Just as I consider trying to funnel my fire toward the largest swarm of vampyrs—to create a visual disturbance that will get Kaiba’s attention—a blur of gold streaks toward me from my right.
A small serpent, riderless, shoots in my direction. Each serpent has a narrow head like that of the ancient dragons, with two long horns extending parallel to their bodies. Without wings or legs, they move by snaking through the air, harnessing their internal magic to stay airborne.
The darker shade of this serpent’s horns, as well as its smaller size and sharp speed, indicates it’s a female.
For a split second, I contemplate the possibility that she’s terrified and simply careening in my direction, trying to get away from the vampyrs, since I’m at the edge of the battle.
But she flies straight for me, her head lowered in the way serpents approach so their riders can latch on to their horns to swing onto their backs.
Damn, she’s brave.
My fingers are on fire. Within moments, my clothing will catch fire, too. Once I take hold of her nearest horn, it will burn to ash, and my flames won’t stop there. If her intention is to carry me up to Kaiba, it will be the last thing she does.
But it’s her life or the life of every Ember Fae and golden serpent—and Iron Fae and eagle, for that matter—within burning distance of my fire.
When I set my power loose on the vampyrs, nobody will be safe.
My only alternative is to retreat. Take myself away from this fight. But if I do, the vampyrs will continue their massacre. They will feed and grow stronger, and as long as this unnatural darkness lasts…
I snarl beneath my breath.
I am King.
My fire is my curse, but if my flames are ever to do any good, it’s here and now.
Seconds before the female serpent reaches me, I slow my pace, prepare to leap onto her back, and speak loudly. “I honor you for your sacrifice.”
The slight twitch of her body tells me she heard and understood me.
Still, she flies straight and true, angling her approach so she’ll fly alongside me, which will allow me to leap from the ground without losing momentum.
My muscles bunch, and my feet leave the ground, my left hand reaching, closing around her left horn.
Just as my fire blossoms outward and I swing myself toward her back, a gust of wind carries a cry to my ears, sharp and clear through the chaos.
A scream.
Pure as a bell. Filled with pain and torment, a cry that reaches into my chest and wrenches at my heart. The sound hits me like a fist, jolting through me.
The Oracle…
I recognize her voice, her cry plucking at the fibers of my soul.
Instantly, my flames go out, extinguished just as they were three days ago when I first heard her scream carried to me on an explosion of golden light.
Now her cry brings the frost of winter, an icy breath that calms the fire in my heart, gifting me a moment of peace. Of rare control.
It won’t last. Not if it’s like the first time.
I don’t know what has caused the Oracle such pain.
But if I want to reach her and claim her, I have to go through these fucking vampyrs first.
I can’t squander these priceless moments of liberation that the Oracle’s scream has given me.
Launching myself into the air as the female serpent soars down to me, I land lightly on her back, holding on to only one of her horns to reduce the danger to her if my fire should suddenly return.
A violent shiver passes through her body as she anticipates her death at my hands. As she curves sharply upward, her body snaking through the air, I catch sight of her face, the fear in her widenedeyes.
