Page 9 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

Until this morning, I didn’t know what the blood bind was doing to me.

Then I found out it’s siphoning the powers of the three kings and giving those powers to me. Slowly. Subtly.

I can see farther and jump higher because Antony, the Iron King, has those powers as part of his vampyric nature.

I’m warm in this freezing environment because of Maxim, the King of Ember, and his power over fire.

I can hear more sharply because of Stellen’s Lethian heritage and, although I’ve yet to develop any sort of power over frost, it seems I’m more coldly strategic because of his heartless nature.

It’s only because of the power I’ve unwillingly taken from him that I can hear his heartbeats now.

But it seems I’ve also diminished his power to heal. His heart was already weakened from an assassination attempt that happened before I came to Frost. When Lilis struck, his frost power should have congealed his blood before it could hit the ground, but it didn’t.

It’s my fault.

My legs strain. I’m closing the gap, thirty paces now, drawing on every shred of stolen strength to give me speed.

But as hard as I run, my heart breaks with the knowledge that I won’t make it in time.

I can’t get there in time.

Lilis’s blade slashes toward Stellen’s throat and⁠—

Stops.

Her arm shakes where she presses the dagger into his skin without completing the killing blow.

Shock knocks me off course.

I quickly right myself, focus on Stellen, and mentally shout at myself not to squander these precious seconds, even if I don’t understand why Lilis has paused.

Her focus is on Stellen’s mouth, her entire body tensed, as if she thought…

Damn.

As I plow toward them, sudden clarity cuts through the chaos within my heart and mind.

Lilis knows Stellen’s dual powers better than most. His frost power and his Voice. She has been his general for years, walked the fine lines of the rules of this kingdom and somehow survived them.

Yet when she first struck him, she aimed for his side and his heart. She didn’t immediately strike his throat. She didn’t sever his greatest weapon like she could have.

As for the blow to his heart, the wood-handled blade juts from his chest, but now that I’m closer, I can see the dagger’s true angle. Just slightly off target. Enough to leave him alive.

Lilis is too skilled to miss.

Why, why, why? What am I missing?

I tell myself her motivations don’t matter. I’m twenty paces away now. So close. Nearly there.

My eyes widen when Stellen leans into the blade instead of away from it.

“Do it,” he rasps. “Your revenge is justified.”

Lilis’s hard expression crumbles and her eyes fill with tears. “After all these years, now you speak of justice?”

In that same moment, I’m aware of Brunkil, the leader of the Northerners, straining toward them. The vicious alpha crouches closer to Stellen than I am, his hulking body swathed in a fur coat, spittle coating the three braids at his chin, the tension in his body telling me he’s about to leap.

“Cut off Stellen’s head!” Brunkil roars, his voice guttural, his teeth sharpening to those of a wolf. “Bring me his head or I’ll fucking tear it off myself.”