Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
She stepped closer. I had to see you.
It is not safe.
It was Caspen all over again. Tem shook her head, hooking her fingers through the bars of the cell. I’m going to get you out. You just need to hold on until the wedding.
Her father closed his eyes. It is too late for me.
Tem could see how weak he was-how perilous of a toll the bloodletting had taken on him. Wait, please. I need to know-which king can’t I trust?
He took a long time to answer. But finally: Ours.
Bastian. But why?
Her father took a deep breath, and the shackles bolting him to the floor clinked softly. He values power above all else.
Most kings do.
Kronos shook his head, the motion clearly paining him. Power corrupts.
It was all he said. Tem thought about what Bastian had already done to gain his power, what he had asked Caspen to do. Power did corrupt. It was crookedly tempting and cruel. It turned men into monsters, or perhaps monsters into men. Which was worse? Tem didn’t know anymore.
Kronos spoke again. You have lingered too long. Go.
Tem’s grip tightened on the bars. I don’t want to leave you.
Go, child. And do not return.
Tem knew he was right. She’d been down here far too long already. Leo could be awake by now. If he noticed her absence, it would only anger him further.
She dropped her hands reluctantly, taking one last look at her father. I’ll come back for you. I promise. Just hold on. Please.
He didn’t reply.
There was nothing else to say. Tem retraced her steps out of the dungeon until she reached the stairs that led back up to the castle. She ascended them as quickly as she could, and by the time she got to the main floor, her calves were screaming in protest. She was just crossing through the foyer when the parlor door opened and the last person she wanted to see emerged.
“Temperance,” Maximus said slowly, his calculating eyes flicking to her bare feet. “What brings you out of bed at such an early hour?”
The question was casual. The implication was not.
Tem sensed immediately that Maximus knew she’d been searching for things he didn’t want her to find.
When she didn’t answer, the king stepped closer. “Does my son know you’re sneaking around his home?”
Tem threw a question right back at him. “Does your son know what goes on in his home?”
Maximus paused, his eyes narrowing. “I do not know of what you speak.”
A lie. There was only one secret she could be referring to-one horrible, abominable thing the royals kept to themselves.
Tem stepped closer too, looking defiantly up at him as she asked again, “Does Leo know?”
Maximus stared down at her. She could almost see the gears turning in his brain, deciding how to react. When he spoke, it was through gritted teeth. “He will learn when he becomes king.”
At last, Tem had confirmation that Leo was innocent. She crossed her arms. “And how do you think he’ll react?”
“He will understand he must do what is necessary to protect the balance of our kingdom.”
“Torture is necessary?”
“I already told you, Temperance,” Maximus said as if she were a child. “The basilisks provide a service. Their place is beneath us.”
Tem hadn’t realized when he’d said those words to her all those weeks ago that he’d meant them literally.
“You would do well to remember your place,” he continued. “Or you may find it is decided for you.”
You may find that your choice is made for you.
Tem raised her chin. “I decide my place. And as of now, it is right here. In this castle. With your son.”
Maximus’s nostrils flared. He leaned in, and Tem smelled cigars on his skin. “You will never have him.”
She looked straight at him as she said, “He told me he intends to marry me.”
The lie came easily, and as soon as she said it, rage flitted across Maximus’s face. “That will not happen as long as I am alive.”
“You can’t stop us.”
“Can’t I?” Maximus leaned in too. “Do you think you are the first unworthy girl my son has fallen for? The first whore? Thelonius has a type. And you, Temperance, are exactly his.”
Tem would not be wounded by petty insults. “Leo deserves to choose his own future.”
“My son has proven himself incapable of that task.”
It was then that Tem realized their conversation ran far deeper than just her courtship with the prince. Maximus was referring to Leo’s pattern of behavior, how his son consistently chose love over duty. It was one of Leo’s finer qualities. To Maximus, there could be nothing worse.
“There’s nothing you can do,” Tem snapped. “He has already decided.”
Maximus laughed cruelly. “I have corrected my son’s mistakes before. I will not hesitate to do so again.”
Tem froze.
The king was admitting that he had played a part in the demise of Leo’s relationship with Evelyn. Perhaps he had paid her to leave the village.
Perhaps worse.
“I am not Evelyn,” Tem said quietly. “I will not be so easy to get rid of.”
Maximus frowned, and Tem realized he hadn’t known that she knew about Leo’s first love.
Tem seized the advantage, driving her point home. “You tried to control him once. If you try to do it again, I will turn him against you.”
Maximus’s nostrils flared. “You would not dare.”
“I would,” Tem snapped. “And I would relish it.”
She stepped even closer, and Maximus’s eyes widened as she finished.
“When Leo chooses me, you will honor his choice. If you do not, I will tell him you were the one who destroyed his future with Evelyn. And you will lose him forever.”
Maximus squared his shoulders. “My son would understand.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.