Chapter Two #4
Whenever life beneath the mountain became too much for Tem, Caspen insisted she visit her parents.
Kronos and her mother lived on the outskirts of the village, in a small cottage with a beautiful backyard, without a chicken in sight.
It was quiet there—specifically, it was quiet in her mind when she was there.
Caspen always left Tem alone when she went there, as if he could sense she needed a full break from basilisk life.
Her human side craved solitude after hearing all the voices in her head and feeling too many bodies around her.
Tem was grateful to Caspen for insisting she have it.
“You’re right,” she said. “Perhaps I should.”
***
That afternoon, she found her mother in the garden tending to the vegetables and Kronos seated at the kitchen table.
“Temperance,” he said, as she walked in, his face breaking into a slow smile. “What brings you here?”
Tem had only visited a few times, and she was still getting to know her father. He always spoke deliberately, his words flowing like a slow-moving river.
“I needed a break,” she said simply.
He nodded knowingly. “Yes, I can only imagine.”
Pride stiffened Tem’s spine. “I wanted a break,” she rephrased.
“Of course. There is no shame in wanting a break.”
Shame was all she felt.
“The mountain can stifle even the strongest basilisk, Temperance. It has a mind of its own. I would never subject your mother to it.”
Tem could understand that. A human probably wouldn’t survive it.
“But don’t you miss your people?”
Her father raised his shoulder. “Occasionally. But I spent many years alone. That is what I am used to now. Were I to return, I do not think it would ever feel the same.”
Tem nodded. She could understand that. Still, it seemed like an inevitability that her father would miss his old life.
As if he’d read her mind, he said, “Daphne is my life now.”
Tem looked out the window to the garden, where her mother was pulling weeds. She thought about her parents’ union and how much it took for them to be together. “Would you have made her do the ritual?” she asked.
To her surprise, her father laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“I could not have made your mother do anything,” he said. “Back then or now. You are just like her in that way.”
Tem allowed herself to laugh too. It was a blessing to see herself in her mother and an honor for her father to equate them that way. “You know what I mean,” she insisted. “Did you want her to do it?”
Kronos sighed. “I wanted her. And if that meant she had to do the ritual, then yes. I would have requested it of her.”
“Would she have done it?”
His mouth twitched. “I doubt it.”
Tem wondered what it said about her that she had.
“The ritual is ancient,” her father continued. “It is considered standard practice for any human who wishes to marry one of us. But your mother did not adhere to our traditions.”
Tem couldn’t blame her.
“Why did you do it?” Kronos asked quietly.
A beat passed. The birds twittered.
Tem thought back to her decision to participate in the ritual—how she’d decided to do it after seeing Leo mobbed onstage.
She remembered the fear that clenched her heart at the sight of him throwing his hands up to protect himself from the advancing villagers, how scared she’d been until Maximus had pulled his son from the stage.
“I did it for Leo.”
At the look of surprise on her father’s face, she elaborated.
“Caspen had just broken the truce, and the villagers were revolting. I thought if I was accepted in basilisk society, I would have some power to keep Leo safe.”
Another silence. Tem knew her father was processing her answer.
“Do you not find it odd?” he asked carefully.
“Find what odd?”
“That the man you did the ritual for was not the man you are now married to?”
Tem had never thought about it that way. She shrugged. “I would do anything for Leo.”
“And for Caspenon?”
“For him too.”
“Are you certain?”
His question stopped her cold.
Tem couldn’t ignore what her father had just pointed out: that on a basic level, Caspen’s request hadn’t been enough of a reason for her to do the ritual.
It had taken Leo’s life being in danger for her to finally decide to do it.
It wasn’t something Tem had considered until now.
The thought made her bristle. “Why would you ask me that?”
Kronos raised a gentle hand in surrender. “I am merely wondering.”
But now, Tem’s brain was turning. She wondered if perhaps that was the point of his question. It felt like he was warning her. “Why would you ask me that?” Tem said again, firmly this time.
A pause. Then: “The heart is a curious thing, Temperance,” Kronos said carefully. “It cannot be reasoned with.”
“What do you mean?”
“We cannot choose who we love. Our hearts choose for us.”
“I love Caspen.”
“I know you do. But you also love Leo.”
Tem closed her eyes.
“Temperance. You must be careful. Basilisks are free with their bodies but not with their hearts. It is a dangerous thing to love two people. You need to prepare yourself.”
Tem didn’t want to hear how it was wrong to love two people.
It was her reality, and it wasn’t going to change anytime soon.
They’d agreed to share her. Was that a lie?
Had Caspen merely said that to get Leo to stop the bloodletting?
Leo had seemed genuine in his promise, but was Caspen?
Supposedly he couldn’t lie, but he could certainly bend the truth to suit his needs. She’d seen him do it many times before.
A sliver of doubt pierced her chest.
Had Caspen really agreed to share her? They’d never had to contend with their arrangement since Tem had ordered Leo to find Evelyn. If she hadn’t sent him away, the three of them would be in a very different circumstance right now.
“Tem?” Her father interrupted her thoughts. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Talk to me, child.”
There were a thousand things she could say. But for some reason, only one gnawed at her heart. “I think I made a mistake,” she whispered.
She couldn’t say any more. Not when she wasn’t even able to face it herself.
Kronos placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “It does not matter what you did wrong, Temperance. It is how you choose to fix it that defines who you are.”
She’d tried to fix it by sending Leo away.
That had been her solution, and it had been a terrible one.
It was merely an attempt to avoid dealing with the real issue.
Her love for Leo wasn’t going away. She should have known it wouldn’t fade even if he went away.
Tem wanted to confide in her father, to tell him that it hurt to think about Evelyn with Leo, that resisting the draw of their bond was painful for her, if not downright impossible.
Her next words slipped out before she could stop them. “Do you think Leo still loves me?”
Kronos sighed. A moment later, his hand touched her chin. “How could he not? You are easy to love.”
Caspen was the first person to make her feel as if that statement were true. Caspen was her first love. And yet she could not shake Leo. No matter what Tem did, no matter how many times she had sex in the caves, Leo was always there, in the back of her mind, calling to her.
“Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way,” Tem whispered.
Sympathy softened Kronos’s face. “The ones who love you need no coercion to do so.”
For some reason, tears threatened to fall. Her father leaned closer.
“Look around you, child. You are not alone.”
Just then, her mother entered the kitchen. “Tem, are you staying for dinner?” she asked, her hands covered in dirt from the garden.
“No.” Tem shook her head.
There was someone she needed to see.