Page 99 of Three Dark Kings and the Gilded Serpent

The clear anger in Stellen’s voice unsettles me. An emotion I wasn’t expecting.

He’s heartless… Isn’t he?

Stellen drags himself to his feet, his height enabling him to look down on me. Not by much. Just enough to annoy me.

Kaiba wisely moves himself backward, crouching and rising to his feet. He gives Stellen a formal nod.

For me, he has a stern stare. Even braver on his part.

“I need to get back to my warriors,” he says. “Whatever business you two need to settle, keep it away from my men. We still have a border to defend.”

Without waiting for our agreement, he turns and races toward Ember.

Right now, my greatest care is Thyra. “Where is she?”

“With Maxim.” Watching me carefully, Stellen tilts his head. “They went into the dark channel in the west.” His brow suddenly furrows and his fist presses harder to his chest, his voice lowering. “I can’t hear them anymore. I should be able to⁠—”

His eyes suddenly fly wide.

I’m only a heartbeat behind, a sudden horror flooding my mind, even though I have no reason for the sensation.

My fist also flies to my heart. “What the fuck?”

What is this dread?

“Burning,” Stellen says.

“Darkness.” I snarl. “We have to get to her.”

Stellen launches into a run, emitting a shrill whistle, at which his wolf races toward us. He leaps onto her back and they speed up the side of the mountain, heading northwest.

I’m in quick pursuit, flying through the air, a nameless panic tugging at my heart.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Maxim

Thyra’s scream makes my blood run cold.

My focus snaps to the sky just as an explosion of dark energy knocks me off course only three hundred paces from where Aeliana sleeps on a raised pallet.

In a fiery blaze, I tumble across the ground, coming up in a crouch, seeking Thyra’s position in the sky.

She’s now ahead of me, and she’s falling. Thrown somehow from my serpent’s back and plummeting at a sharp angle that defies gravity.

My serpent flies between me and her, trying to dive back to her, but the dark energy that exploded into me must have knocked him around too.

A shout tears from my chest. “Thyra!”

She’s seven seconds from hitting the rocky ground.

I’m already sprinting again, telling myself I can somehow reach my serpent, strip the dragon’s hide saddle from his back, use his body as a springboard to leap sideways, and catch Thyra before she hits the ground. All without burning her.

I’m fucking lying to myself.

If my serpent can’t reach her in time, neither can I. Let alone hoping to catch her just right so my fire doesn’t destroy her.

Her body is stiff, her right arm outstretched, her hair flying up around her head and her armor streaming off her form.