Chapter Fourteen
Caspen was not in their chambers when Tem returned to the cave.
She knew he was avoiding her, so she fell asleep alone, curled up in the middle of their bed, trying not to think about Leo.
But her dreams were filled with him. They always started the same way: with the brush of a pinkie.
Except this time, they weren’t standing in front of the dungeon door.
Now they were in Leo’s bedroom, and they were naked.
Leo kissed her first, eager and desperate, his teeth pulling at her bottom lip. Tem received what he gave her, letting him touch her anywhere he liked. They were always a little freer in her dreams than they had been in real life. In her dreams, they were safe.
Will you keep me around?
For as long as you’ll let me.
Tem was still alone when she woke.
She’d hardly eaten any dinner; she’d been too busy crying in the bathroom to indulge in the roast beef.
The thought of going to the banquet hall without Caspen was intimidating but not impossible.
If Caspen was so comfortable leaving her alone, perhaps she should become comfortable being alone. Besides, she was starving.
The banquet hall was filled with basilisks from both quivers.
It seemed that the tension with the Senecas had abated—perhaps the fact that the ouroboros had ended amicably was enough to appease them for the time being.
Tem navigated carefully between the tables, dodging more than one writhing group of basilisks.
Mating season was still well underway, and she was still not used to it.
Tem tried to be polite—to look at anything else—but the only thing happening around her was sex.
A man was fingering a woman right in front of her.
Beyond them, two women were entangled on a table.
Just as Tem was about to give up, she spotted an open seat and collapsed in it gratefully.
No sooner had she sat down than she heard Apollo’s voice.
“All alone tonight, Temperance?”
It was the exact same thing he’d said to her in the passageway before she slapped him. Apollo was always catching her alone, as if he possessed some sort of instinct for when she would be at her most vulnerable. It was a rather uncanny ability, and she hated it.
“I guess,” she said as he sat down across from her.
Apollo smiled, picking up a fork and twirling it deftly between his fingers. “In that case, I shall keep you company.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I insist.”
“You insist?”
“I beg.”
“That’s better.”
Apollo leaned in, his mouth curling into a smile. “Do you like it when I beg?”
Tem shot him a look of utter disdain. “Only if it’s for your life.”
“You will never hear me beg for my life.”
“No? And why not?”
Apollo smiled, baring his fangs. “Basilisks believe in fate.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means we understand that our deaths are predetermined. If I ever found myself fortunate enough to be beneath your blade, I would welcome it.”
Tem rolled her eyes.
Apollo’s smile only widened. “It would be an honor to die by your hand, Temperance.”
“It would be a privilege to kill you.”
Apollo laughed outright. It was always unnerving when basilisks did that.
They were usually so serious that anything other than stoicism caught her off guard.
But laughter suited Apollo, Tem realized.
Despite his wicked tongue, his energy was decidedly lighter than Caspen’s.
It was the same with Damon—almost as if the brothers were born in descending order of seriousness.
Then again, Caspen shouldered the burden of leadership.
Everyone else was untethered by such responsibility.
Tem would be mirthful too if she wasn’t worrying about the future of a kingdom.
“I was impressed by you the other night,” Apollo said, still twirling the fork.
“How so?”
“The ouroboros is not for the faint of heart.”
“My heart is anything but faint.”
“That I know.”
Tem snorted. Apollo didn’t know anything about her heart.
He never would. But that didn’t mean he didn’t care for her.
She hadn’t forgotten what he’d said after the ouroboros—how he’d warned Caspen to leave the courtyard when the Senecas were advancing on them, how he’d urged him to take her to safety.
It was a side of him she wasn’t used to—a side that was compassionate and caring and protective.
Of her. Moments like that made her wonder whether his advances were genuine. Moments like that made her falter.
But she could not afford to falter today.
“All you do is flirt with me. It’s boring.”
Apollo raised an amused eyebrow. “In all my years, no one has ever called my flirting boring.”
“It’s repetitive. And predictable.”
“I see. And what would you suggest I do to change that?”
“I’m not giving you tips.”
“Shame. I should like to be in your good graces.”
“I’m sure you would.”
“I should like to be other places, as well.”
“See? Boring.”
Apollo threw his head back in laughter. “You are a challenge, Temperance.”
“You want a challenge? Go away.”
“That will not prevent me from flirting with you. I can still make you blush from across the room.”
“Then prove it.”
It just slipped out. But Apollo tilted his head thoughtfully. “Shall I?” he said quietly.
Tem didn’t answer. She’d said too much already, let this go too far.
But Apollo was already standing. He’d been sitting with his back against the wall, already at the edge of the banquet hall, and had to circumvent their table in order to cross the room.
As he passed her, his fingers touched her shoulder.
Tem shivered at the contact. The moment he left her field of vision, he entered her mind.
Turn around so I can see you.
Tem was frozen in place. What had she just done?
Turn around, Temperance.
Tem didn’t think. She just turned around.
Apollo was at the table across from her, seated on the bench, facing outward just as she was. They stared at each other over the aisle. All around them, pairs of basilisks were fucking.
Open your legs, Temperance. Let me see you.
She couldn’t believe he was asking her that. Then again, he wasn’t really asking, was he? He was telling her to open her legs. And Tem was not about to obey.
That’s not flirting. You’re just ordering me around.
Some would consider that flirting.
Not me.
Most women would. And those women would have let me fuck them by now.
Tem rolled her eyes. She would not be baited into pretending she was unlike most women.
She was just like most women; she found Apollo blisteringly attractive, and under normal circumstances, she would have fucked him the moment she met him.
But he was Caspen’s brother, and he was playing games with her.
To fuck him would be to let him win. And Tem was not in the mood to lose. It was time to play her own game.
Open your legs first.
A smirk twisted Apollo’s lips. Even from across the aisle, she could see how amused he was, how deeply it pleased him that she was flirting back.
Apollo was lucky Tem was in the mood to indulge him today.
He’d caught her in a moment of weakness—or perhaps a moment of strength.
Tem wasn’t sure the difference anymore. She only knew that everything inside her wanted to explore this, to see what it would be like to test someone else’s limits.
Apollo opened his legs.
His cock wasn’t even hard, and it was already magnificent. Tem watched as he grasped himself at the base and squeezed. The muscles in his arms rotated as he tightened his grip, moving his hand in one long stroke. He was rigid by the time he got to the tip.
Kora.
Apollo smirked. Do you like that?
Tem had forgotten that he could hear her thoughts. She didn’t want him to have any sense of whether she liked that. It was none of his business.
Come here, Temperance. You can have anything you like.
No.
Come over here and ride my cock.
Still no.
It would feel so good, Temperance.
For you, maybe.
For both of us.
I doubt that.
Do you?
She didn’t answer. Of course it would feel good. It would feel amazing. But Tem couldn’t go over there any sooner than she could go to the castle and bed Leo. There were certain things, no matter how badly she wanted them, that she couldn’t have.
Anything can be had, Temperance.
His hand was steadily stroking his cock, his eyes boring into hers.
Forget it, Apollo.
He smirked. It would feel good. I would make it feel so good, I promise.
You’re impossible.
Tem just shook her head. She wasn’t ready to take that step. She probably never would be. And even if she was, she had no desire to ruin Apollo’s relationship with Caspen.
You will not ruin us.
How do you know that?
Because I know my brother.
What does that mean?
It means you cannot ruin what is already broken.
Tem still had no context. All she knew was that she would not sleep with Apollo today. It was time to take back control.
Slow down.
Immediately, Apollo slowed his strokes.
Use just one finger. Base to tip.
She wanted to watch him trace it—to force him to feel only the bare minimum of what he could be feeling.
Apollo did as he was told, brushing a single finger first up the length of his cock and then back down.
Tem watched him the whole time, noticing how the veins in his hand caught the light as he did it. He really was a beautiful man.
You are beautiful too, Temperance.
So you’ve said.
Let me guess. That is boring too?
Yes.
If I cannot call you beautiful, what shall I call you instead?
Caspen calls me little viper.
He is right to do so. You are deadly.
His words flattered her more than being called beautiful ever could. And with that, Tem decided she was ready. Slowly, so that Apollo didn’t miss a moment of it, she opened her legs.