Filed To Story: Between Two Kings: A Split or Swallow Book PDF Free
That seemed to shut Apollo up. His eyes flicked once more to Tem’s, and this time they lingered. His mind brushed against hers, but she didn’t dare let him in. Instead, they stared at each other, Caspen’s arms still around her, Tem’s body still pressed against his chest.
Apollo opened his mouth to speak again, but Caspen was already pulling Tem away. His grip was unbearably tight as he propelled her from the courtyard and out into the passageway. As soon as they were alone, Tem said, “What just happened?”
Caspen pursed his lips. He didn’t answer.
“Caspen,” she insisted. “You can’t shut me out. Not anymore.”
Still no answer.
Tem thought about the men who had been walking toward her, their eyes glazed with want. But what, exactly, had they wanted? Tem shuddered. She needed answers, and she knew Caspen would have them.
“What did Apollo mean? Why would those men attack me?”
“Tem,” Caspen said. They had reached their chambers, and as soon as they were inside, he pulled her onto the bed. “I will not let anyone attack you.”
“I know that. I’m asking why they would even want to.”
Finally, he looked down at her. “They want your power.”
Tem wrinkled her nose. “Well, they can have it. There’s not much to give.”
“You are a Hybreed, Tem. You are the most powerful among us.”
A Hybreed. Both basilisk and human. Limitless.
“But I don’t feel powerful.” She could barely transition. Things like the ouroboros still overwhelmed her, and every minute under the mountain was a test of her endurance. Everyone seemed to understand her value but her.
“But you are,” Caspen said quietly. “You may be made up of two things, but each of them is whole.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your basilisk side does not function at half capacity just because it makes up half of you. The part of you that is a basilisk is fully so. The same with your human side.”
“So?”
“So you are two things, Tem. You always have been. And you are both of those things fully. Your power is unparalleled.”
Tem thought about what Caspen had just said to Apollo:
She is mine. If she was so powerful, did Caspen covet her power? Tem knew she was safe with him-she always had been. But if Tem was as powerful as he said, perhaps even Caspen could not resist such a draw.
“But how would they get my power?”
“There are many ways. They could crest you. But my guess is they would not dare to do so.”
“Why not?”
“Because even my father did not succeed.”
Tem remembered the wedding-Bastian’s hand around her throat, squeezing. It had taken everything in her to resist, and even then, she’d needed Leo’s help to survive.
Caspen continued. “Most likely they will try to kill you.”
“Kill me?”
“Yes.”
“But if I’m so powerful, why would they want to kill me?”
“Because you are more useful to them dead. Whoever kills a basilisk receives their power.”
Tem had no idea that was possible. “Really?”
“Yes,” Caspen said. “When my father died, I received his.”
That was news to Tem. “But you…ate him.”
Caspen gave her a grim smile. “Yes, I did. And by doing so, I proved my worth.”
Tem stared at him. Basilisks were simply bizarre. But she understood, on some level, how Bastian’s violent death at the hands of his son might have earned Caspen the king’s power. It was no small feat to kill a king.
“So…you’re powerful right now?”
Caspen smiled wider. “I was always powerful.”
Of course he was. But he was even more so now, and it was something to consider.
Caspen shifted her in his arms, pulling her closer. “Had he lived, I would have had access to his power anyway.”
“How?”
“My venom.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The bite of a basilisk is not fatal by itself. My father only died because I…kept going.” A beat passed, and Tem remembered the sight of Caspen cannibalizing his father. She shuddered. “But it has a significant effect.”
“Which is?”
“Once bitten, the victim is made vulnerable to the basilisk who bit them. The presence of my venom in my father’s bloodstream would have created a connection between us.”
“What kind of connection?”
“I would have been able to use it to siphon power from him.”
Tem frowned. “But I have your venom in my bloodstream, and you’ve never siphoned from me.”
“That is because you merely drank my venom. If I had bitten you properly-with my fangs, while wearing my true form-I would have been able to siphon from you too.”
“Thanks for not biting me, I guess.”
Caspen smiled. “You are very welcome, my love.”
Tem pictured Caspen on the stage, ripping his father’s torso to shreds. It was hard to believe that Bastian would want his power to go to the very person who had destroyed him. But such was the basilisk way.
“So…the Senecas want my power. Are they going to kill me or siphon from me?”
Caspen’s jaw tightened. “I cannot know that. But my brother was right.” It looked like the words pained him to say. “You are not safe when you are alone.”
Tem understood Caspen was afraid for her, and she could understand why. It seemed like everyone wanted to take from her. Always, always taking. It was exhausting, and Tem was tired of it. There was never enough of her to go around-never enough to make everyone who wanted something happy. It was beginning to wear on her, to rip her at the seams.