Page 69 of Kneel Before Me

The air was sweltering. Sweat dripped down her spine.

Kronos stared at her as if she were a puzzle he was trying to solve. Daphne was quite sure that none of his other students had ever given him trouble like this. Surely he was used to obedience in human women. But Daphne was only interested in one thing, and Kronos was not giving it to her. If they weren’t going to be honest with one another, she wanted no part of this.

“Power,” he said finally. “I will gain power.”

“What do you mean?”

He looked down at her, his expression suddenly cautious. Daphne couldn’t understand why he was looking at her like that. It seemed like a simple question. After all, she was doing this for him. She deserved to know why.

Kronos shifted, and his next words came slowly. “For the basilisks, our power is determined according to our sexual prowess.”

Daphne blinked in surprise. “Prowess?”

“It means ability.”

“I know what it means.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. He did not elaborate, and Daphne suspected he was giving her a moment to process this information. She still wasn’t entirely sure how it all worked. Basilisks were complicated creatures who clearly did not do things the way humans did.

“Basilisks are ranked according to their power. It is how we decide our position in society. A basilisk with a high rank is more powerful than a basilisk with a lower rank.”

“So if we were to have sex right now…” Daphne began.

“My power would increase,” Kronos finished. “And my rank would rise.”

Daphne stared at him in disbelief. “But…” Daphne said slowly, finally understanding what he was saying to her. “We’re not having sex.”

“That I know.”

Her heart was pounding so hard it hurt. The next question was out of her mouth before she could stop it. “Are you…having sex with someone else?”

Again, Kronos did not answer. Daphne tried not to be jealous, but it was impossible. She knew they were not together, and he did not owe her an explanation of his activities. She could stake no claim on the man before her. Yet she still felt as if he were hers.

“Sex is not the only way to improve your rank,” he continued. “There are other avenues through which to gain power.”

“Such as?”

“The competition.”

“Which competition?”

For the first time, Kronos looked confused. “Your competition,” he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Daphne stared at him. Then she understood.

She remembered Kronos’s exact words from the first night in the cave: You will do as I say, or there will be consequences. At the time, it had terrified Daphne. But now she understood that he had meant there would be consequences for him. If Daphne did not perform well in the competition, it reflected badly on Kronos. Every second she denied him took him another step further away from power.

“You never told me that,” she whispered, looking up at him.

He looked back down at her. “Told you what?”

“You never told me that there was a consequence for not training me. You never said it would impact you.”

He pursed his lips but did not reply.

“It hurts you,” Daphne whispered.

“It does not hurt me.”