Page 60 of Kneel Before Me

It was the only thing she could say without going into detail. At her admission, Kronos’s expression didn’t change. “Why?”

Now Daphne felt as if she might cry. How could she explain it to this beautiful man before her? The memories from that night pressed against her, tightening her chest. You’re pathetic, Daphne. Why would I want anything else from you? Why would anyone want anything else from you?

She couldn’t answer. It was too painful. Somehow, it felt safer to say, “I don’t think I know how to love.”

Kronos shifted closer. “What about your mother?”

“What about her?”

“Do you love her?”

“Of course.”

“Then you know how to love.”

Daphne shook her head. “That’s different. That’s not…” She searched for the words.

Kronos found them for her: “True love.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

That was exactly it. Loving someone was not the same as being in love with them. Surely, it felt different. It had to. But it had never been within reach for her. She was always destined to end up underneath that damn bridge.

“Daphne,” Kronos said quietly. “You are worthy of true love.”

She couldn’t help it. She was going to cry.

The tears fell slowly, then faster and faster. Kronos didn’t touch her. Possibly because he was still naked or possibly because he didn’t want to. Instead he simply stepped closer, and she felt the heat of his body permeate hers. Daphne wished to drown in his warmth.

When she finally recovered, she looked up at him. Kronos was looking down at her not with pity but with kindness. In the wake of her admission, Daphne only wanted to tell him more. It felt good to talk to him, to share a part of herself with someone who cared to hear it. Building trust was a new sensation for her, and it was one that she liked. She wondered if Kronos was willing to share a part of himself in return.

“Will you tell me about your life now?”

His mouth twitched. “If that is what you wish.”

Daphne knew next to nothing about the serpents or the way they lived. After the brief preview she’d seen today, she had a hundred questions, and Kronos surely had the answers. “It is.”

“In that case, what do you wish to know?”

She repeated his answer from earlier: “Everything.”

He repeated her words right back. “Ask me something specific.”

Daphne was dying to ask about what she’d seen in the courtyard—about what was allowed under the mountain. But after the conversation they’d just had, sex was the last thing she wanted to talk about. So she asked, “Have you ever petrified someone before?”

“Of course.” He said it easily.

Daphne was reminded suddenly that if he wanted to, he could petrify her right now. For some reason she knew he never would. “But doesn’t it bother you?”

He frowned. “Why would it bother me?”

“Because it’s…violent.”

“I suppose it is violent in a way,” Kronos said slowly. “But it is also the circle of life.”

Daphne frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I am a predator, Daphne,” he said gently. “It is my instinct to kill my prey.”