Page 180 of Between Two Kings

Tell me something, Temperance. Why are you afraid?

Tem scoffed. “I’m not afraid.” She said it out loud, as if that would make it more true.

“No?” Apollo matched her tone. “And yet, you demonstrate all the characteristics of fear.”

“Such as?”

“Your heartbeat is accelerated. You are short of breath. I can smell your sweat.” He smiled, breathing in. “It is sweet.”

“Stop smelling my sweat, Apollo.”

“I cannot avoid what is offered to me, Temperance.”

“I’m not offering you anything. I’m just standing here.”

“You are standing here afraid.”

Despite herself, Tem knew he was right. And why, exactly, was she afraid? Did she fear something in Apollo, or did she fear something in herself? Which, ultimately, was worse? Tem had no idea anymore. Ever since she’d been under the mountain, her sense of morals and what was right had utterly changed. Basilisks didn’t act like humans. They lived by different rules here, prioritized different things. It was impossible to tell right from wrong anymore.

“I…” she whispered, struggling to form the words. “Don’t want to lose myself.”

She knew in her heart that Apollo meant her no harm. But that didn’t mean he was safe to be around. It didn’t mean that she was safe with him. He was dangerous in the same seductive way that all basilisks were dangerous. He was depraved in a way Caspen wasn’t; he allowed himself to walk the line of morality. If Tem allowed herself to walk that line too, she didn’t know where it would end. She didn’t want to stray from the path of light—didn’t want to become something she was not.

“I would not let you stray.”

Apollo’s words were quiet, and Tem was struck by the meaning of them. She’d never heard him say anything heartfelt and sincere like that before. But if she allowed herself to believe him—to indulge in the fantasy that he had her best interests at heart—she would make herself vulnerable. It wasn’t a risk she was willing to take. Before she could decide how to answer, the hairs on the back of Tem’s neck stood straight up. Someone else had entered the grotto.

Apollo also straightened, his eyes still on hers as he said, “Hello, Brother.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Caspen was leaning against the mouth of the grotto. His arms were crossed, but he didn’t look angry. Instead, his pupils were wide, his eyes nearly as black as Apollo’s. Tem knew that look. Both brothers were turned on.

By her.

For a very real moment, Tem wondered what was about to happen next.

“What do have we here?” Caspen murmured.

“We were just talking,” Tem said.

“Talking,” he repeated, his voice low.

“Yes.”

She glanced at Apollo for backup. His eyes were trained on Caspen’s, his posture still stiff. Tem had no idea how to proceed. Of all the people in this cave, she hardly felt qualified to determine the course of events. Things were delicate between her and Caspen. Between petrifying with Apollo and the disastrous Sunday dinner, she had no idea where his mind was.

Both brothers stood silently, staring at each other. Tem was just considering breaking the silence when Caspen’s presence entered her mind, settling next to Apollo’s, as if they were both holding her skull in their hands. It was a strange sensation but not an unpleasant one. Tem’s mind accommodated theirs with ease, stretching to take both of them at once.

Then Caspen’s voice came to them, deep and languid in the darkness: Touch her.

For a moment, nobody moved.

Was Caspen testing her? Testing them? If so, why? Was this like when he ordered them to kiss the night Gabriel came under the mountain? Tem had disobeyed him that night. But now, a wave of possibility swept over her. They were sequestered in a grotto, where no one else could see them. Anything could happen in here. Anything would. The three of them were not bound by the conventions of human society—they didn’t need to adhere to the rules she’d been raised to revere. Here, things were different. Here, they were free.

She looked at Apollo, who was looking at her.

Temperance?