Page 39 of Split or Swallow

“You made it clear you don’t want me to call you beautiful. Why shouldn’t I call you ugly?”

“Because it’s a lie.”

Disbelief flashed across Leo’s face. Tem seized the moment, stepping closer.

“And I’d prefer you didn’t lie to me, Leo. Plenty of people do that already.”

His own words hung between them. In the silence, Leo studied her face. He seemed to be working something out in his mind, and Tem decided to let him. She had nowhere to be; nothing was as important as this. She let him look as long as he liked, and when he finally opened his mouth to speak, his words had a bitter edge:

“I saw the way you looked at the skull. Not to mention the way you look at me. You don’t respect my family. You don’t even want to be here.”

His words echoed Caspen’s: You do not seem desperate to be here. But Tem recognized them for what they really were. Leo was asking her whether she wanted to be here—whether she wanted him. It was a question that surprised her, given that the entire elimination process was based on his choice, not hers. It was assumed that the girls all wanted to be here. Her wants should be irrelevant to him.

But rather than give in—rather than answer him, and reveal her hand—Tem decided to take her power back. So she leaned in, using her body in the same way Vera did with Jonathan, making sure Leo’s full attention was on her before she turned his question back on him:

“Do you want me to be here?”

Their faces were inches apart. Suddenly, the castle disappeared, and they were the only two people in existence. Tem saw Leo’s answer in his eyes—in the way his gaze traced hungrily down her neck to the golden claw that rested between her breasts. She saw his answer in the way his body angled itself to mirror hers, in the way his grip tightened on his whiskey glass, in the way his tongue brushed briefly over his lips as if it longed to taste hers. She saw his answer, but he said it anyway:

“Yes.”

Tem leaned back, once again putting distance between them.

“Then act like it.”

CHAPTER SIX

Tem had never been so tired in her entire life.

The night at the castle hadn’t turned out at all the way she’d expected. Between her interactions with Leo and the surprise elimination, Tem didn’t know what to think of the entire process. Had she blown her chance with the prince? And if she had, did she even care? She didn’t know the answers to those questions. All she knew was that tonight she would be back in the caves with Caspen.

She was desperate to see him. She wanted to make sure he wasn’t angry with her over what happened with the skull. She wanted to ask him about the dress—whether it was meant as a symbol of his affection, or whether it was meant to catch the eye of the prince. She wanted to see him naked, and she wanted him to see her. But she didn’t know where they stood.

So when she walked into the cave to find him waiting there, she had absolutely no idea what to expect.

“Tem,” he said quietly.

“Caspen,” she said back.

He only said her name—nothing more. He didn’t tell her to undress, like he had the last two times they had met. He didn’t bring up the dress he had given her, or the little gold necklace. He didn’t ask how it had gone with the prince, or congratulate her for making it through the first elimination. He just stood there, staring at her for a long moment before gesturing to the mat next to the fireplace. Tem crossed to it slowly, watching him as she did so. They sat at the same time, their bodies six inches apart.

Caspen still didn’t speak. Instead, he raised his hand to her face, cupping her cheek in his palm and brushing his thumb over the curve of her bottom lip.

Tem knew, without a doubt, that she was about to have her first kiss.

For some reason, kissing seemed far more daunting than what they had already done. There was something simple about touching him, and him touching her back. But a kiss required connection—it required them to move in tandem, to establish a rhythm with each other and an intimacy that she’d never experienced with another person before. To kiss someone was to taste them, and to let them taste you. Tem couldn’t imagine a greater responsibility.

Caspen’s fingers laced into her hair, wrapping around the nape of her neck and pulling her closer. Without thinking, Tem pressed her palms against his chest, holding him back.

“Wait,” Tem whispered. “Please.”

Caspen raised an eyebrow. “Wait for what, Tem?”

“I don’t know. I’m just not ready.”

To her surprise, Caspen laughed softly.

“Of course you are not ready. It is impossible to be ready for something you have never done before.”