Page 147 of Between Two Kings

Tem felt for the man’s heart, concentrating on its erratic beat, her eyes boring into his. The predator in her recognized that she had won—that her prey was cornered and the man had already surrendered. It was time, at last, to take.

Good, Temperance. Keep going.

Tem kept going, pulling the man’s life force toward her, watching it seep out of him like water from a sponge. Petrification was not immediate, as Tem thought it might be. Instead, rigidity crept slowly over the farmer, hardening first his gnarled fingertips before moving to his wrists and disappearing into the sleeves of his jacket. He didn’t seem to be in pain, and Tem remembered how Apollo didn’t know whether it hurt them. She dearly hoped it didn’t.

Blood calcified. Skin became stone.

The last thing to turn were his eyes. She watched as his white, milky pupils turned gray. The moment it was done, a great surge of power slammed into her. It was too much for one person to take; she was crushed beneath its weight.

Apollo’s voice came to her: Control it, Temperance.

But Tem could barely stay upright. She was not used to being in her true form; she had no control as a serpent. Her skin crawled with a thousand spiders, her entire spine twisted and jerked. Apollo was beside her instantly, pulling her back over the wall. The moment Tem fully returned to her human form, she cried out. Her face was flushed, her nipples peaked. Tem knew without touching herself that she was wet between her legs. The sensation was debilitating—pulsing currents of electricity shot through her center, turning her on to the point of pain.

“Why—” she stammered, trying to catch her breath. “Why do I feel so—?”

“Aroused?” Apollo was also returning to his human form. He was breathing just as hard as she was, a light sheen of sweat glistening over his chest.

“Yes,” Tem gasped. She was so aroused. Desire tore at her like a feral beast, clenching deep into her core. Stars danced in her vision. Apollo’s proximity wasn’t helping; she could hear every drop of blood rushing to his cock, hardening it. Tem’s lungs contracted rapidly, her breath coming in desperate gasps. “Apollo, what’s happening to me?”

His hands were on her waist, holding her upright. “You are feeling the effects of petrification. It requires an extraordinary amount of power to take a life. Power is an aphrodisiac to basilisks.”

“But why?”

“How should I know? It is simply the way we are built.”

We. Tem was one of them—now more than ever.

And as one of them, she was deeply affected by what had just happened. Her entire body felt warm and pliable, as if she’d just stretched it vigorously. She desperately wanted to have sex. Needed to have sex. She was so turned on, she was having trouble thinking straight, and in the suffocating blur of desire, she placed her palm flat on Apollo’s chest. At the contact, his eyebrows shot straight up. For a split second, neither of them moved. Then he placed his hand over hers, holding them together.

Is there something on your mind, Temperance?

Tem glared up at him. He knew perfectly well what was on her mind. He was inside her mind, for Kora’s sake.

Would you prefer I was inside your cunt?

Tem blushed.

She shouldn’t prefer that. Yet she didn’t try to pull away—didn’t make a single effort to release herself from his grasp. Instead, she studied the way the rising sunlight hit the slope of Apollo’s shoulders, bathing him in a warm orange glow. He was looking at her calmly, his cock completely hard, pressing against her thighs.

“Shall we?” he asked.

“Shall we what?”

“Have sex. Obviously you want to.”

“Obviously not.”

Apollo only laughed. “You are a terrible liar, Temperance.”

That was not Tem’s concern right now. Right now, she was fighting to stay upright—even leaning against Apollo took too much effort. She was so, so turned on. All her mind could think about was sex. Sex with Apollo, sex with Leo—it didn’t matter who. The air around her seemed to vibrate with anticipation. It was unbearable.

“It is customary, you know.” Apollo’s voice came to her through the haze.

“What is?”

“To have sex after petrification.”

She could barely hear him.