Page 66 of Between Two Kings

“They loved the same woman, didn’t they?”

Adelaide looked over at her. “Yes, they did.”

A dull pulse of jealousy ran through Tem. “What happened?”

“They had a falling-out,” Adelaide continued. “It did not end well for any of them.”

“But who did she choose?”

“You would have to ask Caspenon that.”

Tem fell silent, processing this. She wasn’t about to ask Caspen anything. “But…” Tem said slowly. “Caspen is with me, and Apollo isn’t with anyone. So what happened to her?”

Adelaide’s voice became quiet as she said, “She was taken for bloodletting.”

A memory came to her of Caspen searching the line of basilisks returning from the castle, as if he were expecting someone. Had he been looking for his previous love? What would he have done if she had returned to him that night?

“I don’t want to be in the middle of them,” Tem whispered.

“But you are,” Adelaide said simply.

“But I—”

“It is an honor to be pursued, Temperance. They desire you. You should take that as a compliment.”

But was she truly being pursued? This didn’t feel like pursuit. It felt like a competition—a game she hadn’t agreed to play. And who would win? Not Tem.

“The Drakon brothers are complicated, Temperance,” Adelaide said. “They lived long lives before they met you. You cannot expect to rewrite their history.”

But it wasn’t their history that Tem was concerned with. She only cared about their future. “I would never choose Apollo,” Tem said firmly. “Caspen knows that.”

Adelaide shrugged. “We are basilisks, Temperance. You can have them both.”

Tem had nothing to say to that. They sat in silence for a while, watching the activity around them.

Eventually, Adelaide said, “I must admit I am envious of you.”

Tem stared at her. “Why?”

“I have dreamed of slapping Apollo many times. As have others, I am sure. I am pleased someone finally did it.”

That information surprised Tem. Then again, perhaps it didn’t. Apollo did plenty of things she considered insufferable. He deserved to be slapped for them. “Did he ever…try to…?”

Adelaide gave her a significant look. “Sleep with me?”

Tem nodded. That was pretty much exactly it.

“Yes,” Adelaide said. “He did.”

“Oh.”

Another question occurred to her, and she asked it before she lost her nerve: “And did you…?”

“Sleep with him? Yes. I did.”

“Oh.”

Tem didn’t know where to look. She settled on staring at her hands, which were clasped on her lap.