Page 98 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

Yet he’s racing into the darkness on behalf of his enemy.

What the actual…?

I cling to the mountainside for another moment. I shouldn’t care. But I can’t ignore Kaiba’s courage or the way he commanded his people to retreat while he took on the danger, the mark of an honorable leader.

Fuck it.

I launch myself back into the smoke.

Swirling fumes shift as I make out Stellen’s form ahead of me, twenty paces away and running deeper into the smoke.

His arm is flung over his eyes and his head is tilted sharply while he runs at an angle. He might not be able to see in this darkness, but he appears confident about his target.

I race in the same direction, and a moment later, the Ember Fae’s fallen body becomes visible. Three Iron Fae lie dead around him, but I guess Kaiba didn’t have the chance to steal their masks before he succumbed to the smoke.

With a burst of speed, I reach him at the same time Stellen does.

Stellen pulls up sharply, his gray robes covered in soot, his white hair nearly blackened as he darts between me and Kaiba.

“Iron King,” he snaps, the power of his Voice cracking over me. “You will not hurt this fae.”

“Get the fuck out of your own way, Stellen.” Quickly, I shake off the compulsion of his Voice. Not difficult because my intentions aren’t malicious. “I’ll carry him out, but if you want him to live, you’ll have to do something about his state of health.”

Stellen narrows his eyes at me, distrusting, as he should be, but he steps aside.

Scooping up Kaiba and hoisting him across my shoulder, I run westward, keeping to the Iron side of the border, aiming for the shadows at the base of the mountain where I was clinging to the outcrop before.

I won’t cross into Ember if I can help it. Too many enemies.

We make it to the edge of the swelling smoke before a thump behind me makes me spin.

Stellen is on his knees, sliding to the rocky ground.

Fucking fuck.

I grab his shoulder before he can fall on his face, dragging him along beside me into the clear air. And then farther still, heading closer to the Ember border than I’d like, since the mist Stellen created has remained sparkling in the air and can only help him and Kaiba. Stellen’s magic may look fragile, but it seems to have formed an impenetrable shield across the air against any smoke drifting south.

The Ember Army is now located safely behind it.

I let Stellen slide to the rocky ground and lower Kaiba from my shoulder, laying him out.

With a groan, Stellen hauls himself across the gap between him and Kaiba and thumps his fist against Kaiba’s chest.

The Ember man takes a sharp breath, heaving coughs as he stares up at us both.

“Iron King,” he says. “I⁠—”

I cut him off. “I did this for the Oracle.” And then to Stellen, I add, “I would have left you in there, but I doubt she would have forgiven me.”

I’ve already done enough to hurt her.

Stellen hacks out black smoke as he drags himself into a sitting position, but it doesn’t seem to be the toxins that are hurting him.

His right fist is clenched and pressed to his heart.

Glaring up at me, he rasps, “You destroyed her when you chose to leave her.”

I did choose to leave her. Back in Frost. She asked me to stay and I left her in Stellen’s arms while her mind was consumed in a blade vision and she couldn’t stop me.