Filed To Story: Between Two Kings: A Split or Swallow Book PDF Free
I do know.
Tem jumped at his voice in her mind.
You can’t just eavesdrop on me like that.
I have already told you, Temperance. Your thoughts are rather loud.
Well, tune them out.
That is impossible.
Tem rolled her eyes.
In response, Apollo took her hand in his, lifted it to his mouth, and pressed his lips to her wrist. Tem didn’t know what to make of the gesture-it was the same one he did when they first met. It was oddly respectful, as if he were paying tribute to someone of much higher rank. Then again, Tem was technically his queen. Perhaps that’s exactly what he was doing.
“Should you ever tire of resisting,” he murmured against her skin, “I am at your disposal.”
That, if nothing else, was certainly true. Apollo was always right there, on the edge of Tem’s vision, waiting. In some ways, she liked that he wanted her so badly. But often his desire felt like a cage. He was no different than all the other basilisks under the mountain: virile and eager and willing to sleep with her at a moment’s notice. There was something to be said for wanting what she couldn’t have.
Her thoughts turned to Leo.
He was the only thing she couldn’t have. Everyone else was available to her; everyone else was hers for the taking. But even now, after sharing this moment with Apollo, Tem could only think of the human king.
Apollo was watching her carefully, as if curious to see she would do next. He had every right to be curious, Tem supposed, after what had just happened between them. But she would not be going any further with Apollo tonight. So she said, “Can you help me down?”
His face resumed its usual smooth expression. “Of course, Temperance.” Apollo’s arm curled around her, lifting her from the low brick wall and setting her on the ground. He lingered for just a moment, their bodies pressed together.
Tem closed her eyes, savoring it. Then they pulled apart.
“We should return,” Apollo said.
Dawn had run its course; it was nearly full daylight.
“What about the body?”
“I shall take care of it later.”
Tem frowned. She looked over her shoulder at the statue of the man, his granite hand still holding the feed scoop.
“Won’t someone find it?”
“It will not be here for long. I will return as soon as I escort you back.”
“I don’t need escorting, Apollo.”
“I never said you did.”
Tem rolled her eyes. She no longer had the desire to argue. The night had been a long one, and Tem was still reeling from the fact that she’d petrified a human being. They walked back slowly, and she knew Apollo was again letting her set the pace. Tem used the time to practice warming herself, finding she was able to direct warmth from her heart to the tips of her toes with hardly any effort at all. With each pulse of her blood, she felt indescribable power, and she knew it was a result of what they’d just done. It was a miracle that basilisks didn’t petrify someone every single day just to chase such a rush.
We would leave a trail of bodies if we did that.
Tem was so used to Apollo chiming in by now that she didn’t even jump at his voice. Instead, she shared her mind with him, allowing her thoughts to run their course, knowing he was listening. She wondered how the basilisks were able to resist petrifying the villagers when it felt so natural to do so. Even the truce couldn’t suppress basic instinct, and Tem couldn’t imagine that all basilisks were as careful as they had been tonight, choosing someone who was practically dead already-someone who wouldn’t be missed.
We are always careful. The consequences are significant if we are not.
But how can you get away with it? You can’t just leave a bunch of statues out for anyone to find.
No. We cannot.
So what do you do with them?
Apollo’s gaze slid to hers.
Would you like me to show you?
By now they had passed the wall and were entering the caves.
Yes.
In response, Apollo led her down a passageway she’d never seen before. It went deep below the mountain, surely deeper than the lake. Tem was just about to ask where they were going when they stopped before a tall, wooden door. Apollo opened it to reveal a long, dark room. It reminded Tem of the room Caspen had shown her containing the monument dedicated to those who had gone missing after the war. But unlike the room with the monument, which had tall ceilings and intricately carved stone details, this room was bare of any decoration. There were no torches on the walls, nothing to light the way. The ceiling was low and rough, the floor similarly unfinished. It was certainly not a memorial, more like a storage room.
As soon as Tem’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw what exactly was stored here.
Row after row of petrified statues stretched out before her, fading away into the distance. People in varying positions, frozen into stone. Some were lying down, as if in sleep. Some were standing, their arms over their heads in clear self-defense. It was cold in here, but for some reason, Tem could no longer warm herself. The sight of so many dead humans made her sick.
“This is…” she whispered.
Apollo finished for her: “Justice.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“We do not kill at random. It is retribution: a life for a life.”
Finally, Tem understood. If each of these statues represented a basilisk who had been taken for bloodletting, the names on the memorial Caspen had shown her corresponded to the bodies in this room. Tem shook her head in disbelief. There were so many.
“How did it go unnoticed?”
“This is the result of centuries, Temperance.” He waved his hand, encapsulating the room. “We did not do this overnight.”
Tem tried to respond, but she couldn’t. She might be queen of the basilisks, but she was also a villager. Today she had petrified one of her own. And if the circumstances had been even slightly different, she could just as easily have ended up in this room herself.
Every action has a consequence, Temperance. You cannot blame us for retaliating.
I don’t blame you. It’s just…sad.
Apollo didn’t answer. Surely, this wasn’t sad to him. His sadness was confined to the other room-the memorial, where the names of his people were scratched in stone. But Tem’s people were right here.
She turned to Apollo.
“When you said you’d take care of the body, you meant…”
“I will bring it back here.”
Tem looked up into his eyes. “Alone?”
He pursed his lips. “Yes.”
“Why wouldn’t you ask me to help?”
“I do not want you to experience that. Carrying them is…heavy.” From the way he said it, Tem could tell he meant the word in more ways than one.