Page 3 of Kneel Before Me

He sighed. “Fine.”

“Fine.”

Caspen dropped his hands. He worried about his sister. She was the youngest Drakon sibling, and since he was the oldest, he felt a responsibility for her that he did not feel for the others. Agnes had always harbored a strange fascination with the humans. She did not view them as prey as everyone else did. Instead, she was constantly asking questions about them, wanting to know more about the way they lived and how they did things. Caspen could not understand her interest. There was nothing duller than a human. But Agnes was naturally curious, even if that curiosity often got her into trouble.

“Your fascination with the humans is a waste of time,” he said.

Agnes shrugged. “They are interesting to me. I like the way they interact with one other.”

“Nothing they do is interesting.”

“Perhaps not to you.”

“You should let them be.”

“And you should get a haircut.”

With that, she skipped off. Caspen ran a hand through his hair, which was admittedly rather long. Why did everyone in his family have to be such a fucking pain in his ass?

“Preening ourselves, are we, Caspenon?”

Finally, someone he wished to speak to.

“Harmony,” he said without turning around. He did not need to see her; he would know that voice anywhere.

“Caspenon.” He felt her fingers brush over his back before she appeared in front of him. “Why were you not in my bed last night?”

He looked down into her light gold eyes. Most basilisks had dark golden eyes, but not Harmony. Hers shone brightly in the dim cave lighting. They were a peculiar color—almost yellow. He had always been able to pick her out of a crowd by nothing but her eyes.

“Because my brother was there with you.”

Her fingers trailed over his biceps before resting in the middle of his chest. The feel of her skin against his made his cock harden instantly.

“Why not kick him out?”

“I did not want to interfere.”

“How noble of you.”

It was hardly noble. Caspen could not stand to see his brother with Harmony, and if given the opportunity, he knew he would do a hell of a lot more than kick him out. He would probably kill him. Harmony knew this, and she savored it.

“Perhaps you should get there first next time,” she continued, her hand brushing down his torso before wrapping around his aching cock. “Or is speed not one of your many specialties?”

“You already know my specialties.”

“True. But I would like to know them better.”

Caspen closed his eyes. She was standing too close, and she was so beautiful he could not keep a thought straight in his brain. Harmony had always had this effect on him.

He shook his head to clear it. “I cannot linger. The training begins tonight.”

“You could linger here with me.”

Harmony looked up at him through her lashes. It was a look that usually made him weak. But tonight there was too much on his mind. Rowe’s taunts were swirling through his head, distracting him: Whose is she? Not his.

“Your father is staring at us,” Harmony said.

Caspen followed her gaze. She was right; his father was staring. Bastian’s brow was drawn, his eyes hollow. His father had been in foul spirits for weeks now, ever since the council had declared that the Drakons were becoming too powerful. They did not respect the Serpent King; they thought he had been in power too long. The Senecas were no longer interested in answering to a quiver that was not theirs. It was an absurd stance, one that did not matter to Caspen in the slightest. But his father had taken it to heart and had been in a paranoid conniption ever since.