Page 108 of Kneel Before Me

“What is your name?” Maximus asked.

“Kronos,” the snake answered stiffly.

Maximus nodded. There was no need to introduce himself; Kronos already knew who he was. Even if he didn’t, there was no point in exchanging pleasantries with a snake. They dropped their hands, appraising each other. For some reason, Daphne looked terrified.

“Well?” Maximus asked without preamble. “How is she doing?”

Kronos rolled his shoulders. “You tell me.”

Maximus’s eyes slid to Daphne’s. “I wouldn’t know,” he said.

A long pause followed. The snake seemed surprised by this information, which was baffling to Maximus. Surely Daphne was in communication with her teacher.

Kronos looked down at her. “Is that truly the case?”

She jutted her lip defiantly in a look Maximus knew quite well. “Yes.”

For some inexplicable reason, Kronos looked pleased.

“I see,” the snake replied, his gaze flicking back to Maximus. “And yet she is still in the competition.”

“Yes. She is.”

“In that case, may I inquire as to why you have not eliminated her?”

Between them, Daphne was fidgeting. Maximus had never seen her so antsy.

“She’s…useful in other ways.”

The snake frowned. “In what other ways?”

Maximus debated how much to tell him. He had no guarantee that Daphne hadn’t already told her basilisk about their pact. But that was absurd. They were student and teacher, nothing more. He very much doubted she would confide in her mentor.

Maximus decided to remain as subtle as possible. “There’s a thrill to the chase, isn’t there?”

A loaded pause followed.

“Yes,” Kronos said slowly. “I suppose there is.”

Something about the way he said it made a sliver of anger pierce Maximus’s chest. Why would the snake agree with him on that particular point? He hadn’t said it so they could commiserate. Chasing Daphne was supposed to be his task alone. Maximus had no interest in sharing her.

Daphne cleared her throat. “If there’s nothing else—”

But Maximus was not so eager to end this conversation. He cut her off sharply. “How does she compare to your other students?”

Daphne no longer looked terrified. Now she looked downright angry.

Kronos took a long time before answering. During the silence he looked at Daphne, who looked back at him with an expression Maximus did not understand. If he didn’t know better, he would think they were reading each other’s minds.

“She is…exceptional,” Kronos said finally.

Something about the way he said it gave Maximus pause. The admission almost seemed as if it pained him. To Maximus, it was merely a fact. Of course Daphne was exceptional. Even a basilisk who had trained dozens of women was bound to notice that Daphne was unlike all the others. Exceptional was the very least that she was.

At the snake’s word, Daphne smiled, and a hot thread of jealousy pierced Maximus’s chest. She was pleased. She cared what the snake thought of her. Kronos approved of Daphne, and that fact made her happy. How extraordinary. How detestable.

“And has she satisfied you?” Maximus snapped.

Silence fell. He watched as a muscle ticked in the snake’s jaw. If he didn’t know better, Maximus could have sworn the question bothered him. But why should it? He’d asked the same of all the other basilisks—it was an appropriate thing to ask of every woman in the competition. It was his right as the prince to inquire about their performance. They were competing for his hand in marriage, after all. He had to know whether they were worthy of it.