Filed To Story: Between Two Kings: A Split or Swallow Book PDF Free
“Enough, Tem. We will discuss this another time.”
“But-“
“I said that is enough.”
Tem pursed her lips. She wasn’t only upset about the petrification. That was just one problem in a growing list of things that were pressing in on her like an avalanche-Evelyn’s obstinance, the protest she’d seen tonight, Apollo’s advances. It was becoming too much, and it had all just begun.
A moment of silence fell as they stared at each other. Tem raised her hand and gently brushed the leaves from his shoulder, savoring the warmth of his skin beneath her fingertips. Caspen closed his eyes as she did it, and she knew he was savoring it too. This was all it took with Caspen: one touch, and she would forgive him. It didn’t matter that they were out of step, that things were rapidly reaching a boiling point. All that mattered was that they were together now.
Tem drew him into a kiss.
The moment it deepened, he pulled away. “Not now, my love.”
She couldn’t believe he was denying her sex. It was unheard of. “Why not?”
“Because we are already running late.”
“For what?”
“Mating season.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, Tem.” He smiled, pressing his lips to her cheek. “I am.”
Tem shouldn’t have been surprised. It didn’t matter to the basilisks that it was the middle of the night. For them, it may as well have been daytime. But for Tem, it was bedtime, and she yawned widely as Caspen grasped her waist and pulled her into the passageway.
The mountain was alive with activity. Basilisks streamed by on either side of them, all headed for the courtyard. As they entered, Tem saw the decorations she had chosen to adorn the space. It was a small thing, but it gave her pride, showed that she had contributed somehow, even if it was just on the surface.
Caspen’s lips touched her ear. “I must check in with the council,” he murmured. “I will return in a moment.”
Before Tem could protest, he was gone. She looked around the courtyard, desperate to find a friendly face. Mercifully, her gaze fell on Adelaide. She was sitting on a bench alone, drinking a goblet of elixir. When Tem sat beside her, immediate ease flooded her chest.
“Temperance.” Adelaide smiled. “Good evening. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
To what, indeed? There was really only one thing Tem wanted to tell her: “I slapped Apollo.”
Adelaide’s eyebrows lifted. “May I ask why?”
“He wouldn’t stop flirting with me.”
Adelaide laughed. “Yes. He tends to do that.”
“Well, I’d like him to stop.”
“Would you?”
The question reminded her of her conversation with Apollo and she knew the truth was not black and white. “I…don’t know,” she said honestly.
Adelaide smiled. “Apollo is complicated.”
“He seems pretty simple to me.”
“If he seems that way to you, then you have underestimated him, and that is your mistake.”
There was a pause, and they both stared at the crowd of basilisks.
Tem shifted so she was facing Adelaide. “Complicated how?”
Another pause. Adelaide seemed to be considering what to say next, and Tem wondered about the origin of her hesitation. “He is…reckless. It has gotten him into some trouble in the past.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Apollo likes to take what is not his.”
“What has he taken?”
“Something that belonged to Caspen.”
A twinge of understanding sparked in Tem. She remembered what Apollo had said to her:
My brother and I have done this dance for centuries, Temperance.
“Something? Or someone?”
Adelaide smiled but didn’t reply. For a moment, neither of them spoke.
“They loved the same woman, didn’t they?”
Adelaide looked over at her. “Yes, they did.”
A dull pulse of jealousy ran through Tem. “What happened?”
“They had a falling-out,” Adelaide continued. “It did not end well for any of them.”
“But who did she choose?”
“You would have to ask Caspenon that.”
Tem fell silent, processing this. She wasn’t about to ask Caspen anything. “But…” Tem said slowly. “Caspen is with me, and Apollo isn’t with anyone. So what happened to her?”
Adelaide’s voice became quiet as she said, “She was taken for bloodletting.”
A memory came to her of Caspen searching the line of basilisks returning from the castle, as if he were expecting someone. Had he been looking for his previous love? What would he have done if she had returned to him that night?
“I don’t want to be in the middle of them,” Tem whispered.
“But you are,” Adelaide said simply.
“But I-“
“It is an honor to be pursued, Temperance. They desire you. You should take that as a compliment.”
But was she truly being pursued? This didn’t feel like pursuit. It felt like a competition-a game she hadn’t agreed to play. And who would win? Not Tem.
“The Drakon brothers are complicated, Temperance,” Adelaide said. “They lived long lives before they met you. You cannot expect to rewrite their history.”
But it wasn’t their history that Tem was concerned with. She only cared about their future. “I would never choose Apollo,” Tem said firmly. “Caspen knows that.”
Adelaide shrugged. “We are basilisks, Temperance. You can have them both.”