CHAPTER FIFTEEN #2
“That is not what I said.”
“But it’s what you mean.”
“I did not tell you this to pressure you, Daphne.”
But pressure was all she felt. Not only were there personal implications for her decision not to have sex, now she was finding out there were political ones too. The walls of the cave felt as if they were closing in. Daphne was having trouble breathing.
“Then why did you tell me?”
“I am trying to let you in.”
Daphne appreciated that in theory. But the reality was destabilizing.
Finally, the juxtaposition between his commands and his actions made sense.
He wanted her to win, but he didn’t want her to betray her promise to herself.
Daphne felt a sudden rush of gratitude toward Kronos.
Any other basilisk, it was quite possible, could have simply forced her to have sex—it was, after all, their job to teach the human women about sex.
But not Kronos. He’d taken the very first thing she ever said to him to heart and had never wavered on it despite the consequences to himself and to his quiver.
She couldn’t believe he was still respecting her wishes when her wishes had such widespread impact.
“Daphne.” He leaned forward. “The prince favors you. You are already winning the competition.”
She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on anything but the panic rising in her chest.
“And you need me to keep winning. Don’t you?”
There was a pause that seemed to drag out for forever.
“Don’t you?”
“Yes,” he said. “I do.”
Daphne thought about what had happened during the Frisky Sixty—how she’d commanded Maximus from a foot away.
Was it enough? She remembered what Kronos had told her after she’d won the first date: Whatever you gave him, he will expect more.
If you do not give it willingly, he will take it.
What if the day came when Maximus expected more?
She couldn’t keep him at an arm’s length forever.
“If you do not win, the Drakons will remain in power,” Kronos continued.
Daphne shook her head. She didn’t ask for this. She didn’t ask to be a pawn in a chess game between quivers.
“This isn’t fair,” she said. “Why should I do this for you? Why should I care about the Drakons?”
“The Drakons are bloodthirsty, ruthless, and cruel. Their quiver is dangerous.”
She shook her head again. “That has nothing to do with me, Kronos.”
“It may one day.”
“How?”
“There are rumors that the Drakons tire of the truce—they want another war.”
“What? Why would they want that?”
“Chaos breeds opportunity. If they know it is coming, they can prepare. If they incite it, they may even gain advantage. There are two battles here, Daphne. One between quivers and one with the humans. Whichever quiver defeats the humans would be looked upon as the superior quiver. They would rule the basilisks.”
Daphne did not like all this talk of defeating the humans.
She thought of the people she loved, of her mother and Ella and baby Gabriel.
She didn’t want anything to happen to them.
She wouldn’t let anything happen to them.
If she became queen, she could protect them.
But that would bind her to Maximus, and that was not the future she wanted for herself.
“Isn’t there another way for you to gain enough power?” she whispered.
“I could crest you. That might give me enough.”
She frowned. “Crest me? What does that mean?”
But Kronos only shook his head. “That is not an option. Listen to me, Daphne.” He shifted closer, taking her hands in his. “I understand I am requesting a lot of you. But please. You must win.”
“For your quiver?”
“For me.”
She looked deep into his eyes, trying to decide whether she could trust him. When the pause lingered, Kronos whispered, “You are afraid to deny me.”
It wasn’t a question. And Daphne hadn’t even realized it was true until he said it. But the moment he did so, she realized he was right. She wasn’t just afraid—she was terrified. So she said, “Yes.”
Devastation flashed across his face. “Why, Daphne?”
The answer to that was easy, even if saying it wasn’t. “Because I know what happens when you deny a man,” she whispered.
Kronos placed his finger under her chin, gently pulling her face up to his. “I am not a man.”
She stared into his golden eyes, seeing the depth in them.
“I would not ask this of you unless it was important,” he continued quietly. “My quiver is all I have. Even if they do not always want me. I…belong to them.”
“Why wouldn’t they want you?”
He held out his hands, at the freckles on his palms. “I am different.”
Without thinking, Daphne leaned forward and took his hands in hers. They were just as warm as she remembered. Kronos stiffened with surprise. Daphne did not let go. “I like different,” she said.
She had no idea where she found the courage to say such a thing.
The last time she’d been vulnerable with a man, it had turned out terribly.
But Kronos was not Benjamin. He was someone she was safe with.
He had just confided in her; he was trying to let her in.
Such a person was worth an act of courage.
“Daphne,” he said quietly. “You do not know me.”
She knew his words were meant to push her away, to create distance between them. Daphne used them to do the opposite. “Yet.”
Kronos looked her in the eye. Their fingers were intertwined, their bodies nearly so. He said nothing, and he did not need to. Instead he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.
Daphne melted into the kiss, breathing in his scent, savoring his skin. He was so warm her whole body was overheating. Even so she pulled him closer, only wanting more.
Kronos pulled her closer too, his hands going to her thighs and lifting her onto his lap.
If it weren’t for the slits in the dress, she wouldn’t have been able to straddle him.
His cock was hard, and Daphne rubbed her center against it slowly, pivoting her hips in an intentional, luxurious rhythm.
If they were naked, they would have been fucking.
Instead they mimicked the motions with their clothes on, showing each other how it could be.
Nothing had ever felt this good before. Daphne palmed his cock through his trousers, feeling how unbelievably ready he was for her.
Kronos let out an inhuman noise when she did so. “Daphne,” he growled, catching her wrist. “Stop.”
Not the word she wanted to hear. But she stopped anyway, leaning back to look at him. “Why?”
“Because you said you did not want to have sex again until you were in love.”
Daphne was rather regretting saying that now. “I know what I said. But I want…”
Kronos held eye contact, his irises completely black. Any trace of gold was gone. “What do you want, Daphne?” he breathed.
“I want to do…something.”
He nodded. “We can do anything you wish.”
Daphne wished to do everything. But she also wished to test him.
Now that she understood that Kronos could gain power from fucking her, if she let him do it, she was allowing herself to be used.
In a way, it would be no better than letting Benjamin take her under the bridge.
This was an exercise in trust between her and Kronos.
If he could resist her, it meant that she could trust him.
He brushed a curl gently away from her face. “Daphne. Tell me what you want.” His lips were an inch from hers. “Anything you wish, name it and I will do it.”
The words made her core clench. She wished for him to do it all—to kiss her and fuck her and thrust his cock inside her until she came. But they couldn’t do any of that tonight. So she said, “Can you touch me?”
For a moment, Kronos did not move. Then he shifted her slightly in his lap so his hands were on her thighs. He asked a question in return, his voice barely a whisper. “May I see you first?”
Despite the heat, a chill went down her spine. There was only one answer. “Yes.”
To her surprise, Kronos did not begin undoing the line of tiny buttons down the back of the dress.
Instead his hands slid farther up her thighs to where the slits began, twisting the seam of fabric to reveal two strings she hadn’t noticed before.
He pulled them. Immediately, the dress began to unravel.
Strap after strap fell loosely to her thighs.
The more he pulled, the more skin she bared.
Daphne marveled at the nature of the dress, how deceptive it was.
Maximus never would have discovered it was so easy to remove.
It was designed in such a way that only Kronos knew how to take it off easily.
The thought was intoxicating. He was claiming her, ensuring only he could access her body.
When it was finally done, the dress was a pile of fabric in her lap.
Kronos pushed it aside, and just like that, she was naked before him.
“Exquisite,” Kronos whispered.
Daphne sat perfectly still as his eyes took her in, traveling from her neck to her breasts to her waist, tracing a slow path down her body.
Kronos was in no hurry, and neither was she.
There was nowhere Daphne would rather be than right here, just like this, with him.
Kronos’s hands returned to her thighs, their heat nearly burning her.
She held her breath as he slid his palms slowly up to her hips. He squeezed. It felt so good that she gasped, struggling to stay still as his hands went higher, dipping into her waist before brushing just under her breasts.