Page 128 of Between Two Kings

“Caspen?” Tem whispered.

No reply.

Suddenly, Tem understood. Now that Leo was accompanying her, Caspen was not. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. But it still hurt.

There was nothing else to say. Without another word, they left.

There were a hundred things Tem wanted to say to Leo now that they were alone. But he looked so defeated that, despite her better judgment, Tem decided against it. The last thing she wanted was to make this harder on him. But the threads of resentment were beginning to pile up inside her. Tem was the one who was about to bleed out in the dungeon. That was her burden to bear, not Leo’s. He should be comforting her.

The rest of their walk was silent. The only thing Tem heard was the pounding of her own heartbeat—and Leo’s. His body was warm beside her, his blood pumping steadily through his veins. In the dim lighting, he almost seemed to glow.

Tem couldn’t stop thinking about the crest. Her basilisk side called to him like predator to prey, daring her to consummate, daring her to satisfy her urges. Tem stared at the back of his head as they walked single file down the staircase to the dungeon. The urge to touch his white-blond hair was monumental—nearly irresistible. Tem even went so far as to lift her hand, reaching toward him in the darkness. What would happen if she ran her fingers through that beautiful hair? What if she gripped it—hard—and yanked his face to hers? Would he resist? Or would he close the distance, pin her against the cold brick wall, and kiss her back?

They reached the door to the dungeon.

Tem thought about how the last time they were standing here together, before they annulled their marriage. Was Leo thinking of it too?

“You shouldn’t have to do this,” he whispered.

It was an empty sentiment. “Then why are you making me?”

Leo’s face fell. He almost looked as if he were about to cry. “Tem…”

Her name evaporated between them.

Tem had never wanted to touch him as badly as she wanted to right now. She wanted it more than she wanted her next breath.

“Leo,” she whispered. “You’re the only one standing here. You are the one letting me walk through that door.”

He opened his eyes. They bore into hers. “If I ask you not to walk through that door, Evelyn will leave me.”

Tem heard the agony in his voice.

It was horrible. All of it. This entire situation that both Tem and Evelyn had created. Leo was trapped now. Perhaps he always had been. Tem thought back to the day she’d found out she was a Hybreed, how she’d come to Leo for shelter. She’d found him in the graveyard that morning. Waiting for Evelyn.

“I don’t want this,” he said.

“It seems like you do.”

Leo closed his eyes.

Tem stared at his blond eyelashes. They were standing so close, she could count them.

“Tell me to stop this,” he whispered.

“What?”

“When you ordered me to calm down, I did it. So tell me to stop this.”

Tem stared up at him for a long moment before realizing exactly what he was saying to her. All it would take was a single order from her, and Leo would have to obey. If she told him to stop this, he would. It was Caspen’s solution, and it was a shortcut, a lie. She was not Caspen; she would not play Kora. Tem was no god.

She shook her head. “No.”

“Please, Tem. Please.”

“No.”

He reached for her, and she flinched.