Page 76 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

“Where you met my father,” I say.

“Yes.” Miriam nods. “Except that by the time I returned, Isha was already healed.”

My forehead creases. Burns from Ember fire don’t heal. The scar on my arm still aches. Antony’s brother Victor’s disfigurement is lifelong.

“How is that possible?”

Miriam shakes her head. “We couldn’t figure it out.”

“After that, she refused to be anywhere near Maxim,” Charis says. “I was still nursing Zenaida, so I nursed Maxim, too. I would have understood Isha’s fear, except…”

Now, their silence feels charged.

Miriam’s voice is strained. “She tried to kill him.”

I catch my breath. “What?”

“I found her standing over him, a dagger in hand, blood on its tip.” Miriam’s hands are shaking so hard, she clasps them in her lap, her knuckles turning white. “I disarmed her, threatened her with my fire, and gave her a choice: to answer for her thwarted crime or to leave. She chose to flee.”

“We never saw her again,” Charis says. “By the time our seclusion had ended, we had been isolated for so long that if it weren’t for Maxim, we could believe it had all been a dream.”

“But her shadow remained.” Miriam’s shoulders are slumped while the other women all lean on each other. “For the children’s safety, once they were weaned, I raised Maxim and Zenaida alongside my own children. Meanwhile, my brother’s reign declined into a monstrous paranoia that culminated in him sending an assassin to kill a boy.”

“To this day,” Charis says, “we still don’t know who Isha really was. Certainly, other Ember Fae don’t know she existed.”

“So you see, Thyra,” Miriam continues, “when Maxim asked these women which of them was his birth mother, they couldn’t tell him the truth. To speak of Maxim’s mother would reveal he may not be a full-blooded Ember Fae. His reign would be threatened and the lives of every woman in this harem, along with his sister’s life, would be in danger.”

Charis gives a worried nod. “Every Ember woman associated with a king is only safe as long as that king’s power remains intact. Even Miriam could be threatened if Maxim’s birthright were questioned.”

“So you chose silence,” I say. “The only option.”

“Now you know one of our most dangerous secrets,” Miriam says.

“One of?” I whisper.

She gives me a wry smile. “The Mothers and I guard many secrets.”

I’m not sure I want to know any more.

What devastation could come from Maxim knowing the truth?

I take a deep breath. “Maxim won’t hear about this from me.”

“Oh, Thyra, but that’s the thing.” Miriam gives me a hard stare. “He must.”

I can only blink at her. “I’m sorry… What?”

“You must tell him.”

“But…” My focus races across the women. “Why would I ever put you in danger like that?”

Miriam reaches for my hand. “May I see your right hand?”

Reluctantly, I extend my arm. She gently turns my hand palm up, studying it again.

“I need to ask you a question, and I imagine you won’t want to answer.” Her tawny gaze pins me to the spot. “Did you pick up the hammer? And has the blood bind taken hold of you?”

Of all the questions she could have asked me…