CHAPTER SIXTEEN #2
“You are risking everything,” Caspen said. “Our family. Our quiver. The throne. How can you not care?”
“Of course I care,” Deltene whispered. “But my heart has other plans. I cannot resist Solomon forever. I love him, Caspenon.”
Caspen turned away. He could not listen to this.
Deltene kept talking. “You do not understand how I feel. To go the rest of our lives without being with one another properly would be a fate worse than death.”
Caspen whirled around. “Your fate will be death unless you choose not to do this.”
Deltene shook her head again. “It is not my choice.”
“Mother, you must—”
Finally, Caspen cut himself off. It was fruitless to finish his thought.
His mother was right; Basilisks could not resist sex.
Sex with someone you loved was powerful; it was magic in a way that outweighed everything else.
Deltene’s relationship with Bastian would never compare to the one she had with this man—this traitor who had allowed this to happen.
If Solomon was a noble man, he would kill himself in order to remove temptation from his queen—from Caspen’s mother.
But basilisks were not noble creatures. They only sought their own pleasure.
“Caspenon,” she said quietly. “You must help me.”
“I cannot help you. This is beyond my capability.”
“Do it for me. Please. Keep my secret.”
He shook his head. “I cannot discuss this any longer, Mother. I am sorry.”
Caspen turned and ran.
He did not care to be underground any longer; he did not care to open any more doors.
He was, for the first time in a long time, terrified.
The moment he was outside, he transitioned, sliding along the forest floor at a dangerous speed.
He had no plan. All he wanted was to be as far away from his family as possible.
He did not stop until he was at a familiar place—the hill where he watched the village.
It was the same place where he had begun the evening, and he was ending it here now.
To his relief, Agnes was not here. Part of him had worried that by forbidding her to do something he had actually encouraged it. It would seem that she was obeying him, at least for tonight. Caspen stared out over the village, losing himself in thought.
Both of his parents asked too much of him: his father, to crest Kronos; his mother, to keep this awful secret.
Burdens are easier to bear when shared. There was no one he could share this with.
Caspen was an island without bridge. He could think of no solution for this.
It was only a matter of time before his mother slept with Solomon.
Caspen did not know how much time it would take, but if it occurred before the Ranking, it all but guaranteed that the Drakons would lose power.
Kora would never pass the power to a member of their family again.
If Kronos won the Ranking, surely she would choose to pass the power to him.
It was almost a good enough reason to crest him.
For a serious moment, Caspen considered it.
Kronos had no family, no one who would seek revenge on his behalf.
But he could not crest another basilisk.
Such an act would change Caspen forever.
It would alter the way he saw himself—the way he moved through the world.
Basilisks did not generally concern themselves with good and evil, right or wrong.
They sought pleasure, even at the expense of others.
Yet this felt unequivocally wrong to Caspen. There had to be another way.
He thought about what he had just seen, what his mother had told him. If Deltene consummated her affair with Solomon, Caspen would need to protect her from his father. How long could she resist such a temptation? Not long.
Basilisks did not resist. They gave in. Always.
There was no use in killing Kronos. Caspen did not need him dead; it would likely incite a rebellion just when they wanted it least. What he truly needed was power.
Constance was not winning the competition; he did not have the strength he usually would.
If he had more, he could protect his mother.
It would take an extraordinary amount of power to go up against his father.
Caspen needed a source—something that would provide him with a continual well of fuel.
There was only one thing that could have such an effect.
The bite of a basilisk was not forbidden, as the crest was, although it was arguably just as dangerous.
The bite created a connection between the basilisk who had bitten and the basilisk who was bitten, a way to siphon power.
It was the perfect solution to an impossible problem.
Killing Kronos would give Caspen a temporary burst of strength and only at the moment of killing.
It would not be enough to protect Deltene from what was to come.
He needed a way to draw power gradually, in a way that was not dependent on performing the crest at the exact right moment.
Caspen turned his back on the village, resolved to his mission.
He would bite Kronos. And he would do it soon.