Page 275 of Split or Swallow

“Can I get you anything, miss?”

Tem blinked.

She wanted many things: for Caspen to apologize, for Leo to understand her circumstances. But she couldn’t have either of those.

So she said:

“Whiskey.”

The servant nodded, and disappeared.

Tem stood alone, staring at the bed in front of her.

It had all happened so fast. One moment she’d been attending a ball, and now she was sequestered in the castle, doomed to wait until someone else decided her future for her.

She couldn’t stand it. She needed to talk to Leo.

Tem opened her door and stepped out into the hallway, ready to find him. To her surprise, he was already there, leaning against the doorframe of the room right next to hers.

He wasn’t alone.

Vera was giggling, pushing her breasts together as Leo twirled a lock of her hair around his fingertips, the same way he twirled Tem’s. His eyes slid to hers. For an endless moment, they looked at each other. Then Leo cocked a single, cruel eyebrow. His hand found Vera’s waist, pulling her down the hallway toward his bedroom. The last thing Tem saw before the door closed were Leo’s fingers unlacing the back of her dress.

Tem was no stranger to lonely nights, but this was one of the worst.

The claw was gone, lost in the maze. Caspen was utterly absent from her mind, the emptiness so glaring and foreign she could barely stand it. Tem didn’t dare reach for him. She didn’t know what she would even say. He knew she was in the castle; he knew the prince had chosen her.

And then there was Leo.

Tem would never forget the look on his face as he pulled Vera into his bedroom. She kept picturing his long fingers unlacing Vera’s dress—fingers that were inside Tem just an hour ago. No doubt they were already having sex in Leo’s four poster bed. Vera would do anything he asked—endlessly eager to please the prince. The thought made Tem want to cry, and she climbed into her bed, pulling the unfamiliar blankets tightly around her. Her room was cold, but she didn’t make a fire. She simply stared at the ceiling, thinking about how just this morning she’d stared at the ceiling of her childhood bedroom—the ceiling she’d wished so many times never to see again. Now there was nothing she wanted to see more. Eventually her whiskey arrived, and Tem drank it in one gulp.

When she fell asleep, her dreams were filled with ice.

. . .

The whiskey had not been kind to her.

Tem woke with a groan, massaging her temples in an attempt to alleviate her pounding headache. Her first thought was of Leo. She pictured him waking up next to Vera, their naked bodies intertwined, their lips touching.

The visual was enough to bring the whiskey right back up.

When Tem was done in the bathroom, she crossed to the closet, opening it to find a row of dresses in her size. She pulled on the closest one before placing her hand on her bedroom door and pausing. What to do next? Tem could think of only one thing, and it was undoubtedly dangerous. But she was here, in the castle, and she would use the situation to her advantage even if it meant taking a risk.

She knew about this part of the competition from school: the girls were given free reign of the castle, and expected to spend time with the prince if he requested it. He would bed them as he saw fit. There were no rules regarding the speed or timing of the final eliminations: sometimes the girls were in the castle for days, sometimes for months. Leo was in charge now, and he would choose his wife when he was ready.

Tem stood at the door, still hesitating.

She had no desire to open this door if it meant seeing Vera emerging from Leo’s room, her hair messy from sex, her eyes glazed over after a night of lovemaking.

Yet she had to open it.

The hallway was mercifully empty; perhaps Leo wasn’t even awake yet. Tem descended the stairs to the ground level, her bare feet brushing against the gold-flaked tiles in the foyer. She stood there for a moment, listening to the sounds of the castle. A distant bout of laughter came from the kitchen, and Tem knew the staff was preparing breakfast. She took a moment to close her eyes, focusing her energy on a single word:

Caspen.

He answered immediately:

Tem.