Page 13 of Kneel Before Me

“Do you tend to believe everything you hear?”

“No. Just the interesting things.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “I cannot read your mind. That form of communication is only between basilisks.”

Despite herself, Daphne leaned forward. “So you can read minds.”

Kronos leaned forward too. “I can. But not yours.”

In that moment, she realized how close their faces were. His pupils were widening. His eyes—previously burnished gold—were turning black. The change was extraordinary.

“What else are you capable of?” she whispered. How dearly she wanted to know.

“You will have to narrow down your question.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean”—he shifted so they were even closer, and her chest tightened with anticipation—“are you referring to my mental capabilities? Or my physical ones?”

Daphne blushed. She had no doubt that he was capable of every physical act known to man. But she wasn’t here for those, as much as she might wish she were. “Mental,” she said firmly.

Kronos leaned back. So did Daphne. He regarded her calmly, as if they were talking about nothing more stimulating than the weather. But his pupils were still blown wide—two orbs of deep, dark black. His gaze was mesmerizing; she couldn’t look away. And Daphne was acutely aware that those same eyes were capable of turning her to stone.

“What else do the villagers say about us?” Kronos asked. He was clearly avoiding her question. Daphne decided to let him.

“They say your blood runs black.”

The corner of his mouth twitched.

“Well?” Daphne insisted. “Is that another lie?”

Kronos lifted his hand. Before she could even blink, he slashed it across a jagged ridge of the stone floor, splitting the skin of his wrist.

Daphne gasped as dark red blood sprayed onto the cave floor. He didn’t even flinch. Then, right before her eyes, the cut began to heal. Daphne’s hand flew to her mouth as she watched flesh and muscle knit itself back together again. Kronos remained perfectly still as the wound healed itself. A moment later, his wrist was smooth once more. Blood still glistened on the ground.

“That’s impossible,” Daphne whispered. Yet even as she said it, she knew it wasn’t true. There was no mistaking what she’d just seen with her own eyes.

“For you,” he said. “But not for us.”

Daphne tried to imagine what it would be like to have the ability to heal herself. Certainly day-to-day life in the village would be easier.

“My blood is red,” Kronos continued quietly, shaking her from her thoughts. “Just like yours. Perhaps we are not so different.”

Daphne just shook her head. She had been raised to fear the basilisks. She was not about to start relating to them now. It was an act of bravery to sit in this cave, unarmed, with a creature as powerful as Kronos. She would be a fool to forget that.

Daphne touched her own sternum, right over her heart. “Why didn’t you heal this?”

Kronos touched his own chest, running his fingers over the Y-shaped scar. “I was born with it.”

Daphne stared at the distinctive mark, wondering what it was if it wasn’t actually a scar. If he was born with it, that meant it was genetic.

“Can all basilisks heal themselves?”

“Yes. We can.”

“That’s impressive,” Daphne said quietly, and she meant it. She’d never seen magic like that before. There were greater implications of what Kronos had just shown her. If the basilisks were able to heal themselves, surely they were capable of other miracles. Daphne shuddered to think what those might be.

There had always been whispers in the village of the great capabilities of the basilisks, but Daphne had never imagined she’d be able to see them in person. She wondered briefly whether the other girls were also getting a magic demonstration from their teachers.