Page 33 of Kneel Before Me

“I’m failing to see how that benefits you. Or me.”

“It’s like you said.” His voice dropped as he whispered his next words. “Without the competition, I could…mourn. That is how it benefits me.”

Was he imagining it, or did Daphne step closer?

“You aren’t here for me anyway,” he continued. “You’re doing this for someone else—you said so yourself. Whoever it is, do they want you to win?”

A pause.

“Yes,” she whispered. “They do.”

“Then that is how it benefits you.”

The pause grew.

“Do this for me, Daphne,” he said, his voice becoming rough. The wine was going to his head. “I don’t want a wife. I wanted…”

“Her,” Daphne finished for him. “You wanted her.”

Maximus didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.

Lilibet’s presence hung between them: the mother of his child, the woman who held his heart. It was the type of love that never went away. The type of love Daphne coveted. True love.

“Yes,” he whispered back. “I did.”

There was nothing more to say, really. What was the point of discussing anything further? Maximus’s heart was broken. Daphne’s was too, albeit in an entirely different way. They were two people who had nothing to offer each other. Which made this the perfect arrangement.

Maximus looked at her once more, his eyes narrowing with resolve. “So, Daphne,” he said, his voice steady. “Will you pretend to date me?”

The pause went on for what felt like forever. Maximus saw her considering her choices, weighing the options. There was only one result that made sense—one answer she could give. He’d laid it out so thoroughly she would not have a choice. She was right; their circumstances were forced. But this was a way for them to regain control. This, they could take back for themselves.

So it was not a surprise when she said, “Yes.”

CHAPTER SIX

Daphne

Daphne parted ways with Maximus after they finished the bottle of wine.

He’d gone back to the ballroom; she’d gotten a carriage to the Horseman. Considering their arrangement, there was no point in her staying for the duration of the evening.

“Babe,” a familiar voice cooed. “Back early, are we?” Ella was one year older than her and had been her best friend since grade school. “How’d it go with the prat?” she asked as Daphne slid into their favorite booth.

“He’s not a prat.”

“He’s a prince, isn’t he? Same difference.”

Daphne didn’t refute her. From what she’d just learned of Maximus, he was hardly a prat. She didn’t know what he was, but she certainly didn’t know how to explain that to Ella. “How’s Gabe?” she asked instead.

“Cherubic. And loud.”

Ella’s son, Gabriel, was only a few months old. The boy was a golden-haired angel, just like his mother. Ella was no longer with Gabriel’s father, Nathan, but that didn’t stop them from having an amicable co-parenting relationship. Daphne envied their dynamic and wished her own parents could have managed something similar. Instead, she and her mother had been left to fend for themselves.

Every moment spent with her best friend healed her like a salve, and one beer later, she was giggling without a care in the world.

“Tell me honestly,” Ella said, leaning closer, her cheeks flushed. “What’s it like to fuck a basilisk?”

Daphne shook her head. “I didn’t fuck him.”