. But enough to make me physically stronger, more agile, and more resistant to the cold—even overheated at times. The sharpness of my hearing and eyesight have increased. I’ve become more resilient. More volatile…

More dangerous.

If the blood bind is left unchecked, it will keep draining the kings’ powers and I don’t know where that will lead. Or where it will end.

But I won’t stop fighting this fate I’ve been dealt.

I refuse to give in.

I will fight for love and hope until my last breath.

Chapter One

Stellen, Prince of Frost

TEN YEARS AGO

My death will protect the ones I love.

An icy wind sweeps across the arena, tugging at my white tunic and pants, my simple clothing, while up in the stands, my father, the Frost King, looks on, his body swathed in fur, his fingers coated in silver rings, and a sneer on his face that he reserves only for me.

His hated son.

I am the son who dared to step between his fists and my mother’s body and say: No more.

I’m prepared to die for her and my sister. I’ve chosen this path and I’m at peace with it. This morning, my mother sang a final song to me, a melody that will keep my heartbeats calm and my mind focused, undaunted by the pain, until the end.

A hush has fallen over the onlookers because it’s time.

Up on the stand behind my father, the timekeeper rings the bell.

On this day, at this hour, twenty years ago, I was born, and now it is time for me to die.

It’s been this way since the False Queen cast her curse and broke the Kingdom of Serulia into three: Frost, Iron, and Ember. The first Frost King decreed that when his youngest child came of age, all three of his heirs would fight to the death until only one remained. He built this arena within the inner circle just north of the palace for that very purpose.

Now I wait, not for my little sister, whose life is more precious to me than my own. Or for my mother, whose tears dampened my cheeks when I hugged her goodbye.

I wait for my older brother, Sorley. The son my father loves. The son whose hunger for power allowed me to make a deal: my life for our sister’s.

I will not try to win. I will not use my Lethian Voice. I will make a show of fighting to ensure Sorley’s pride can hold, but I will fall in this battle and hand him the throne.