Page 163 of Between Two Kings

“The goal of the tournament is not bloodshed, Temperance,” Adelaide explained.

Tem didn’t know whether to feel relieved at that statement or not. If it wasn’t about bloodshed, it was probably about something else—something worse. “Then what is the goal?”

“Your pleasure.”

Tem snorted. She couldn’t imagine anything centering her pleasure less.

“It is true, Temperance. By competing for your hand, the contenders honor you.”

“I don’t need Rowe or his stupid brother honoring me.”

“They…will not be the only contenders,” Adelaide said.

“Excuse me?”

She shifted, glancing at Caspen. “Rowe and his brother will not be the only ones competing for your hand in marriage.”

Tem stared at her. “What do you mean? Who else is competing?”

“We do not know yet.”

“When will we know?”

“When you choose them.”

“What?”

“The tournament is for your hand, Tem. It is you who must choose who has the privilege of competing. You will select the rest of the contenders.”

“The rest?”

“Yes.”

Dread piled up in her like snow. “How many exactly?”

Adelaide’s eyes slid to Caspen’s, who gave a stilted shrug that clearly said: Just tell her.

“There will be twelve contenders total.”

“Twelve?”

“Yes. It is a sacred number to us.”

“Sacred how?”

“It is a symbolic number, representative of Kora’s lovers.”

“I didn’t know she had twelve lovers.”

Adelaide raised an eyebrow. “Did they not teach you the legends in your human schools?”

They hadn’t taught her much of anything in school, except what to expect from the training process. And even that, nothing could have prepared her for. Tem shook her head.

Adelaide elaborated. “It is said that when Kora decided she wanted a mate, she took twelve lovers and had a child by each. Those twelve children were the first of the basilisks.”

Tem blinked. She knew the basilisks worshipped Kora, knew they shared the same gods as the humans. But she’d never known that they believed they were descended from Kora herself, that they considered themselves offspring of the gods. Tem thought about her freckles, how there were exactly twelve on each palm. She was beginning to feel lightheaded.

“It’s like the ritual all over again,” Tem whispered.