Page 133 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

Antony continues. “The least we can do is ask you: what do you want?”

What do I want?

Another sob tears out of me. I don’t try to suppress my tears. I’m not afraid to cry in front of them both. They’ve made me feel completely safe. Allowed to become a sobbing mess if that’s what I need.

My throat is tight with both pain and warmth. Oh, these conflicting sensations. “I need to stop this blood bind and heal your hearts. I will fight this dark magic with everything I have until…” My eyes widen with a sudden realization. “Wait…”

“Thyra?” Antony’s voice rumbles at my other ear, his lips pressed to my neck, completely unthreatening.

I speak carefully, working through my thoughts. “The blood bind strikes when I’m sleeping. Or if I’m awake when it strikes, it sends me into a dark sleep. But the last vision I had was… I don’t know, three? Three days ago. I spent two of those days unconscious. Has a blade vision struck either of you during that time?”

Antony’s shoulders move in a shrug, but he doesn’t budge, staying right where he is. “I was unconscious for most of that. I couldn’t tell you.”

“Unconscious? What happened?”

His kiss soothes my sudden agitation. “I can tell you later. Not important now.”

Stellen’s hold on me hasn’t changed, both men seeming determined to stay right where they are, cocooning me, but he says, “I spent that time working with Maxim. He wasn’t in my sight at all times, but I wasn’t pulled into a blade vision and I don’t think he was, either.”

An intense hope rises within me. “Two of the kings.”

“Thyra?” Stellen nudges my ear insistently.

“I broke through the blood bind’s darkness during my last blade vision,” I say. “The False Queen was unsettled by it. Oh, she hid it well, but I’m certain she was startled. She let slip something about two of you being with me. That was you and Antony.”

“That’s true,” Antony rumbles. “I was surprised when you collapsed, but the vision didn’t strike me.”

I’m near trembling now. “These threads that connect us, the blood bind must be using them to drain your power. But somehow, if two of you are together, the dark power can be disrupted. Which means…”

I don’t know if it’s enough that two of them be together in the same place or if they need to be with me. I have no certainty at all, but I’m not taking any chances until I can remove the bind altogether.

Suddenly, I’m trying to wrap my arms around them, both at once, a sharp command leaving my lips. “You’re staying with me.”

My arms aren’t big enough and even with all my strength, I can’t pin these two men down, expecting them, even now, to try to extricate themselves from this embrace.

Neither of them moves, but I’m not taking any chances. Turning my head and trying not to collide with either of them as my gaze clashes with theirs, one after the other, I say, “I need you both to stay with me.”

They draw breath at the same time, as if they would speak, but I’m not finished. Urgently, I plant a kiss on Antony’s jaw. “I need your ruthlessness and your uncompromising violence. I need your ability to weave lies and your limitless capacity to endure and inflict pain.”

Turning my head, I press my lips to Stellen’s cheek. “I need your icy power, your heartrending songs, and your fierce loyalty. I need the kindness you hide beneath a cloak of cruelty and the ferocious protection you offer those you love.” I try to breathe. “I need you both. Here. With me. Fighting beside me.”

“Thyra.” They say my name at the same time.

I’m suddenly acutely aware of a deep silence between them. The nearly imperceptible inclination of their heads at each other. Some sort of unspoken agreement.

“We aren’t going anywhere,” Antony says, and it means a lot coming from him.

“We may not be kings anymore,” Stellen whispers, “but you are the kingdom we would serve and lay down our lives for.” The corners of his mouth twitch upward. “Queendom, if you wish.”

“I can’t promise we won’t question you or challenge you or sometimes we might even defy you,” Antony says, “but you are the heart of our world now, Thyra.”

He exhales against my neck, the lightest tingling sensation. “For a long time, all I wanted was to break the curse. Then I struggled with the good you brought into my life. Now, all I want is you.”

“Command us, Thyra,” Stellen says, his voice growing in strength, his power ringing in my ears like a sweet chime, making me catch my breath again, but this time with anticipation.

Stellen’s lips curve upward before he presses a seductive kiss to my shoulder, the melody of his voice and my suddenly ragged breathing parting the threads for his mouth. “Tell us what you want.”

Chapter Forty-Nine