Page 45 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

My focus snaps to her. I didn’t think the toxins had reached that far, but obviously, that was wishful thinking.

“Before the smoke could progress beyond the ventilation shafts, the frost wiped it away. At first, we were grateful. Then we started to freeze.” She returns my gaze, but now she gives me a firm nod. “And then, brother, we felt your fire.”

Every muscle in my body tenses, my focus flashing to the women whose power is warming me. “If I hurt anyone⁠—”

“You didn’t.” Zenaida’s hand rises toward me, but she doesn’t make contact.

Any contact with me would be foolish.

“You counteracted the cold and gave us the chance to form heat chains within the city,” she says. “You saved lives today, brother.”

For once, I’m grateful for my heat, but then Zenaida continues.

“But we knew things were bad when the frost started overpowering your fire again.”

“So you came.”

She lowers her voice. “It’s lucky we did. Our aunt was already trying to get to you. She was pushing through the snow all on her own. Kaiba tried to stop her, but—Oh!”

Zenaida jolts and so do I.

Our aunt, Miriam, is pushing toward us right now, picking her way across the cooling stones like Zenaida did.

Maybe Miriam didn’t hear Zenaida say that I’m okay. Our aunt is a healer; her instinct is to help, but I’ve never needed her assistance in that regard. My flames heal all of my wounds, whether broken bones or deep cuts. I don’t even bleed.

I back away hurriedly, afraid of hurting her, forced to leap the distance to the next cooling rock.

I’ve never seen my aunt appear so determined as she plows toward us, her petite stature swathed in ochre-colored silks that bring out the wide streak of amber in her hair.

“Don’t worry,” she calls. “Kaiba’s watching over Aeliana. He and Riven will keep her safe.”

I crouch low to the stone, prepared to hurl myself into the water if my fire burns. “My concern is for you right now, Auntie.”

“That is admirable, my king,” she says, coming to a stop on the stone next to Zenaida’s, “but it’s the sun you should be worried about. Cold, is it not?”

My head draws back, my eyes narrowed at the way she pointed it out. Despite the warmth gleaming around us from the women in the background, the sun’s rays have remained icy blue.

“You’re bringing the Oracle home, yes?” Miriam continues before I can find my tongue.

Beside her, Zenaida’s eyes widen. I haven’t told my sister anything about my interactions with Thyra or even with Antony. I gave the barest of details about how I came to be in possession of Aeliana Vividari. But I assume word would have traveled to Ember about the fact the Oracle had been found.

My sister leans perilously closer. “What did she foretell, Maxim?”

There’s no point hiding it. “She commanded that I come to her when the sun turns bitterly cold and the sand bleeds iron.”

Zenaida’s gaze rises to the sky. Then lowers to the hazy outlines of the broken towers visible through the snowstorm.

My aunt’s gaze doesn’t waver. As if none of this were news to her and I find myself wondering: what does she know that I don’t?

I’m suddenly reminded of what I saw when I was a boy—Miriam and Aeliana meeting in secret. Aeliana gave something to Miriam and at the time, I was too young to understand how important that might be.

“Then you must go to her,” my sister says, the first signs of hope in her eyes. “With our heat chains, we can keep the frost at bay until you return.”

“What about the Iron Fae?” I ask, waving my hand in their direction. “What if they attack?”

Zenaida’s determined smile becomes grim. “I suspect the Iron Fae have other things to worry about right now.”

Past the border, the air is white with frost. Their food supplies are likely destroyed and their towers damaged. If they, too, suffered avalanches of snow, the destruction across their land could be devastating. If anything, they’re more vulnerable to attack than my people are right now.