Page 51 of Between Two Kings

Now Tem was beyond confused. Leo, secretive? He was anything but. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, to the point of inconvenience. There was nobody in the world who was easier to read than Leo.

“Well…what do you want to know?” Tem asked. She had no idea where this conversation was going and was starting to wish she’d never allowed herself to be dragged in here. She could have resisted—she could have screamed. How could Caspen let this happen? Or worse, Leo? They were both at fault. She would reprimand them later.

Evelyn leaned forward. “Did you love him?”

Kora. That was certainly getting straight to the point.

Tem noticed how Evelyn used the past tense—how she didn’t ask do you love him? It was an interesting distinction, and one that framed Tem’s relationship as something of the past no matter which way Tem answered. She decided to simply respond with the truth: “Yes.”

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed. “How long?”

“Excuse me?”

“How long did you love him for?”

That was a trickier question to answer. It implied there was an end to her love. But the truth was that Tem still loved Leo. She always would. “Why do you want to know that?”

Evelyn shrugged in an attempt at nonchalance, but the gesture came off stilted. “I’m just interested in your history.”

“Our history shouldn’t matter to you.”

Tem’s tone was a little harsher than she intended. But it was true—Evelyn’s history with Leo was far more impactful than Tem’s. Of the two of them, Evelyn was the one who had deeper roots with the current king. Tem should be curious about her, not the other way around. And yet Tem found that she didn’t want to know anything about their history. She’d much rather pretend they didn’t have one. That, at least, was easier than picturing the two of them together.

“Of course it matters,” Evelyn said. “You were important to him.”

Again, past tense. Tem couldn’t know for sure, but she would bet everything she owned that she was still important to Leo. He was still important to her.

But enough was enough. Tem didn’t owe Evelyn any details about her feelings for Leo, past or present. Evelyn was not in charge of this conversation just because they were in her home. Tem decided to take matters into her own hands.

“Where did you go?”

Evelyn crossed her arms defensively. “When?”

“When you decided to leave Leo.”

Tem could play with language too. She was purposefully framing Evelyn’s actions as her own choice, not one that was influenced by some letter.

“I went to a neighboring village.”

Tem frowned. The closest village was less than a day’s journey away. She couldn’t believe Evelyn had been so near yet hadn’t been tempted to return.

“And yet you never came back? Not even once, just to see him?”

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed. “I thought Leo wanted me to stay away.”

This again. But Tem was done believing it. “But surely you would’ve tried to return at least once, just for a chance to change his mind, to ask him if he was really sure?”

Evelyn shrugged. “I didn’t want to risk it.”

“No? I would’ve.”

A testy silence fell. Then Evelyn said, “The letter was quite convincing.”

“And yet you destroyed it.”

“It was a painful memory for me.”

“So you said.”