Page 169 of Split or Swallow

Tem blinked. She hadn’t been expecting that.

“For what?”

Caspen let out a long breath. He stepped forward so they were mere inches apart.

“First and foremost, for hurting you last night. I am aware of your perception of our power dynamic, and I do not wish to reinforce that.”

Tem turned his words over in her mind. She noticed how he’d specified her perception of their power dynamic, as if her perception wasn’t correct. But it was. Caspen held the power. He always had. Before she could press the issue, he continued:

“I also wish to apologize for any confusion regarding my intentions.”

“Your…intentions?”

“I thought I had made my feelings for you clear. Apparently I had not.”

“Oh,” Tem said, because she had no idea what else to say.

Despite what he’d just said, Caspen didn’t actually proceed to make his feelings for her clear. He was always talking like this: saying things in a vague way, avoiding straightforward declarations. No doubt a habit honed from centuries of finding ways not to lie.

Tem would wait no longer.

“What are your feelings for me?”

Caspen sighed as if this was very difficult for him.

“I love you.”

His words should have been a soothing balm. Instead they were a cage—a trap that Tem would not fall for once again.

“I know you do,” she said firmly. “And it does not help me.”

She meant it. Nothing about Caspen’s feelings helped her—his love for her did not remedy her family’s reputation, his love for her did not solve her infatuation with Leo, his love for her did not ensure her future. Caspen’s love for her fixed exactly nothing, and Tem was utterly tired of that fact. She wanted to yell at him. Instead, she said:

“Things cannot go on as they have been.”

“I agree,” Caspen said quietly.

He raised his hand, brushing a single finger along her jaw. Despite herself, Tem leaned into his touch. Already, she could feel herself softening toward him. That was all it ever took with Caspen—a single touch, and she was his again.

But she would not be so easily seduced this time.

Too much had happened in the last twenty four hours—too much had changed. Tem was no longer the girl she used to be. There was no coming back from what had occurred between her and Leo: no undoing what had already been done. She was done taking ‘no’ for an answer—done playing by the rules of Caspen’s game.

Tem looked straight at him.

“I almost fucked Leo last night,” she said bluntly.

Caspen’s eyes narrowed.

“I am well aware of that, Tem.”

“So?” Tem insisted. “Are you going to do something about it?”

Caspen’s gaze bore into hers. He let out a dry laugh.

“No.”

She stared up at his infuriatingly perfect face.