Page 125 of Between Two Kings

Caspen’s own mother had died at the hands of his father when she had slept with her true love. If Tem did the same—if she slept with Leo—Caspen would be forced to kill her.

“How long do we have?” Tem whispered.

“Not long,” Kronos said. “And the longer you wait, the more discomfort you will both feel. It will eventually progress to pain.”

“What kind of pain?”

In reply, Kronos touched his palm to his chest. Tem understood he was holding his heart. “Your ability to transition will only deteriorate. Eventually you will not be able to do so at all. When that happens, it will be too late for Leo.”

Tem stared down at her hands, counting the freckles beneath each finger.

“Tem,” her father insisted. “You must—”

“I know what I must do,” she whispered.

But that did not mean she could do it. Tem had ordered him to find her. There was nothing to be done about it. Or was there? Caspen had threatened to solve it himself. But Tem could solve it too. Leo was bound to her, after all. Tem could order him to leave Evelyn. But it was not a viable solution.

Tem was no god. She did not believe what Caspen believed—that her current position of power gave her the right to control others. She would not mold Leo’s future again. She’d done it once and had regretted it every day since. Even if she did it—even if she violated his trust and treated him like her puppet—Kronos had made the terms crystal clear. There was no room for exceptions, no possibility of a loophole.

If she consummated the crest, she signed her own death sentence.

But if she didn’t, she signed Leo’s.

Chapter Twenty-One

It was dark by the time Tem left her parents’ cottage.

She ran all the way to the castle, not stopping for anything, keeping a breakneck pace even when her legs began to scream in pain. No amount of physical activity could distract her from the torrent in her mind—nothing would quell the panic rising in her stomach, closing in on all sides. By the time she reached the castle, she was out of breath.

Caspen was standing outside the front door waiting for her. Tem could hardly bear to look at him.

“Tem,” he said as she approached. “What is the matter?”

Tem only shook her head. There were a hundred things that were the matter. But she wasn’t going to discuss them now—not outside the castle, not right before dinner. There would be time to process everything later. For now, they needed to be a united front. For now, she needed him.

“I’m just tired,” Tem said, which was technically true. She’d just sprinted all the way here, after all.

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You do not look well,” he said, reaching for her. “I should take you home.”

Tem shook her head. They both knew he only wanted to take her home to avoid what was about to happen. “I’m fine, Caspen.”

He pursed his lips, but didn’t answer. They faced the door together.

“Are you ready?” Tem whispered.

“I will never be ready for you to bleed.”

“It’s for the best, Caspen.”

“Not for you.”

“It’s not about me. It’s for Gabriel and for the villagers and for you.”

He furrowed his brow. “I did not ask for it.”

“I know you didn’t. That’s not what I mean. I just mean…” She grasped for the right words, settling on. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Caspen just shook his head. Tem sighed. He would never be convinced that this was right. And perhaps “right” still wasn’t the correct word—perhaps it was simply doing something instead of nothing. At this point, Tem was willing to try anything to bring peace, even if it meant hurting herself in the process. Better her than any other basilisk.