Page 28 of Between Two Kings

Tem glanced at the group of men, some of whom were still looking at her. “What about them?” she asked. “What do they think of me?”

Adelaide followed her gaze. “They would not have any woman in charge.”

Something occurred to Tem, and she asked it before she lost her nerve: “Have there ever been two queens?”

“Yes.”

“And two kings?”

“Yes, although not as often.”

“Why not?”

Adelaide gave her a small smile. “Men do not share.”

Tem almost smiled too. That was certainly true. Women were raised to share their time, their attention, their love. Men kept everything for themselves.

“Are you enjoying yourself tonight?” Adelaide asked presently.

What a question. This night was already bizarre and it had barely begun. Tem had no idea whether any part of it had been remotely enjoyable. “It’s…a lot.”

“A lot?”

Tem shrugged. “So much happens here. I feel like I can’t keep up.”

“You will adjust,” Adelaide said. “It may take time.”

The same thing Caspen had said to her. But was it true? “Is every night like this?” Tem gestured out over the courtyard at the piles of copulating bodies.

Adelaide smiled. “Not quite. This is mating season. Everyone is especially…ferocious right now. You chose a particularly volatile time to join our society.”

Tem sighed. She hadn’t chosen the timing at all. “So they’re not usually like this?”

“No,” Adelaide said. “They are not.”

That made her feel slightly better. Adelaide shifted closer.

“Temperance,” she said quietly. “I can imagine that your time here has not been simple.”

Tem snorted. That was putting it lightly.

“Should you ever need guidance…or a friend…I am available.”

Tem raised her eyebrows. A friend? Adelaide was the last person she thought would offer something of that sort. Friendship wasn’t something Tem had expected to find in basilisk society and certainly not from Adelaide. But who better, really, to understand what she was going through? Adelaide was once engaged to Caspen. Adelaide was a Seneca, and she deeply understood her quiver’s plight. There were stranger things, certainly, than a friendship with her. Tem was smart enough to recognize when she was being offered an olive branch and was brave enough to take it. She’d considered Adelaide an enemy at first. But perhaps that wasn’t true at all. Perhaps they were allies.

“Thank you,” Tem said, suddenly self-conscious. It was difficult for her to accept help, especially from someone like Adelaide. But she found she was deeply grateful for it. Basilisks did not often extend graces. If Adelaide was choosing to be kind, Tem was glad to receive it.

“Of course,” Adelaide said.

A silence followed, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Instead, the two women stood together, watching the revelry taking place. Nearly everyone was having sex. Mostly in pairs, but sometimes in groups. For the first time, Tem saw a full range of basilisks, particularly older ones. Tem realized she had never seen a baby basilisk and had no idea how they were born.

“Are there any children here?” Tem asked.

Adelaide smiled. “There are not.”

“Why not?”

“We do not raise them here. It is unsuitable for the young.”