Page 49 of Kneel Before Me

“I don’t understand,” Daphne whispered. “Why?” she asked again.

As much as it pained her to admit it, she desperately needed to know the answer. Daphne had never been anyone’s first choice—never been desired for anything beyond a stint under the bridge. Yet she was quite sure that was not what Kronos wanted from her. It was true he wanted to fuck her—he’d said so himself. But that was not all he wanted. They wouldn’t be having this conversation if it was. His answer was not what she expected.

“Because you unmoor me, Daphne. I am…reckless when it comes to you.”

Reckless was the last word she would use to describe Kronos. But she knew he must be telling the truth. And if he was telling the truth, that meant he felt something for her. The air between them seemed to grow warmer. A bead of sweat slid down her spine as Kronos leaned in.

“Tell me, Daphne. Did he kiss you?”

She stared up at him, his eyes blazing into hers.

“What would you have done if he had?”

Anger hardened Kronos’s gaze.

“I would have acted accordingly.”

Daphne had no idea what that meant. Before she could ask, he pulled away, staring into the flames with his fists clenched. Daphne wanted to touch him again but didn’t dare. Why had she said that? Perhaps some part of her wanted to test him—to see how reckless he really was. Daphne did not know what Kronos was capable of. He’d only asked whether they’d kissed; he knew nothing of what she’d done in Maximus’s bathtub—how she’d touched herself in front of him—how she’d come. What would he do if he knew about that? Before she could decide how to fix what she’d broken, Kronos said, “Go home, Daphne.”

“But I—”

“Go home before I do something I regret.”

Daphne had no idea what that might be. A moment ago, Kronos had been an inch away from kissing her. Now his posture was tense, his face turned pointedly toward the fire. Daphne wondered whether she should apologize, although she didn’t know what for. Before she could say another word, Kronos turned and disappeared into the darkness.

CHAPTER TEN

Caspen

All alone tonight, Caspenon?”

Apollo had a goblet of elixir in one hand. He was drunk.

“Harmony is out hunting,” Caspen said stiffly. “Which you know quite well.”

She was not the only one; most of the basilisks were out hunting. Caspen had only stayed behind because he needed time to think about what he had seen during the Showing. Kronos’s infatuation with his student was going to be a problem—of that he had no doubt—and he had not yet decided what to do about it.

“Ah, yes.” Apollo twirled the goblet in his hand, nearly spilling its contents on the stone floor. “Harmony loves to hunt.”

“That she does.”

“She also loves me.”

Caspen sighed. He was in no mood for this tonight. He had been pacing the courtyard in silence, taking much-needed time to think. His brother was, as always, disrupting his peace. Caspen turned slowly to face Apollo, who was smirking at him with such arrogance that it took nearly all his self-control not to tear his head from his shoulders right then and there.

“Did she tell you that herself?”

Doubt flickered in Apollo’s eyes. He narrowed them. “Not yet.”

Caspen stepped closer. “Then how do you know she loves you?”

Harmony had never said those words to Caspen, and he had never said them to her. He had no doubt it was the same for Apollo. To her, a declaration of love would be a sign of weakness—a way to cede her power. Harmony only cared that they loved her.

“She shows me.” Apollo tilted his chin upward. “With her actions.”

“Ah,” Caspen said leisurely. “And which actions are those?”

They both knew Harmony did the same things with both of them. Rather than answer, Apollo took a sip of elixir. Caspen could already tell he had had too much tonight.