CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Daphne
Daphne still felt weak.
It had come on during her date with Maximus—right at the end, as soon as she’d dismounted the horse.
Even now, an hour later and headed to the caves, she was still lightheaded.
Something about the way he’d touched her—the way he made her come—had thrown her off her axis. It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t Kronos.
At the thought of Kronos, guilt twisted her stomach.
Daphne had no idea how he would react when she told him what had happened this afternoon.
Should she even tell him? Daphne couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d said to her—how he’d suggested exclusivity.
The only person I want to sleep with is you.
What she’d just done with Maximus was hardly upholding monogamy on her side of things.
Yet Daphne did not regret it. She’d allowed Maximus to touch her because she knew that if she did so, he wouldn’t eliminate her.
It was her way of protecting Kronos, and she would not apologize for that.
Besides, Kronos had only mentioned sex. What she’d let the prince do to her on the horse was hardly that.
By the time she reached the wall, she felt even weaker. And by the time Kronos greeted her in the cave, she needed to sit down.
“Daphne?” he asked, his brow furrowing in concern. “What is the matter?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I think I just need…to rest.”
Without another word, Kronos picked her up and carried her through the passageway. He didn’t stop until he reached his chambers, at which point he laid her down on the bed and curled himself around her. Immediately, she felt better, his proximity a balm to her ailment.
“Have you spoken to Caspenon since last night?” she asked as soon as the room stopped spinning.
“I have not,” Kronos said. “He is otherwise occupied.”
“With what?”
“With whom is the better question.”
Daphne looked up at him. After everything Kronos had shared with her about the basilisks, she hadn’t considered Caspenon could be involved with someone specific.
“Who?”
“A woman named Harmony.”
“Are they…” Daphne trailed off. She had no idea whether basilisks could get married. Given what Kronos had told her about how they gained power, it seemed unlikely.
“They are not a good match,” Kronos said.
“Why not?”
“Caspenon’s brother is involved with her too.”
“Oh,” Daphne said. That was inconvenient.
“She plays them both for a fool.”
“How so?”
“She does not love either of them.”
“Then why are they involved with her?”
“Because they do not want the other to have her.”
Daphne nodded. Her experience with devotion was quite limited, but she could imagine how intoxicating it would feel to have two basilisks obsessed with you at once.
“You’d think the son of the Serpent King would not be so careless.”
Kronos tightened his grip. “The son of the Serpent King thinks only of himself.”
Daphne laid her head against his chest. She couldn’t stand the thought of Kronos being in danger—of him having a target on his back. It only made her feel more justified for what she’d done with Maximus.
“Kronos…” she whispered against his skin. “Maximus took me on a date today.”
Kronos stiffened.
“We went horseback riding. And then he…”
The only sound was the crackling of the fire. Daphne physically couldn’t seem to form the words.
“Daphne,” Kronos said, and she felt his fingers tighten on her waist. “I do not wish to know what the prince did.”
“But I—”
“Unless his cock was in your pussy, I do not wish to know.”
There was a brief silence in which he was clearly waiting for her to say that was the case. Daphne had never been so glad not to say something.
“You once asked what we are,” he continued slowly. “Perhaps it is time to decide.”
Daphne sat up and looked him in the eye. Was she really about to have this discussion with a basilisk?
“What do you want us to be?” she whispered, suddenly terrified of his answer.
Kronos sat up too, brushing a curl from her face. “Whatever you want us to be.”
She shook her head. She wouldn’t be seduced by his beautiful words—not tonight. If they were really going to discuss this, it needed to be an equal conversation. “Don’t do that.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Do what?”
“Don’t just say what I want to hear.”
Kronos gave her a small smile. “I do not know what you want to hear. I cannot read your mind.”
But she couldn’t say it. Despite the gravity of the moment, Daphne wasn’t ready to be vulnerable with him. It was too difficult for her—too terrifying. She decided to ask him a question she desperately needed the answer to. “Did you mean it when you said you would be loyal to me?”
“I did.”
For some reason, that made her want to cry. She thought about Penelope—about the life Kronos lived underneath the mountain. Daphne knew being loyal to her was a sacrifice.
“But…why?”
Kronos tucked the strand of hair behind her ear. “You are worth being loyal to.”
They were kind, beautiful, foreign words to her. Daphne couldn’t even think of how to respond. She could only shake her head. “But…how are we supposed to be together?”
“We will find a way.”
“But how? Your quiver will never accept me.”
“My quiver does not determine our future.”
“But it’s a part of you, and you’re a part of it. You can’t just turn your back on them—”
“If I am crowned king, my quiver will have no choice but to respect me.”
“If, Kronos.”
He sighed, and Daphne did too. There were too many variables here, and none of them were within their control.
“This is not about my quiver,” he said quietly. “This is about us. It is not possible to extract your soul from mine. It cannot be done. We are intertwined. As deep as the roots of a tree or the current of a stream. We are one, Daphne. How can you not see that? How can you not know?”
She stared into his eyes, seeing the sincerity in them. It scared her. “I’m not good at this, Kronos,” she whispered. “I’m just…not. I’ve never been with anyone who actually wanted to be with me.”
“That is a shame,” he said. “And it is not your fault.”
“Kronos,” she breathed. “You don’t understand. I think I might be…unlovable.”
Daphne said the last word so quietly she wasn’t sure if he even heard it. But from the way his face fell, she knew he had. He shook his head.
“How can you think such a thing?”
She shrugged. It was too painful to put into words. She didn’t want to tell him that it felt as if there were something wrong with her—something missing. Everyone else seemed to be capable of this seemingly basic thing. Everyone except for her.
“Daphne,” he whispered when she didn’t answer, “you could not be more wrong.”
She looked up at him. He was looking at her with his brow furrowed, his lips pursed into a flat line. His hand rose tentatively, then dropped, as if he didn’t want to push her.
“I just want to be like everyone else.”
Kronos shook his head. “You are nothing like everyone else. You are sensational.”
Daphne almost laughed.
“I am serious, Daphne. And if you do not believe me, look no further than the prince. He loves you.”
Daphne scoffed. “He wants to fuck me.”
“As he should.”
Daphne knew it was a veiled compliment. But his words hit something tender in her chest, right where she was the most vulnerable. Daphne had never had a problem with men wanting to fuck her. Now she wanted something deeper.
“Even you just wanted to fuck me at first,” she whispered. “Admit it.”
Kronos held her eye contact. “Perhaps at first,” he said. “But then you became…more. You became someone I cherish.”
She shook her head, unable to process what he was saying. Basilisks couldn’t lie. Yet it was inconceivable to Daphne that someone like him could cherish someone like her.
“Maximus only thinks he loves me,” she said, trying to deflect. “But he only loves the parts of me he chooses to see.”
“All parts of you are worth loving. He is an imbecile if he does not know that.”
“He’s not an imbecile. He’s just—”
“Daphne,” Kronos said firmly. “If you defend him again, I am going to become angry.”
“I’m not defending him. I’m just saying that—”
“You are saying that just because an imbecile does not love you, you are unlovable.”
She opened her mouth, then shut it. When he put it that way, it sounded pathetic. Perhaps it was. Benjamin was an imbecile, wasn’t he? Every boy who had taken her under the bridge could be described that way. None of them had loved her, and none of them mattered.
“It just feels like there’s something wrong with me,” she whispered.
“Daphne,” his voice dropped. “There is nothing wrong with you.”
He said it gently, healing wounds in her that he hadn’t even caused. She remembered what he’d told her the first night they met: There is no shame in being lost. As long as you are willing to be found. Kronos had found her.
“I will not tell you I love you,” he said quietly. “Because I know you are not ready to hear it. But when I do, all I ask is that you do what you requested of me.”
Daphne frowned. What had she requested of him?
Kronos leaned closer, brushing his lips against hers. “You must try to let me in.”
Daphne thought she already had. But now she understood that her walls were still up—that the protective barrier she’d built around her heart extended to Kronos as well. She was scared of so much more than just being vulnerable with him. She was scared of being vulnerable at all.
“But I’m human,” she whispered. “And you’re a basilisk.”
“Those are simply facts. They have no bearing on my heart. I am telling you how I feel, Daphne. It is up to you to believe it.”
Daphne fell silent. She did believe it. It was hard not to when he laid it out like that. But that didn’t mean it was easy for her. Kronos brushed his fingers under her chin, raising it.
“This is all I want. You are all I want. There was no one before you, and there will be no one after. You have given me a purpose that is greater than myself. If this is all the time we have together, it will have been worth it.”