Filed To Story: Between Two Kings: A Split or Swallow Book PDF Free
“She has seen this before.”
“Seen what before?”
Caspen didn’t answer. He was barreling through the passageway, shoving basilisks out of his path. He could touch them easily; the barrier didn’t seem to extend to those in his way.
“Why can’t we touch each other?” Tem insisted, already short of breath. “What’s going on?”
“I do not know, Tem,” he snapped, still not looking at her. “I only suspect. That is why we must find Adelaide.”
Tem knew Caspen well enough to know when he was done answering questions. Rather than ask any more, she concentrated on her breathing, trying to match his brutal pace. They were headed toward Adelaide’s chambers, and Caspen didn’t slow down even as the passageway became more confined. By the time they arrived, Tem was nearly doubled over.
Caspen threw open the door. “Adelaide,” he began, “we-” But he cut off abruptly when he saw who else was in the room. Cypress and Adelaide were tangled on the bed, Cypress’s head between Adelaide’s legs. Both of them looked up in shock. As soon as Cypress recognized Caspen, her arm went around Adelaide in a protective embrace.
Surprise, then anger, then determined resolve flashed over Caspen’s face in quick succession. He pointed at Cypress. “Leave us, Sister. Now.”
Cypress shook her head, her arm still thrown over Adelaide. “I am not your pet, dear Brother. You cannot tell me what to do.”
“I said leave us.”
Even Tem went still. Caspen’s tone was the one he used when he was a moment away from losing his temper. It was a familiar tone to Tem, and surely to Caspen’s sister as well.
“Cypress.” Adelaide touched her cheek gently. “Please leave us. I will come to you when we are done.”
It was her plea, finally, that made Cypress leave. She stood without another word, glaring at Caspen on her way out. He ignored her. The door had barely shut when Adelaide said, “Caspenon. You must understand that we-“
“I did not ask for an explanation,” Caspen snapped. “Who my sister chooses to bed is not my concern. I cannot help it if she prefers my scraps.”
Hurt flashed over Adelaide’s face, but she quickly suppressed it. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair uncharacteristically mussed at the back. Tem had never seen her so vulnerable. She raised her chin. “Then why are you here?”
“I am here because Tem and I cannot touch.”
Adelaide raised an eyebrow. Then she sat up slowly, crossed her legs, and positioned herself so she was facing them on the edge of the bed.
“You…cannot touch?”
In reply, Caspen reached for Tem, his fingers once again meeting the barrier between them. An ache ran through her at the sight of his hand an inch from her skin. Out of instinct, she reached for him too, stopping when she felt resistance just before his fingers. She stared at their hands, suspended in the air. The sight made her want to cry.
“Kora,” Adelaide whispered.
Caspen dropped his hand. “You have seen this before,” he said sharply. “Is it the same?”
Adelaide’s beautiful face darkened. She ran a palm over her hair, smoothing it. “I…do not know. It could be.” Adelaide stood, crossing to them. She took Tem’s hand in her own before grasping Caspen’s in the other and raising them. All three of them watched as Adelaide pushed their hands together. A stubborn inch of air remained between them, vibrating with restrained energy.
Tem didn’t understand it. But she hated it-and she couldn’t take it anymore. “Will one of you please tell me what’s going on?”
Neither basilisk answered.
Adelaide released their hands and muttered, “Remarkable. When did it begin?”
“Just now,” Caspen replied. “Mere minutes ago.”
Adelaide nodded. “I have only seen this once before, and I was very young.”
“But you know what it means.”
Adelaide bit her lip. “Yes,” she said quietly. “I know what it means.”
“Well?” Tem cried. “What does it mean?”
A perilous pause followed. In it, Caspen and Adelaide looked at each other. Tem saw a myriad of emotions flow between them-first shock, then disbelief, then resolve. What felt like an eternity passed before Adelaide finally answered. “It means that the Senecas have contested your marriage.”
Tem blinked. “Contested it?” She glanced at Caspen, whose face was a stiff mask of anger. He seemed too irate to speak.
Adelaide continued, “When you married Caspenon, you wed outside your quiver. The Senecas take offense to this. By contesting your marriage, they are invoking an ancient process to challenge your union. You and Caspenon cannot touch each other until it is resolved.”
Tem remembered what Caspen had told her:
The Senecas are angry. They feel I am corrupting one of their own. She pictured the words on the courtyard wall:
Give her to us. Here, finally, was the retaliation Caspen had feared. The Senecas were done waiting for her to join their side. They had warned her, and she had ignored them. And now they would take her by force.
“And how exactly will it be resolved?”
Adelaide’s eyes slid to Caspen’s, then back to Tem’s. “There will be a tournament in your honor. The victor will win your hand in marriage.”
The ground seemed to fall out from beneath her. “Excuse me?”
“Temperance,” Adelaide said steadily. “There is no need to be alarmed.”
“No need to be alarmed?” Alarm was all she felt.
“It is an honor to have one’s marriage contested.”
Tem thought back to when Adelaide had told her it was an honor to be pursued by Apollo and Caspen at the same time.
They desire you. You should take that as a compliment. Tem was a little tired of being told that the inconveniences in her life were an honor. None of this felt like an honor. It felt like an enormous, insurmountable annoyance.
“It means you are a coveted prospect,” Adelaide continued. “You are meant to enjoy the process.”
Tem snorted. “Enjoy it?”
“Yes.”
“But I don’t want to be with anyone else. I’m already married to Caspen.”
“Yes,” Adelaide said gently, and Tem knew she was trying to placate her. “You are already married. But you must remember that basilisks do not conduct themselves as humans do. There is no law that joins you in matrimony. For us, marriage is simply a choice.”
“But we’re bound together by blood.”
“The blood bond is significant. But all it means is that your lives are tied to one another.”
Tem felt the sudden urge to scream. It was too much, these ridiculous rules and loopholes and traditions. There were not many times when she missed her life before Caspen, but for a single moment, Tem remembered how simple it had all once been. She thought about how her greatest worries were tending to the chickens or weeding the garden, how her nights consisted of nothing more than meeting Gabriel at the Horseman for a drink.
Then she remembered the pain. She remembered the dissatisfaction and the loneliness and the despair she’d suffered during her time on the farm. She was never going back to that. This was her life now, traditions and all.
Tem looked at Caspen. He was staring into the distance, his fists clenched at his sides. She imagined for a moment what it would be like to marry another-to have someone other than Caspen in her bed each night. There was only one man for which she’d entertain the thought, and he was engaged to someone else.
“This can’t happen,” Tem whispered.
“It is happening,” Adelaide said. “The process is already in motion. Now that your marriage has been contested, the tournament must be held. It will determine who is worthy of your hand.”