Page 15 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

I close my ears to the sound of Stellen’s body crumpling to the snow, to the soft crunching of icy ground as he lands, and to Nara’s savage howl as she fights to return to him.

I listen only for his heartbeats, the rhythm to which I will now tie my choices.

One heartbeat.

Airborne, near weightless, I’m ready for Lilis to retaliate with all the speed and instinct that has kept her alive in this kingdom.

Her frost power blasts from her hands, pouring over the dagger she still grips, ice striking across the short distance to my chest while her other hand punches at my face.

Two heartbeats.

I deflect both of her hits, sending her icy power wide while every thread of my Lethian armor that is now in contact with her body streams from me to her, wrapping around her torso, shooting across her arms and legs, an impenetrable force blasting around her, but not into the form of armor.

Into shackles.

A web forms around her, tying her limbs into knots.

Three heartbeats.

We hit ground, tumbling across the snow, headed toward Brunkil, who is forced to leap to the side, away from Stellen.

As we roll, Lilis struggles to free her arms and legs, her body bumping against the ground, but the more she fights, the tighter the threads pull.

She screams with frustration as she comes to a stop, managing to make it up to her knees, only for the threads to tighten again, forcing her back to the snow, where her arms are now bound behind her and her head is forced down over her knees.

Four heartbeats. Slower now.

I drop beside Lilis, snatch the wood-handled dagger from her immobilized hand, and slap it to my thigh, where some of the remaining silver threads form a harness around it. Near simultaneously, I smack the back of her neck with my other hand, causing a final thread to sweep around her throat.

With that thread, I could tear through her neck at any moment.

She freezes where she kneels.

It all happens so fast that Brunkil has barely made it back to his feet, and the Northerners fighting Nara only now seem to realize what’s happening.

So much of my silver armor now binds Lilis that I’m left in a bodysuit that extends down only my right thigh and a small portion of my left shoulder, although my pelvis and breasts are fully covered.

The air is icy, but Stellen is all I care about.

My focus snaps to his crumpled form.

I listen…listen…listen…

A sob of relief rises to my throat as his next heartbeat registers in my hearing.

Slow. Stuttering. But there.

Now to get out of here and somehow heal him.

Wrenching on Lilis with all my might, I wrap my hands in the threads across the middle of her back, threads that respond to my needs, allowing me to grip firmly and haul her across the snow toward Stellen.

She is my bargaining piece.

When Brunkil launches himself after me, I roar. “Stay back, Brunkil! Lilis called the Winter Strife. If she dies, you have nothing.”

“Except your skin,” he growls.

It’s an empty threat. I know it. He knows it.