Page 258 of Between Two Kings

There was a beat of silence as they stared at each other. Then Tem slowly untied the laces of her dress. She hadn’t intended to put on a show for Leo, but it was turning into one anyway. To undress in front of Leo was a pleasure—a gift Tem had been robbed of ever since their wedding. She hadn’t thought she would get to do this again for him. She’d only been naked for him once since then—in the library, with the letter opener. But that had been feverish and rushed. Desperate. Now she moved slowly, letting him see every inch of her. She wore no underclothing—there was no use for it under the mountain, and she didn’t own any now. Tem held his eyes as she let her dress fall to the ground. There was nowhere to hide—absolutely no mistaking the tight breath that Leo sucked between his teeth the moment she was fully naked before him.

“Tem…”

“Leo,” she warned. “Don’t say a word.”

“And why not?”

“Because I don’t want to hear it.”

“Hear what? How much I want to fuck you?”

“Leo.”

“I’m a man, Tem. And you’re naked. You can’t expect me not to look.”

It felt like the conversation with Apollo all over again. He hadn’t been able to look away either. “I need you to keep it together, Leo.”

“I was keeping it together perfectly fine until you took your clothes off.”

“I had to. It’s customary.”

“Some custom.”

“Leo,” she said again. They faced each other, the flickering firelight the only thing between them.

“Tem.”

It was agony to be this close to Leo and unable to kiss him. Tem studied the angles of his face. They’d become sharper lately—most likely an effect of the crest. Or perhaps he was just getting older and the strain of responsibility was turning him gaunt.

Still. This was Leo.

His body was familiar to her—a body she had seen naked before and didn’t think she’d ever see naked again. Tem remembered exactly how he felt inside her, how hard he’d become when she rode him.

Be still, Leo had said the first time they’d slept together. I want to look at you.

Tem remembered what it was like to be still on his cock, to sit there and watch him look at her. Now, face-to-face, she knew he must be remembering it too. Did he think of her at night, after Evelyn fell asleep? Was her body a home to him, like his was to her? Or did he prefer Evelyn’s? Tem couldn’t imagine there was any comparison. Evelyn would never know Leo like she did—never understand what turned him on the way Tem did.

Leo studied her too.

His gaze traveled from her eyes to her neck to her breasts, lingering there for far longer than was acceptable. Tem didn’t stop him. She wanted him to look. Leo’s gaze dropped to her waist, then her hips, then her center. Tem knew he wanted to touch her. She wanted to let him.

His lips parted. He licked them.

Tem was wet. If it were Caspen before her, he would be able to sense it already—smell it, even. But Leo was human, and he could only imagine how her body was reacting to his gaze—only fantasize that she might be as aroused as he was.

And he was aroused.

His cock was the hardest she’d ever seen it. Tem wanted nothing more than to touch it, to stroke it, to get on her knees and taste it. She remembered the carriage, when she’d told him he couldn’t fuck her. Now she mourned the fact that she’d had an opportunity to be with him and hadn’t taken it. What a privilege it had been to freely touch him—what agony it was to no longer do so. The only thing she wanted was to press her lips to his, to drag her mouth down his body until she tasted his cock. It was all Leo wanted too. Tem could sense it; her basilisk side was wide-awake, probing for him in the darkness. There was nothing she wanted more than sex.

But they could not have sex. They were no longer lovers; they were no longer together. They were just two people who wanted each other so badly that it hurt.

Leo cupped his cock in his palm, holding it as if that would prevent anything from happening between them.

“Well?” he asked. “Now what?”

“Now we make this right.”

Tem navigated the passageways with Leo close behind. She tried not to focus on his proximity, but it was impossible. Instead, she focused on what was to come. It was imperative that the meeting went well. Too many lives were at stake if it didn’t—not just Leo’s but the lives of the villagers as well. Tem knew that Caspen had the power to declare open war. But perhaps as a Hybreed, she had the power to stop it. If they were going head-to-head, Tem had to make sure she would win.