Page 240 of Between Two Kings

“You’re despicable.”

Evelyn pressed her lips into a thin line. “Wouldn’t you have done the same?”

Tem recoiled. She thought of how Maximus had tried to scare her off—how he told her to remember her place. There was no price high enough that would have tempted her to leave. He could have offered her anything, and she would have refused. Revulsion swept through Tem. Evelyn was someone who could be bought. It was a disgusting quality, and one that Tem found shameful. Basilisks gave and received in equal measure, and accolades were earned through actions. The only thing basilisks cared about was power—the only thing that swayed them was influence. Money meant nothing to them; they could create gold from their blood. There was no value to something with an unlimited supply.

“No,” she said firmly. “I wouldn’t have.”

Evelyn shrugged easily, as if she didn’t believe her. “Anyone in our position would’ve.”

“Our position?”

“We come from nothing, Tem. We have to take the opportunities that are presented to us. We owe it to ourselves to be smart.”

But that wasn’t true. Tem knew what it meant to have nothing—to wish for a wealthy benefactor to come in and fix everything she’d thought was wrong with her life. She knew how it felt to want. And yet, when faced with such a benefactor, Tem wouldn’t have given in. Evelyn had taken the easy way out—the coward’s way. And Tem, like Leo, hated cowards.

Leo would not forgive such a sin. He valued authenticity and integrity. Evelyn had neither. She was a facade—a pretty painting with an ugly canvas underneath. To be one village over and never reach out, to never give Leo closure—Tem couldn’t think of a more horrible thing to do to him.

Or perhaps she could.

Nothing was more horrible than what Tem herself had done to him. Tem had caused this. She may not have paid Evelyn to leave but she was at least partially responsible for her return. Guilt and horror threatened to swallow her. The only thing left to do was to try to make things right.

“You have to tell him.”

Evelyn had the nerve to let out a sharp laugh. “Absolutely not.”

“You can’t lie to him.”

“It’s too late.”

Tem shook her head emphatically. “He deserves to know who you really are.”

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed. She leaned in even closer. “Why do you care, Tem? You left too.”

Something about Evelyn’s challenging tone reminded her of Vera. But unlike Vera, who wielded her cruel words like a sword, Evelyn used hers as a shield, to hide who she really was.

“I trust I have your confidence,” Evelyn said quietly.

She had nothing of the sort. Tem would not be silenced—she would not allow the sacrifice she’d made to be for nothing. To keep Evelyn’s secret would be to lie to Leo. It would mean betraying his trust—trust that Tem had only recently earned and barely deserved to keep. If she kept Evelyn’s secret, she was no better than Evelyn. She was just as much of a fraud. Tem had thought she was doing the right thing, that she was making everything better. Now she knew the opposite was true.

“If you won’t tell him, I will.”

Evelyn shrugged. “No you won’t.”

“And why not?”

“Because it will hurt him if he knows. And that’s the last thing you want, isn’t it?”

Despite herself, Tem paused.

“Picture it, Tem. Picture what will happen if you tell him about me. You’d be devastating him again. Do you really think he would survive me leaving twice?”

Tem couldn’t believe what she was hearing. But she couldn’t deny that Evelyn had a point. She didn’t want Leo to get hurt. It was the last thing she wanted. To tell him would be to devastate him. Telling him would mean imploding their entire arrangement. It could affect the relationship between the kingdoms, the future of both their marriages—everything Tem had worked to uphold. Telling him would ruin everything Tem had sacrificed her happiness for. It would mean it had all been for nothing.

Evelyn leaned even closer. “And what would happen next?” she said quietly, her voice threateningly low. “If I leave again, would you take him back?”

“I would,” she whispered, almost against her will.

Rather than react with horror, or at a minimum disgust, Evelyn replied calmly, “Would Leo even want you to? You already married him, then cast him aside. He must hate you.”