CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
Caspen
The years passed slowly.
At first, Caspen allowed no one in his bed for a very long time after Harmony.
He did not know what he was waiting for, yet he knew he was waiting for something.
It was not until he was lying alone late one night when he felt something open within him, a schism—an absence.
After that, Caspen’s bed was always occupied.
After that, he felt free. He wondered if his brother experienced the same sensation—the same loss.
Apollo did not confide in him. Their relationship became bitter; in the wake of Agnes’s death, under the shadow of a debt owed, brother turned against brother.
Their entire family was broken. Deltene was gone, and with her the calming presence she brought to the family.
Bastian ruled the basilisks with an iron fist, becoming more erratic and power-hungry as the years went on.
The bloodletting only increased. More and more basilisks disappeared, always more Senecas than Drakons.
Caspen did not understand the discrepancy.
All he knew was that the quivers became restless because of it.
In the wake of cresting Solomon, Caspen lost the favor of many former friends, including Adelaide.
She was among the basilisks who no longer respected him now that he had broken their most fundamental rule.
It did not matter that power had remained with the Drakons; Caspen did not want victory if it felt like this.
He did not want anything if it felt like this.
Corruption was a poison his father had cultivated, that Caspen vowed to eradicate.
He did not know whether he would ever become Serpent King.
All he knew was that he would not crest another basilisk again—he would not do the unthinkable simply so that the Drakons could be in charge.
Caspen knew some things were not worth the power. There was always another way.
Eventually, another competition cycle would begin.
Eventually, Maximus’s son would be ready to choose a wife.
Caspen would be ready to train her.