Page 18 of Kneel Before Me

Her blush deepened. Of course she wanted to see him naked. It was all she wanted, and she’d wanted it ever since the first moment she met him. But that didn’t mean she could have it. Then again, they were supposed to be having sex. In all the other caves, the girls were naked. Daphne was the outlier. She decided to answer honestly: “I…do.”

He smiled. “In that case, shall I undress?”

His hands went to the waistband of his trousers, beginning to pull them down.

“No,” Daphne cried.

Kronos paused, raising a single eyebrow. The trousers had been lowered exactly two inches, and it took all of her self-control not to look at what they revealed.

“Please don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s going to…tempt me.”

“Temptation is not a bad thing.”

“It is when it leads to other things.”

“Who said we would do other things? I only offered to undress.”

She shot him a look. “That’s the first step to everything else, and you know it.”

He shot her a look right back. “Do not tell me what I know.”

When Daphne didn’t reply, Kronos let go of the waistband of his trousers. They remained low, but not low enough to reveal anything.

“You are a curious creature, Daphne,” he said.

No one had ever referred to her as a creature before. The word was more fitting for him. “Why?”

“Most humans are not so strong.”

Daphne sighed. She wasn’t strong. Every moment she sat here was a moment she came closer to giving in. But she was a woman of her word, and she had made a promise to herself. She wasn’t going to break it, even for Kronos.

“I am very patient,” he said, still smirking. “You will give in eventually.”

Daphne shook her head. “I’m never going to change my mind.”

He tilted his head. “Never is a long time, Daphne.”

Didn’t she know it.

When she failed to reply, Kronos leaned forward. “It is risky to deal in absolutes when you cannot predict the future.”

That was some basilisk bullshit if she’d ever heard it. “Do you always speak like that?”

“Like what?”

“In riddles.”

Kronos let out an incredulous huff. “I do not speak in riddles.”

“You absolutely do.”

“I speak the truth.”

“By using riddles.”