Page 32 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

I don’t hesitate, punching Stellen’s chest as hard as I can. The pulse of energy reaches my fist as I connect with his heart. “Wake up!”

His body jolts.

A moment of hope strikes me.

But his eyes remain closed and his silence…

A wail leaves my lips. The pain in my hand is unbearable. Vaguely, I’m aware of a slippery sensation within my closed fist. Or maybe on the side of it.

My hand is bleeding.

Freezing-cold tears fill my eyes and I’m suddenly aware of how icy I am.

Frost creeps across the back of my hand and up my arm.

My whole body fucking hurts, the band squeezing my flesh with every destructive pulse.

My heart hammers too hard in my chest.

I’m shivering. Dangerously, my thoughts are becoming incoherent.

I battle through all of it, scream through all of it, striking Stellen’s chest once more with all my might.

“Come back to me.”

Once more, power explodes from the bloodied band, jolting through Stellen’s body, but still…

He doesn’t move.

Cries leave my lips, near soundless in the ear-splitting roar of the storm the blood-soaked band has unleashed.

A storm I unleashed, and now I can’t control it. Can’t stop it.

Won’t survive it.

Chapter Ten

Maxim

Whoomph.

The force I can’t identify thumps me into the sand dune beside my cousin, smacking us both into the grit.

Kaiba isn’t breathing, no matter how hard I pummeled his chest only moments ago, trying to get his heart to beat.

Now, I fight to understand this new force originating from the north.

Rapidly, I scan the plumes of black smoke enveloping the Ember Towers along the border. Dark clouds containing burning iron float closer to me with every passing second, carried on the hot wind.

Those toxins killed my cousin and now⁠—

A cough sounds on my left and my focus quickly returns to Kaiba.

He rolls onto his side toward me, hacking up black air, his eyes watering and face taut with visible pain. “Fuck, that hurts.”

“Kaiba!” I scramble across the short gap between us, reaching for him before I remember to keep my distance and reduce the chance I’ll burn him.

I scramble away from him again, crouching in the sand. “You’re alive!”