Page 126 of Split or Swallow

“Of course. Take your time.”

Tem didn’t give him a chance to change his mind. She extracted her fingers from his, pushing through the door and back into the ballroom. Caspen’s tall frame was at the edge of the crowd. She ran for him, not caring who was in her way.

“Caspen!”

He turned, his expression unreadable.

“She will satisfy you?” Tem hissed when she reached him, disguising her hurt with anger. “How could you say that about me?”

Caspen let out a humorless laugh. “I did my duty, Tem. Nothing more.”

He turned away, but Tem grabbed his arm. “Your duty? Is that all I am to you?”

Caspen whirled around, closing the distance between them in half a second.

“You know very well what you are to me, Tem. But my hands are tied.”

She glared up at him.

“Actually, it’s my hands that are tied.”

Caspen’s eyes narrowed.

“Are they? You are his future wife, are you not? Such an esteemed position is hardly a burden.”

Tem stepped back as if she had been slapped.

“I said that to defend myself,” she whispered. “And it’s just a fact. You know it is.”

“The only fact is that he wants you. Even more so now that he senses a challenge from me.”

“Senses a—”

“And if he thinks he can take what is mine,” Caspen cut her off, leaning even closer. “He is wrong.”

This time when he turned to leave, Tem let him.

The sounds of the ballroom became a dull roar as she closed her eyes. Caspen hadn’t said Leo’s name—not once. Perhaps it was a way to degrade him—to undermine the hierarchy the royals insisted on enforcing. Jonathan and Christopher’s statues flashed suddenly through Tem’s mind. She would not allow that to happen to Leo. Not ever.

Tem opened her eyes.

There was Gabriel, laughing with a butler. There was Vera, pining after Rowe. Nobody in the crowded ballroom knew what she had just endured—what Caspen had done and was capable of doing. It was becoming too much for Tem to bear. She could not continue to carry such secrets alone.

Somehow, she found her way back to Leo. He looked up as she entered the room.

“What was that about?” he asked. He had a funny expression on his face, as if he were trying to figure something out.

“Nothing,” Tem said automatically.

It wasn’t her best, but she had nothing left to give. Leo stepped closer.

“I’d rather you didn’t lie to me, Tem. Remember?”

Tem sighed. Of course she remembered. But she also couldn’t tell Leo the truth. So she said:

“I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.”

She knew he didn’t believe her.