Page 74 of Between Two Kings

“So?”

“So you are two things, Tem. You always have been. And you are both of those things fully. Your power is unparalleled.”

Tem thought about what Caspen had just said to Apollo: She is mine. If she was so powerful, did Caspen covet her power? Tem knew she was safe with him—she always had been. But if Tem was as powerful as he said, perhaps even Caspen could not resist such a draw.

“But how would they get my power?”

“There are many ways. They could crest you. But my guess is they would not dare to do so.”

“Why not?”

“Because even my father did not succeed.”

Tem remembered the wedding—Bastian’s hand around her throat, squeezing. It had taken everything in her to resist, and even then, she’d needed Leo’s help to survive.

Caspen continued. “Most likely they will try to kill you.”

“Kill me?”

“Yes.”

“But if I’m so powerful, why would they want to kill me?”

“Because you are more useful to them dead. Whoever kills a basilisk receives their power.”

Tem had no idea that was possible. “Really?”

“Yes,” Caspen said. “When my father died, I received his.”

That was news to Tem. “But you…ate him.”

Caspen gave her a grim smile. “Yes, I did. And by doing so, I proved my worth.”

Tem stared at him. Basilisks were simply bizarre. But she understood, on some level, how Bastian’s violent death at the hands of his son might have earned Caspen the king’s power. It was no small feat to kill a king.

“So…you’re powerful right now?”

Caspen smiled wider. “I was always powerful.”

Of course he was. But he was even more so now, and it was something to consider.

Caspen shifted her in his arms, pulling her closer. “Had he lived, I would have had access to his power anyway.”

“How?”

“My venom.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The bite of a basilisk is not fatal by itself. My father only died because I…kept going.” A beat passed, and Tem remembered the sight of Caspen cannibalizing his father. She shuddered. “But it has a significant effect.”

“Which is?”

“Once bitten, the victim is made vulnerable to the basilisk who bit them. The presence of my venom in my father’s bloodstream would have created a connection between us.”

“What kind of connection?”

“I would have been able to use it to siphon power from him.”