Page 65 of Between Two Kings

“For what?”

“Mating season.”

Chapter Eleven

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, Tem.” He smiled, pressing his lips to her cheek. “I am.”

Tem shouldn’t have been surprised. It didn’t matter to the basilisks that it was the middle of the night. For them, it may as well have been daytime. But for Tem, it was bedtime, and she yawned widely as Caspen grasped her waist and pulled her into the passageway.

The mountain was alive with activity. Basilisks streamed by on either side of them, all headed for the courtyard. As they entered, Tem saw the decorations she had chosen to adorn the space. It was a small thing, but it gave her pride, showed that she had contributed somehow, even if it was just on the surface.

Caspen’s lips touched her ear. “I must check in with the council,” he murmured. “I will return in a moment.”

Before Tem could protest, he was gone. She looked around the courtyard, desperate to find a friendly face. Mercifully, her gaze fell on Adelaide. She was sitting on a bench alone, drinking a goblet of elixir. When Tem sat beside her, immediate ease flooded her chest.

“Temperance.” Adelaide smiled. “Good evening. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

To what, indeed? There was really only one thing Tem wanted to tell her: “I slapped Apollo.”

Adelaide’s eyebrows lifted. “May I ask why?”

“He wouldn’t stop flirting with me.”

Adelaide laughed. “Yes. He tends to do that.”

“Well, I’d like him to stop.”

“Would you?”

The question reminded her of her conversation with Apollo and she knew the truth was not black and white. “I…don’t know,” she said honestly.

Adelaide smiled. “Apollo is complicated.”

“He seems pretty simple to me.”

“If he seems that way to you, then you have underestimated him, and that is your mistake.”

There was a pause, and they both stared at the crowd of basilisks.

Tem shifted so she was facing Adelaide. “Complicated how?”

Another pause. Adelaide seemed to be considering what to say next, and Tem wondered about the origin of her hesitation. “He is…reckless. It has gotten him into some trouble in the past.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Apollo likes to take what is not his.”

“What has he taken?”

“Something that belonged to Caspen.”

A twinge of understanding sparked in Tem. She remembered what Apollo had said to her: My brother and I have done this dance for centuries, Temperance.

“Something? Or someone?”

Adelaide smiled but didn’t reply. For a moment, neither of them spoke.