Page 128 of Split or Swallow

“Do you love him?”

She needed to lie. That was all there was to it; she needed to conceal the truth, just this once. But Tem couldn’t do it. The more she tried, the tighter her chest became. It was like trying to speak through a suctioned tube. She could barely get the word through her teeth:

“No.”

Leo’s entire body was rigid. Tem wanted to reach for him, but didn’t. There was nothing to say—no way to fix this. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that she’d just set something in motion that couldn’t be undone. For a moment, Tem was afraid Leo might scream at her.

But then, inexplicably, he softened. His shoulders slumped as his eyes dropped to the floor. It was a long moment before he spoke, and when he did, his voice was hoarse:

“Am I to share you?”

Tem couldn’t believe the agony in his voice. She had forgotten that underneath Leo’s bravado, he had a heart just like hers. A heart that was capable of want—of love. Leo’s ego shielded him from vulnerability; it was easy to forget how sensitive he was. But in moments like these, Tem understood him better than she understood herself. She knew what it meant to yearn.

“That’s…up to you, I suppose,” she said quietly.

The prince looked at her with such devastation she wanted to cry.

“No, Tem. That’s up to you.”

Tem reached for him again, but he stepped away.

“Go to him,” he said.

“What?”

“You love Caspen,” his voice was sharper than a knife. “So go to him.”

Tem flinched.

“Leo, please—”

“Just. Go.”

Then he turned, and was gone.

Alone at last, she let the tears fall.

There was no point in lingering. Tem ran from the castle, trying not to think about what would happen if Leo eliminated her tonight. First and foremost, her mother would never forgive her. The farm had only become more of a burden since Tem was away so often training for the prince. Her mother had taken side work to make ends meet—watching small children for the women in the village, tending to the neighbor’s cats when they were away from home. It was a lifestyle that wasn’t sustainable. Tem’s courtship with the prince was their only lifeline: the only thing that would save them. And now that was probably gone.

Go to him.

Leo’s words raced through her head over and over as she made for the carriages. Part of her wanted to obey—to go to Caspen and lose herself in his arms. Another part of her remembered the wave of rage Caspen felt when Leo took her hand. What if that rage became directed at her? He’d already used the claw to hurt her tonight. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t do it again. But if she went home, she would have to face her mother, and Tem couldn’t stand the thought of telling her what had just happened.

“Where to, miss?” the footman asked as she climbed into the carriage.

“The forest.”

Tem spent the entirety of the ride with her head in her hands. Despite her distress, no tears came. Instead, she felt only an endless wave of adrenaline that set her teeth on edge. She was done waiting for answers from Caspen. It wasn’t fair that he withheld information from her the way he did; it wasn’t fair that she was constantly in the dark. Tem needed to know where she stood with him—she needed to know that in a single night, she hadn’t lost everything that ever mattered to her.

When the carriage arrived at the edge of the forest, the footman helped her out with an incredulous look.

“Wouldn’t you rather I take you home, miss?”

“No,” Tem said simply.

She walked quickly into the trees, keeping her eyes on the ground. The last time she’d been on this path, Jonathan and Christopher had assaulted her. Now they were harmless stone statues, frozen in the middle of the square. How things had changed.

The cave was dark, the fireplace cold.