Filed To Story: Between Two Kings: A Split or Swallow Book PDF Free
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The royals are just the beginning. The snakes are next.”
A chill ran down Tem’s spine. “When will it be enough?” she whispered.
The wind was picking up now, howling down the alleyway. Gabriel stared down at her, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. “When they give back what they took from us.”
Then he turned and left her.
It was the first time Gabriel had ever let her go without kissing her on the cheek. Tem felt a single tear fall, tracing the place where his lips should have been. She stumbled back through the forest cold and alone. Multiple times, she fell along the path, groping her way with no sense of direction. She was crying so hard she barely heard her name.
“Temperance?” Apollo emerged from the forest like a ghost, his bare skin glowing in the darkness.
“What are you doing here?” Tem gasped. She’d never seen him outside the caves.
Apollo stepped closer. “You said you were in the village. You were hurt.”
Tem’s brain was barely working. She struggled to put the pieces together: Apollo was here. He had come to find her. Apollo was here.
“Why are you crying? What happened?”
Tem had no idea how to answer him. Why was she crying? Was it because she’d just seen her childhood church burn down before her eyes? Was it because people had gotten hurt, and it was her fault? Or was it because the brother she needed was not the brother before her?
Apollo stepped even closer, brushing his thumb gently over her cheek. “Tell me how to fix it,” he murmured. “Please.”
Tem closed her eyes, focusing on nothing but his touch, letting it ground her. The intimacy of the moment was crushing. They had to stop meeting like this-alone in the darkness, immediately after something traumatic had happened. It was only a matter of time before it ended in disaster.
“Why the tears, Temperance?”
Tem opened her eyes. “The villagers are angry.”
Apollo raised an eyebrow. “Are they now?”
“Yes.”
“At whom?”
“The royals. And…” She paused, wondering how much she should say. “Caspen.”
Apollo raised his other eyebrow. Tem didn’t know how much he knew-if he was aware that Caspen was the one who broke the truce-that he had broken it for her.
“The villagers will not harm us, Temperance. They fear us.”
She shook her head. They did not fear them enough.
The snakes are next.
“If they come near us, we will turn them to stone,” Apollo said. “They will not stand a chance. Petrification is our greatest power.”
Again, her inadequacy reared its head. Tem dropped her voice to a whisper as she said, “Not for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve never petrified before.”
Apollo blinked in genuine surprise. “Why?”
Tem crossed her arms, suddenly embarrassed.
When she didn’t answer, Apollo prompted her. “Are you afraid to do so?”
“No,” said Tem firmly.
He furrowed his brow at her tone. “I see. In that case, why have you refrained?”
“Caspen won’t teach me.”
“And why not?”
“He doesn’t want me to kill anyone,” Tem grumbled.
The barest flash of amusement brightened Apollo’s eyes. “You sound disappointed. Do you dream of being a killer?”
“No,” she insisted. “But it feels like…a part of me is missing.”
“Hm.” Apollo tilted his head, considering something. “I cannot fathom why my brother would not teach you such a fundamental skill. It is unwise. You should know the full breadth of your power.”
For once, they agreed on something.
Apollo continued, “Then again, he is…sentimental.”
Tem had only heard one person call Caspen sentimental before. Rowe. “Sentimental how?”
Apollo shrugged. “Caspenon upholds a certain concept of…morality.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you are a shiny thing to him. And he does not want to see you tarnished.”
“Excuse me?
Tarnished?” Tem was not an object. She was not shiny, nor was it possible to tarnish her. The entire concept was ridiculous.
“Do not hold it against him,” Apollo said quickly. “He thinks he is protecting you. Although I rather suspect he is doing the opposite.”
Again, they agreed on something. No good could come of Tem not knowing how to petrify.
With perhaps more eagerness than was warranted, Apollo said, “Would you like me to teach you?”
Anticipation pricked Tem’s spine. Yes. She would like that. “I…” she started, then paused. Tem knew how she wanted to answer. But she couldn’t seem to do it. “Don’t know.”
Apollo’s calculating gaze held hers. “I think you do know.”
Of course she knew. She knew quite well.
But Caspen had made his stance crystal clear. There was no doubt in her mind that accepting petrification lessons from his brother would anger him, even if it felt like the right thing to do for her-even if she wanted it.
Rather than reply, Tem stared at the middle of Apollo’s chest. Anywhere was easier than looking him straight in the eye. He was standing too close. He was selfish, and his desire for her was a strategy. She had no idea whether she could truly trust him.
“Temperance,” Apollo murmured, his voice low. “I will teach you, if that is what you wish. You need only say the word.”