Page 17 of Kneel Before Me

She followed him to the mat, which she still wasn’t quite keen on sitting on, but she figured they were past the point of protest. They sat facing each other, just as they had the last time. Kronos spoke first.

“Are you sure I cannot bring you food?”

Daphne shook her head. “I don’t need it.”

Kronos nodded, although he still looked concerned.

Before he could offer again, Daphne said, “Did you have a good day?”

It was the first thing she could think to ask, and as soon as she said it, she wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Kronos was not her husband coming home from work—he was a deadly basilisk who could kill her with a single glance.

Yet to her surprise and utter relief, Kronos smiled.

“I did. Did you?”

“Yes,” Daphne said. It was hardly the truth—she’d spent the day having what could only be described as a singular, drawn-out panic attack.

Kronos seemed to know she was lying because he laughed softly. “Is that right?”

Daphne crossed her arms, suddenly self-conscious. She was acutely aware of the way he was looking at her as if he could see into her soul. He’d opted not to wear a shirt this time, and the sight of so much bare skin was making Daphne rather warm. She wished he wasn’t wearing anything at all. The urge to touch him was so tempting it was almost a physical sensation, tingling in her fingertips. She wondered whether that was a result of his mysterious basilisk magic or whether it was fully her own desire.

“Yes. That’s right.”

Kronos smiled. “What did you do?”

Was he actually…asking her about her day? “I…sewed.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You…sewed?”

“Yes.”

“What did you sew?”

It was a completely normal question. More than warranted. Yet somehow it felt like a significant inquiry, and Daphne couldn’t help but pretend that it meant he was deeply interested in the intricacies of her life. “Lots of different things. My mother is a seamstress, and I help her out with her work.”

Kronos nodded. “I see.”

Daphne nodded too. Then silence fell, and she attempted to look anywhere but at his tantalizing expanse of exposed chest.

“Have you changed your mind?” he asked presently.

She frowned. “About what?”

“About fucking me?”

Her mouth fell open. Heat bloomed on her cheeks. “No,” she said firmly. “I haven’t.”

“That is a shame,” he said.

Daphne could not fathom how to reply to that. He made her so unsteady, as if she were walking on a tightrope over open water. There was something about the way Kronos looked at her that made her quite sure he would take her passionately if he could. She shook her head, trying to clear it. Basilisks were known for their powers of seduction. It was his nature to make her feel this way. It meant nothing.

“Why is it a shame?” she managed to say.

Kronos shifted, and her eyes darted immediately to the bulge between his legs. He was hard again. “Because I wish to see you naked.”

If she had been flustered before, she was downright feral now. Daphne hoped dearly that he couldn’t tell how turned on she was by his admission.

“Do you not wish to see me naked too?” Kronos continued.