Filed To Story: Between Two Kings: A Split or Swallow Book PDF Free
Leo leaned in. “Do you know something?”
Tem didn’t answer.
Leo wasn’t looking away. Caspen’s words ran through her mind:
What will your little prince think of what you did? Tem knew exactly what Leo would think. He would be disgusted, and he would have every right to be. Tem had become the thing the villagers feared: the thing she herself had always feared. She couldn’t tell Leo it was her fault. She couldn’t bear for him to look at her any differently.
“Tem.” Leo broke her from her thoughts. “What is going on with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you look…tired. Is everything…well?”
Everything was not well. Her body, although exhausted, was fine. Her mind, on the other hand, was a different story. All Tem could think about was everything that could possibly go wrong. It wasn’t just the bloodletting; the tournament loomed in her mind like a shadow, threatening to engulf her. Her relationship with Caspen-which was already faltering-was now in serious danger. She should have expected Leo to notice that something was wrong. It was in his nature to notice her-to care. Even when she was no longer his to care for.
“I don’t know,” Tem whispered. It was too much to explain-too much to bear.
His eyes pierced hers. “Tem,” he said, a hesitancy to his voice. “I am always here for you. If you need me.”
Tem looked at the fire-it was easier than looking at him.
Leo was out of line to offer himself to her like that. They were not confidants; they were not friends. This was a business relationship now-a political partnership that needed to function perfectly if they were to continue ruling their kingdoms together. Leo knew exactly what his words would do to her, knew exactly how they would make her heart beat faster. Tem hated that she was so predictable. But that didn’t mean she wanted him to stop.
She studied the angles of his face, his sharp cheekbones. He looked different than he had even just last week, hollowed out, as if something were eating him from the inside out. She should be asking if he was well, not the other way around. But there was no point in asking. Tem knew what was ailing him: the crest. Another problem there was no solution for.
“I’m just…overwhelmed,” she said simply.
He nodded. The firelight flickered across his face. “I see. For any particular reason?”
Tem couldn’t imagine telling Leo about the tournament. But she’d already told him that Caspen broke the truce, and he’d taken that well enough. What was one more piece of information? Besides, the outcome affected him too. Rowe was violent and unpredictable. He hated the humans. If he won, he would not hesitate to wage war.
“Things are…complicated under the mountain right now.”
Leo took a deep breath, as if he were steeling himself. “Complicated how?”
“My marriage has been…contested.”
Leo frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Tem barely understood it herself. “There’s going to be a…” She physically couldn’t bear to say the word tournament, settling instead on “…fight.”
Leo shifted. “Are you in danger?”
“No,” she said quickly. “Well. Not…immediate danger.”
“I’d rather you weren’t in any danger at all, Tem. Immediate or otherwise.”
She had to smile at that. “I’m not in danger. Caspen has to fight another basilisk for me.”
“Why?”
Tem sighed. “In order to explain it, you need to know that basilisks belong to quivers.”
“Quivers?”
“They’re sort of like clans or groups.”
Leo nodded, and she continued.
“Caspen and I are from different quivers.”
“I see.”
“And the basilisk contesting my marriage is from my quiver.”
“So your quiver…”
“The Senecas,” Tem offered.
“The Senecas…they don’t want you and Caspen to be married?”
“Yes.”
Leo looked down at his whiskey. “That’s ridiculous, Tem.”
That was certainly true. But it didn’t mean it wasn’t happening. “It’s complicated, Leo. Basilisks have all sorts of rules-“
“Who gives a fuck about their rules? You can’t just marry some other basilisk.”
“I can if he wins the fight.”
The look on Leo’s face was one of pure horror. And Tem couldn’t blame him. When she spelled out this situation like this, it sounded absolutely unhinged. But that was the basilisks for you. Nothing they did was even remotely normal.
“It’s not within my control, Leo,” she said quietly. “I can’t predict the outcome. Caspen is the one fighting for me.”
“Well,” Leo said through clenched teeth, “he’d better win.”
Tem raised an eyebrow. “Do you want him to?”
Leo ran a reckless hand through his hair. “It’s bad enough you’re with him, Tem. But it would be even worse if you were with someone else. At least I know he loves you.”
His words shocked her. They were extremely candid-almost accidentally so. She doubted he’d meant to reveal so much to her. But now that she’d heard it, she had to know: “Do…you love me?”
His jaw clenched. “If you have to ask that, you don’t know me at all.”
“I know you,” she whispered.
“Do you?”
Yes. She knew Leo. She knew him so well. She knew that he could never stop loving her, just as she could never stop loving him. She knew that it was torture for him to be standing this close to her, unable to touch her. Just as it was torture for her. She knew that if they had their way, they would both be naked in his bed right now.
“Then tell me, Tem,” he looked straight at her. “Do I love you?”
Her answer came as easily as breathing. “You love me. You always will.”
Leo was hers. They belonged to each other.
He was standing too close. They were breathing the same air. The predator in her screamed for release. In another world, they would kiss. In another world, they would get in his bed and never leave it. But in this one, they simply stared at each other, both of them bound by promises they had made to the people they loved. The problem was they also loved each other.
“Is there no chance for us?” Leo whispered.