Page 10 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

A sob leaves Lilis’s lips before she drags in a sharp breath. “You should have ended me while you could, Stellen.”

For the first time since he fell to his knees, Stellen’s focus flickers to me. His unearthly eyes meet mine through the strands of his bloodied hair.

I don’t know what is passing between him and Lilis, what unspoken pain exists between them, but I know what he wants me to do.

He wants me to run. Not to him. Away.

Before the battle, he told me that if anything went wrong, I was to escape. He urged me to go directly west to the Alak-Teah, a protected forest where I can find safety.

Now, his unspoken command beats at me with all the fury of his cold heart: Run, Thyra. Stay alive.

He told me he would do anything to make the world safe for me.

He told me he couldn’t give me love, but he could give me the yellow ribbon that he braided into my hair.

He told me…

But his silences mattered more.

If I leave him now, I’m certain he will find his final silence. If he was going to fight back, he would have done it already. With his Voice, he could decimate every single being in this field. He could save himself.

Damn him for letting my heart break.

A fresh trickle of blood forces his lips to part, his soft murmur reaching my ears across the painfully short distance still between us. “Fear will not control me. Loss will not control me…”

Where she stands in front of him, Lilis gives a seething whisper. “Your cruelty is endless, Stellen Nas’Lethian.”

With that, she strikes.

Chapter Three

Maxim, King of Ember

Heatwaves billow across the border, bringing the horrifying scent of burning metal.

I crouch near an Ember Tower, the back of my neck prickling, the scorching sun beating at me as sharply as my instincts warn me of danger.

All morning, I’ve patrolled the border between my kingdom and the Iron Kingdom, assessing my warriors’ readiness for war. My cousin Kaiba, who is also the general in my army, joined me on patrol, heading east with me and now westward again. By accompanying me, he eases my presence near my warriors.

I’m a danger to all of them.

Moments ago, my golden serpent set down on the sand a hundred paces north of this tower located near the midpoint of the border. I’m far enough away that the Ember warriors manning the tower won’t fear imminent death from my flames, even if that’s an illusion. If my fire were to burst out of my control, it would reach far beyond that tower.

But I had good reason for stopping in this location.

Here, a break in the mountain range leaves my kingdom most heavily exposed to invasion.

When I became king, I had extra towers built along this flat expanse between mountains, forcing Antony to build extra Iron Towers too. An Iron Tower opposite every Ember Tower.

But Antony is no longer the Iron King.

His youngest brother, Hadrian, has usurped him.

Hadrian is the first Iron Fae with the power to control iron dust, a deadly skill. All fae, even Iron Fae, suffer extreme burns from contact with iron metal. Burns as severe as those caused by Ember fire.

For the past week, I’ve worked to ensure my warriors are ready to burn iron dust from the air. I’m confident in their skills. After all, we deal with sandstorms all the time. Their clothing is already fire-resistant and they wear hoods and masks to protect against the grit that swirls in our air. They even practiced on plumes of sand, mastering the skill of widening their flames to burn every grain to ash.

The insidious metallic scent that now fills my chest sets my teeth on edge.