Page 93 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

When I first met Antony, and then Stellen, I asked them what they wanted from me. But now I need to know something far more important.

“Who are you, King of Ember?”

Without hesitation, Maxim lifts his left hand, his tan skin gleaming, his fingers suddenly encased in flames. “I am fire.”

He turns away, once again increasing the gap that I had worked to narrow.

“I am fire until the day I die.” Then, with a quiet exhale, he murmurs, “Which won’t be long now.”

I’m startled by what he said. “What do you mean by that?”

He doesn’t answer, his focus on the mountains. “Reaching the light will take us hours at this rate.”

My voice hardens. “Maxim?”

His brown eyes narrow at me from behind his hair, a gleaming ferocity as he glares back at me. “You used my name.”

“I’ll use it again if you’ll answer me.”

“You should fly on my serpent,” he says. “I can run. I’ll end up naked, but there are spare clothes in the satchel beneath his saddle.”

Maxim’s already launching himself into a run, his fading shout snapping back to me. “If my nakedness offends you, Oracle, be sure to avert your eyes.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Maxim

Fuck, why did I tell her my fears?

I berate myself as my feet pound the rocky ground, carrying me toward the mountain range.

I’ve kept the truth from my sister, my cousin, and most certainly my aunt.

I hadn’t even acknowledged it to myself.

My fire is destroying me.

Even when it heals my broken bones, my flames are eating away at me. A contradiction of magic within me.

Thyra pulled that truth from me. All she had to do was ask me who I am. All she had to do was fill my head with the scent of flowers I could never hope to hold.

All she had to do was fucking look at me with those endlessly perceptive eyes, her body swaying to the beat of her walk, her silver armor floating at her back, tightening around her curves, clinging to her breasts and hips. All while her voice demanded that I answer her truthfully.

Fucking mesmerizing.

The burn across my right palm where I held the tainted blood flares hotter the farther away from Thyra I go.

A burn that seems to swallow my fire but can’t dampen the sounds of battle echoing in the distance.

My aunt was clever staying behind, ensuring I wouldn’t be able to leave.

Ensuring I’d lead Thyra to Aeliana Vividari.

But why?

Aeliana hasn’t stirred. At least, not according to Kaiba, who was watching over her until this morning when I needed him at the border.

What was so important that my Mothers risked their lives attempting to cross into the darkness while the border is under attack?