Page 278 of Between Two Kings

Apollo was watching them in silence. It wasn’t enough for Tem.

“Fix this!” she cried. “Fix it, Apollo.”

Caspen’s brother only shook his head.

“Tem,” Caspen said quietly. “Look at me.”

But Tem didn’t want to look at him. If she looked at him, she would see the blood. And that would make it real.

“Tem,” he said again. “Please.”

Finally, she looked at him.

His beautiful face was cradled in her lap, staring up at her. She ran her fingers gently through his hair, brushing it away from his forehead. She traced his strong jaw.

“You lied to me,” she whispered. “You said there was another way.”

“Basilisks cannot lie.”

“We both know that isn’t true.”

Caspen smiled. Then he coughed, and blood dotted his lips.

Tem wiped it away gently, tears filling her eyes. “I told you you’re not allowed to die.”

“And I told you I would endeavor not to.”

“See? Liars, all of you.”

Caspen coughed again, and more blood came out. Tem held him tighter.

“This is horrible, Caspen,” she rasped. “You can’t leave me alone.”

Caspen shook his head. “You will not be alone, Tem.”

Tears welled in her eyes as she realized he meant Leo. “Don’t do this, Caspen, please—”

“You will be happy with him, Tem. He loves you as I do.”

“How do you know that?”

For some reason, Caspen smiled. There was blood on his teeth. “He wrote you letters.”

Tem stared down at him, her mouth open in shock. “But I—how—?”

“He is your one true love, Tem.”

Tem thought back to the dream she’d had before her first night in the caves—how she’d felt Caspen’s presence before she’d met him. They’d been drawn together even then. Fate had led them here. They were supposed to collide—they were supposed to be together. He was her twin flame, her other half.

Caspen was her sun. Caspen was everything.

“That’s not true.”

“It is. The blood bond would not have broken otherwise.”

She shook her head, nearly blind through her tears. Evelyn’s words ran wildly through her mind: Could you love them equally? Tem thought she could. She was wrong.

“I was your first love, Tem,” Caspen whispered. “He will be your last.”