Page 170 of Kneel Before Me

“Me?”

“Not you specifically. It is tradition.”

“Will there be other human guests?”

Kronos shook his head. “I very much doubt it. Your presence is…an anomaly.”

“Is it even allowed?”

“It is. But it is rare.”

Daphne sighed. Truth be told, the rarity of their situation no longer bothered her. If the basilisks wanted to get upset over her presence, that was their problem. She merely wished to get through the next three days in one piece.

“It is unusual to have a human guest,” Kronos continued. “We will face scrutiny. Possibly violence.”

Daphne didn’t like the sound of that.

At the look on her face, Kronos said quickly, “I do not say this to make you afraid. You must know I will not let anything happen to you.”

She nodded. Her chest felt rather tight.

“I mean it.” He leaned in, and her breath caught in her throat. “No harm will come to you as long as I am by your side.”

“Then you’d better stay by it.”

Kronos smiled and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Always.”

They entered the room together.

Daphne took in everything at once: the high ceilings, the sea of nude bodies, the twelve tall glass vials on the far wall. She was suddenly glad she was naked. Anyone wearing clothing would stick out like a sore thumb. The basilisks already looked at Daphne enough as it was—everyone they passed gave her lingering glances, staring first at her face before their eyes slid down the rest of her body, landing unmistakably on her center. Daphne had never experienced anything like this. She’d never been stared at by so many people at once. And certainly not while naked.

True to his word, Kronos stayed by her side. The room fell silent as the crowd parted for them. Daphne threw her shoulders back, determined not to show her fear. She was not ashamed. She was here for Kronos.

His arm went around her waist protectively as they approached the far wall. Twelve tall, glass vials loomed above them, each embedded directly into the stone.

“That one is mine,” Kronos said, nodding at a vial in the middle. It was filled with a dark red liquid that sloshed around as if it had a mind of its own. Daphne remembered how he told her that a basilisk’s rank could change by the hour. She saw now that he’d meant that literally. The blood in the vials was in constant motion, ebbing and flowing, rising and falling. It was like a living thing.

“Is that…blood?”

Kronos nodded. “It is.”

“There’s so much of it.”

“I only provided a drop. It multiplies on its own.”

“Kora.”

There was nothing else to say. Daphne had never seen anything like this before. Her exposure to magic was extremely limited, if not nonexistent, in the village. She believed in Kora like everyone else, but this was the first time she had seen her miracles up close. Below the vials was a long stone basin with what looked like dried blood all over it. Upon closer inspection, Daphne realized the scrawls were letters. She leaned in to see names, one under each vial.

“Daphne,” Kronos murmured. For as quietly as he was speaking, his voice seemed to echo in the silent room. “I must add your name.”

It was then that Daphne saw the small stone knife in his hand.

“I will heal you right afterward,” Kronos said. “It will barely hurt.”

Daphne nodded. There was nothing else she could do.

“Where would you prefer it?”