Page 248 of Kneel Before Me

Ella closed her eyes. “Kora,” she whispered. A pause. Ella opened her eyes. “So…you’re in love with him.”

It wasn’t a question, but Daphne answered anyway. “Yes.”

“Kora,” Ella said again, pouring a sizable glass of wine before sitting at the table. “This is…insane. Maybe even dangerous, Daph. Does the prince know?”

“No. Or at least, he only knows part of it.”

“Which part?”

“Not the important part.”

“You’d better hope he doesn’t find out.”

“How can he? I’m certainly not telling him.”

“But…he’s expecting to marry you, isn’t he? Everyone knows you’re his first choice.”

After what had happened in the dungeon, Daphne very much doubted that was still true. “I don’t know what he expects anymore.”

“Well, what’s the plan, Daph?” Ella insisted. “Take it from me, you need a plan.”

But Daphne had no plan. There was no way to plan for something like this. As far as she knew, she was the only human alive experiencing these exact circumstances. Up until now, Daphne hadn’t allowed herself to think about what the end of her arrangement with Maximus would actually look like. If everything had gone as planned, he would have chosen Daphne and his father would have called off the wedding. Now she had no idea where they stood. Before she could come up with something to say, a knock came on the door. Daphne glanced at Ella.

“Are you expecting someone?”

“No,” she said. “Nathan is out of town.”

With a frown, Daphne stood and opened the door to reveal the last person she expected to see. “Maximus,” she gasped. “What are you doing here?”

The prince wore an expression of dark determination. It almost scared her. “I did not like the way we left things.”

“But—but how did you know where I—”

“Your mother told me I might find you here.”

Daphne stared at him. She couldn’t believe the prince was here, on her friend’s porch, and clearly not ready to let her go.

“That is not how I want us to end, Daphne,” Maximus said.

But it was how they had ended. Daphne was under no impression that they could fix what they’d broken in the dungeon. Why was Maximus?

Before she could ask him, he was already getting down on one knee.

“I once promised you a diamond,” he said breathlessly. “This was my grandmother’s.”

Daphne watched as he pulled out a golden ring—a ring made from the blood of Kronos’s people. A ring Maximus expected her to wear on her finger as she married him and bore his children, all while basilisks bled to death in the dungeon.

She barely heard him as he whispered, “Will you marry me?”

Behind her, Daphne heard Ella gasp.

“Max.” She shook her head. “You know I can’t.”

“You said there would be only pain for us,” he continued. “But there won’t be. I will never hurt you, Daphne. I promise.”

Bizarrely, the words of the imprisoned basilisk popped into her head. You should not make promises you cannot keep.

“I can’t, Maximus.”