Page 103 of Kneel Before Me

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” she said.

Kronos raised an eyebrow. “Why would it not be?”

“We’d be the only ones.”

He nodded at the dance floor, where several couples were already dancing. “We would hardly be alone.”

“I meant that we’d be the only people…like us.”

He raised his other eyebrow. “Like us?”

Daphne didn’t know how else to put it. So to explain, she gestured around the ballroom. Of all the couples dancing, she did not see one of them from the village. They were all royals. And none were a basilisk and their student.

Kronos turned to her. “I did not realize you cared so much what other people think.”

“I beg your pardon?”

His mouth twitched in amusement. “You do not strike me as the type of woman who would be afraid to step onto a dance floor.”

“I…”

But Daphne really had nothing to say to that. She wasn’t afraid. She was simply…aware. They were in a room full of royals. Maximus himself was just beyond the edge of the ballroom. All it would take was for the set of doors to open, and he could have a clear view of her. How would the prince react if he saw her dancing with her teacher? Part of her didn’t want Maximus to see her dancing with Kronos. But another part—a smaller part but a part nonetheless—definitely did.

Daphne made her decision. “Let’s dance.”

Kronos raised his eyebrows. His smile widened. “Very well.” He took her glass, setting it on a nearby tray with his. Then he extended his hand, and Daphne took it. “Let us dance.”

Perhaps it was her imagination, but she could have sworn people parted for them as they walked onto the dance floor. Was this what it was like to hold some influence, to have power? People did not normally part for Daphne.

When they reached the center of the dance floor, Kronos turned to face her. She looked up into his eyes, focusing on nothing but how warm his body was even when it wasn’t yet touching hers. Being this close to him was intoxicating—she felt as if she were staring directly into the sun.

Kronos placed his hand on her waist, and Daphne suppressed a shudder as the motion applied pressure to the pearls beneath her dress. He paused, as if waiting for her to protest. When she didn’t, he pulled her closer. The last time they’d been this close, she’d had his cock down her throat. Before she could lose herself in the memory, Kronos took her hand in his and spun her out in a single, elegant motion. As soon as she was an arm’s length away, he spun her back, pulling her firmly into his chest. They danced together slowly, moving to the music with unhurried grace.

“Can I ask you something?” Daphne said eventually.

“Anything.”

“What…did you give me?” Daphne had no idea what to call the item she was currently wearing. She knew Kronos knew what she was referring to simply based on the way his fingers slid up her spine, tracing a string of pearls.

“A gift,” he said simply.

It wasn’t the answer Daphne was looking for. There was something special about the item—something magic. She knew Kronos knew it too. “Kronos. Tell me.”

There were so many other things she wanted to ask about—things that were far more important than arousing lingerie. But in this moment, Daphne simply wanted to know.

Yet all he said was, “In time.”

Daphne sighed. It was hard to pressure him to reveal his secrets when she was keeping secrets of her own. She hadn’t told him what Benjamin had said under the bridge; she could not blame him for withholding something in return.

Kronos spun her around again, and this time when he pulled her back in, his lips brushed her cheek. Perhaps it was the wine making her feel warm. But Daphne knew the real reason she was flushed was because of her proximity to him. It was incredible to be this near to him, to feel his body and smell his scent. Every time they came together in tandem with the music, she had to remind herself not to kiss him. They were in the middle of the ballroom; there was no worse place to be feeling the way she felt.

“Where did you learn how to dance?” Daphne asked, if only to distract herself from how turned on she was.

“Basilisks are born with perfect rhythm. It is a skill we utilize during sex.”

He answered so matter-of-factly that she almost laughed. Everything seemed to circle back to sex with him.

“Where did you learn how to dance?” Kronos asked her in return.