Page 139 of Between Two Kings

The vision intensified. She watched as Apollo flipped the woman onto her stomach and entered her from behind. The sight made Tem unbearably warm. It was an exact mirror to what she had just imagined Leo doing to her.

Do you like that, Temperance? Watching me fuck someone else?

She didn’t want to like it. But she did. No. I don’t.

You are a terrible liar.

Can you please focus? You haven’t answered my question.

I was not aware you had asked one.

I asked if you would teach me how to petrify.

You did not ask that. You told me that you wanted me to teach you. There is a difference.

Tem closed her eyes. Basilisks were simply impossible. Apollo even more so. There were moments, like the one she was experiencing currently, that made her want to throw her hands up and abandon them altogether. There’s barely a difference, and you know it.

Perhaps. But if I am to do you this favor you so desperately desire, I should like to hear you ask properly.

Now Apollo was teasing her, forcing Tem to beg the way she knew he wanted her to.

When she didn’t reply, he said, I have all night, Temperance.

Tem was well aware of that. There was no shortage of women for Apollo to fuck. He would be occupied until she presented a reason for him not to be. Normally she would never give in to such a request. But she needed this.

Will you teach me how to petrify?

Only if you say please.

Tem resisted the urge to throw up. Teach me, Apollo. Please.

There was a long silence in which Tem was subjected to the final moments of Apollo’s congress. She watched as the woman came, and Apollo did too, pulling out and releasing himself on her back, splattering the glistening drops of his cum down the sculpted ridge of her spine.

You’re a pig.

A pig who is about to teach you how to petrify. You should be thanking me.

I’ll thank you once I’ve learned something.

It is my greatest honor to educate you, Temperance.

Say one more thing I don’t like, and I’ll revoke this opportunity.

She felt his amusement even through the haze of his orgasm. Meet me outside. And do not wear any clothing.

Their connection closed.

Tem sat on the bed, frozen, processing what just happened. It wasn’t until now that she remembered that petrification could only occur when a basilisk wore their true form. Caspen himself had told her as much. Tem remembered one of their earliest conversations:

My gaze is not lethal when I wear my human form.

Tem would need to transition in order to petrify. At the thought, a knot of anxiety twisted her stomach. Her father had said that it would only get worse, that until she consummated the crest, her ability to transition would deteriorate. What if she was already too far gone? What if she couldn’t petrify at all?

It didn’t matter. She had to try.

Tem was already naked, so there was nothing to remove before she made her way outside. The freezing night air immediately raised goose bumps on her skin. It was utterly unnatural to be naked like this outdoors. Tem couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if someone saw her right now. She tapped her foot while she waited, her arms crossed in defiance. Apollo was taking forever; perhaps he had decided to fuck that woman again. Tem was just about to go back inside when suddenly Apollo emerged from the cave. Even in the dark, his beauty overwhelmed her. She stared at his sculpted shoulders, sweat still drying on his skin.

“You came,” he said as he approached.