CHAPTER TEN
Caspen
All alone tonight, Caspenon?”
Apollo had a goblet of elixir in one hand. He was drunk.
“Harmony is out hunting,” Caspen said stiffly. “Which you know quite well.”
She was not the only one; most of the basilisks were out hunting.
Caspen had only stayed behind because he needed time to think about what he had seen during the Showing.
Kronos’s infatuation with his student was going to be a problem—of that he had no doubt—and he had not yet decided what to do about it.
“Ah, yes.” Apollo twirled the goblet in his hand, nearly spilling its contents on the stone floor. “Harmony loves to hunt.”
“That she does.”
“She also loves me.”
Caspen sighed. He was in no mood for this tonight.
He had been pacing the courtyard in silence, taking much-needed time to think.
His brother was, as always, disrupting his peace.
Caspen turned slowly to face Apollo, who was smirking at him with such arrogance that it took nearly all his self-control not to tear his head from his shoulders right then and there.
“Did she tell you that herself?”
Doubt flickered in Apollo’s eyes. He narrowed them. “Not yet.”
Caspen stepped closer. “Then how do you know she loves you?”
Harmony had never said those words to Caspen, and he had never said them to her. He had no doubt it was the same for Apollo. To her, a declaration of love would be a sign of weakness—a way to cede her power. Harmony only cared that they loved her.
“She shows me.” Apollo tilted his chin upward. “With her actions.”
“Ah,” Caspen said leisurely. “And which actions are those?”
They both knew Harmony did the same things with both of them. Rather than answer, Apollo took a sip of elixir. Caspen could already tell he had had too much tonight.
“She says my name when she comes. She begs for me.”
“She may beg for you now,” Caspen said evenly, careful to enunciate each word. “But she begged for me first.”
Darkness passed over Apollo’s face. There was nothing more painful than the truth. Caspen was the older brother—Harmony might have slept with them both, but she had slept with him first.
“Fuck you, Caspenon,” he whispered. “You are always—”
But Caspen did not get to hear what he always was. Instead, a deep voice cut between them: “Fighting already, are we?”
Caspen turned to see Rowe and his brother Eros approaching. He crossed his arms, and Apollo did the same. Immediately, the Drakon brothers were united. Rowe and Eros were both Senecas, and they were a formidable pair.
“I would have thought you would be on your best behavior,” Rowe continued, “or are you allowed to play while your father is away?”
“We are allowed to do anything we please,” Caspen said.
“That is the attitude of a child.”
“Or the attitude of a leader.”
“And who will that leader be?” Rowe looked from Caspen to Apollo, sneering as he did so. “Only one of you can replace your father. Or perhaps neither of you will surpass him.”
“It does not matter if we surpass him,” Apollo said.
Technically, he was right. All that mattered was that the Drakons remained in power.
“Careful, Apollo,” Eros interjected smoothly. “You sound like you are making excuses for your ineptitude.”
“I am not making excuses,” Apollo snapped. “I am speaking the truth.”
“The truth is that you are weak.”
Apollo let out a low growl. He took a step closer to Eros.
“Say that again and you shall find out how wrong you are.”
Eros considered him calmly. His restraint surprised Caspen; Apollo and Eros had never gotten along.
It was admittedly an odd match—Eros was the older brother, so it stood to reason that his rivalry would be with Caspen, who was also the eldest. But the set of brothers were reversed: younger feuding with older.
Caspen wondered whether it was a way for them each to take out their aggression on someone who was not their blood.
Whenever Caspen beat Rowe, he felt as if he were beating Apollo, with none of the same consequences.
He wondered if Apollo felt the same with Eros.
Eros sneered at Apollo. “Words are a coward’s weapon.”
Apollo straightened. “Would you prefer I used my fists?”
“It would make no difference.”
“I assure you, it would.”
“Enough,” Caspen snapped. He could not supervise a fistfight right now. The last thing they needed was to antagonize the Senecas even further.
Rowe’s gaze fell to him. “Always the peacemaker,” he said softly. “Always willing to compromise. It is no wonder you must share your spoils with your brother.”
The insult cut Caspen to the core. Everyone knew the hold Harmony had over him and Apollo.
It was common knowledge that she had deflowered the Drakon brothers—that she held each of them in the palms of her hands.
Caspen hated the implication that she was in charge of him.
It was infantilizing; it made him seem incapable. Perhaps he was.
“Our personal life is none of your concern.”
“It is everyone’s concern. If you cannot even beat each other, how can you beat anyone else?”
It was a question Caspen had asked himself many times before. There was no answer he could accept. He opted to change the subject. “Your energy would be better spent on the competition.”
Rowe snorted. “Why? It is not difficult to train a human woman.”
“Then why has your student never won?”
The Seneca’s brow furrowed. “Why is your student not in first place already?”
“The competition has barely started. I have time.”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps you have finally met your match. Perhaps there will be victory for the Senecas.”
“Do not speak of the future as if it has already happened.”
Rowe laughed. “It will happen if you are not careful.” His eyes slid to Apollo. “Both of you.”
Apollo leaned in. “Is that a threat?”
Eros leaned in too. “It is a prediction.”
Caspen did not live his life according to predictions. He never had. It was time to end this conversation. “Focus on your own lives,” he said firmly. “And we will do the same.”
Eros laughed, still watching Apollo.
“Always the peacemaker,” Rowe said again, his voice a mocking lilt. He turned to Eros. “Come, Brother. I tire of this.”
Without another word, they left.
Caspen turned to Apollo. “You must control yourself around Eros,” he said. “They are both unstable. If you anger one, you risk angering the other.”
“Do not lecture me, Brother.”
Caspen closed his mouth. Their moment of camaraderie was clearly over.
Apollo turned to leave, swirling his goblet of elixir. “She said she would come to me tonight,” he threw over his shoulder. “You can have her after.”
He disappeared the same way the Seneca brothers had.
In his absence Caspen sighed, alone once more.
The only sound in the courtyard was the gentle burbling of the fountain, which flowed no matter what time it was.
He stared at the shimmering liquid, wondering whether he should indulge in it.
Before he could decide, a voice interrupted his thoughts.
“All alone tonight, Caspenon?”
It was the same question his brother had asked him earlier. Only this time Caspen turned to see a woman standing beside him. Adelaide. She was a Seneca, and as far as Senecas went, a decent one.
“I do not seek company,” he said.
“I see. That is a shame.”
Adelaide’s mouth was turned up at the corner. Her eyes were bright; she had been drinking elixir. Was Caspen the only one under the mountain who was not in the mood for merriment tonight?
“What are you doing here?” Caspen asked. “Everyone else is hunting.”
Adelaide shrugged. “I hunted this morning.”
“In the daylight?”
“Yes.”
“That is dangerous.”
“Actually, it is fun,” she said. “You should try it sometime.”
“My father would not approve.”
“Do you do everything your father says?”
Caspen bristled. She was baiting him, and they both knew it. “He is my king as well as yours.”
Adelaide shrugged. “Is he your master as well?”
“I have no master.”
“It does not look that way to me.”
“My father does not control my actions.”
“I was not referring to your father.”
Caspen gritted his teeth. If he had to hear about Harmony one more time tonight he was going to commit murder. “I do not take criticism from Senecas,” he spat.
“And yet there is so much to criticize.”
“Watch your tongue.”
“Watch it for me.”
Caspen turned to her. “What are you suggesting?”
She raised an elegant shoulder. She smiled. “I am suggesting you think for yourself.”
Caspen stared at her. It was a proposition, and not an altogether unwelcome one.
Why should Harmony be the only one who could bed whoever she wanted?
Why should she be the only one who determined the course of their future?
Let Apollo pine after Harmony tonight. Caspen would seek pleasure elsewhere.
There was no point in going to either of their chambers; no one was here, and Caspen would not care if they were anyway.
Instead Caspen drew Adelaide against him, tilted his head, and kissed her.
Her lips were soft. He wasted no time finding her tongue and tracing it with his, savoring how she succumbed to him.
Caspen laced his fingers in her hair as the kiss deepened.
Adelaide was nearly as tall as him; she was a strong, willful woman.
It was a pity she was not a Drakon. Her hand wrapped around his cock, pulling it between her legs.
Caspen lifted her easily; despite their similar heights, he far outweighed her.
Adelaide laughed softly as he positioned her on his hips.
“Who knew,” she said as his cock slid inside her, “that a Drakon brother could think for himself?”
Caspen understood what she meant. He was free when he fucked anyone other than Harmony.
Happy, even. It was not about control or his brother or winning.
It was simply about pleasure—something other basilisks coveted and Caspen often neglected.
Lately his life had been anything but pleasurable.
Everything was a battle or an argument. Here, alone with Adelaide, things could be simple for a moment.