Page 29 of Kneel Before Me

“But it’s…tradition,” she said.

Maximus scoffed. He had no interest in tradition. Tradition was quickly becoming the bane of his existence. “My father wants me to marry Constance. Knowing him, he will get his way.”

“Constance is…a nice girl.”

He scoffed again. Unless he could choose her himself, it did not matter how nice she was.

“I thought all you royals enjoyed this sort of thing,” Daphne continued tentatively. Her eyes alternated between watching him and watching Lilly, who was fast asleep against his chest.

“Most royals do.”

“Aren’t you like most royals?”

Maximus sighed. He supposed he was. But not when it came to this. He couldn’t understand why this ridiculous tradition persevered. The truce between the basilisks and the humans was made centuries ago—surely there was a better way to maintain relations. In fact, why maintain relations at all? The humans had defeated the snakes once before. It must be possible to do so again. If Maximus had his way, he would storm the mountain and wipe them all out in one fell swoop. It was an order only the king could give, and Maximus was not yet king. Until then they were stuck with the competition, and Maximus would be stuck with a wife who wasn’t Lilibet. In the time he’d been considering her question, Daphne had stepped closer. He watched her warily, much the same way she was watching him.

“Do you think I’m like most royals?” he asked.

Daphne tilted her head, clearly examining him. Maximus took the time to examine her in return. Her hair was a wild cascade of curls that engulfed the entirety of her shoulders and continued down her back. The sheer volume of it was rather impressive. A smattering of freckles dappled her cheeks, and she wore a blue silk dress that had clearly been tailored to accentuate every angle of her body. And what a body it was. Maximus couldn’t remember the last time he was so aware of a woman’s figure. Sometimes he thought that the part of him that noticed beauty died when Lilibet did. But he certainly appreciated it now.

Daphne made him remember that he was a man of flesh and blood—a man who was still capable of desire. He wanted to touch the end of her curls—to pull them and see how tight they would go. He wondered what those curls would look like splayed out over a pillow. Or wrapped around his fist.

“I don’t know yet,” Daphne said finally, shattering his trance.

Yet. That implied that there would be a future in which she would know.

Lilly made a small noise, but didn’t wake. Maximus set her gently back in her crib, arranging her stuffed animals around her. He turned back to Daphne. “Am I to take that as a compliment?”

“I don’t know,” she said again.

He crossed his arms. “If it is not a compliment, then it is an insult.”

She crossed her arms too. “If you say so.”

“You come to my castle, pick up my child, and insult me all in one evening. Am I to feel flattered by this?”

“Decidedly not.”

“Then why bother coming at all?”

Daphne sighed. He heard a weariness in it that matched his own, as if the answer were quite complicated.

“I’m…not here for me.”

“Then who are you here for?”

She pursed her lips. “Someone else.”

He raised his eyebrows. Was she in love with a stable boy or something? “You’re already taken,” he said.

Daphne shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I’m just…not here for me. Or for you, really.”

Now he was truly intrigued. “In truth, I’m not here for you either,” he said quietly. “Or anyone, really.”

Daphne shifted as if she wanted to come closer but then decided against it. “You’re already taken,” she said, repeating his own words.

He looked at Lilly, seeing nothing but her mother.

“Oh,” Daphne said quietly, following his gaze. “I see.”