Page 115 of Split or Swallow

Now it was Tem who wished to protect Caspen. The villagers would not forgive such an act of violence against one of their own. The royals wouldn’t either. The consequences of Caspen’s actions would reverberate far beyond simply settling a score in Tem’s honor. It was a violation of the truce struck centuries ago, and it would not go unpunished.

Caspen had been inside her mind all day. When did he have time to do this? Tem replayed the day hour by hour, thinking about their connection. There hadn’t been a moment when he wasn’t with her. The only time they hadn’t been communicating was when they were asleep last night in his chambers.

Tem paused. She’d been asleep.

There was no way to know whether Caspen had stayed with her the entire night. She’d been so exhausted from the sex that she hadn’t woken up once. He could have easily slipped out under the cover of darkness to kill Jonathan and Christopher before returning to her. Tem thought about the fleck of blood on his temple. She’d assumed it was hers.

“What do you think will happen tonight?” Vera’s whisper broke her from her thoughts.

The first night of the festival was always a wild one: the villagers usually drank mead and danced in the town square until dawn. But there would be no dancing tonight. People were already retreating to their homes and locking the doors behind them.

Tem shook her head. “I don’t know.”

All she knew was that she needed to talk to Caspen. She reached for their connection, feeling for the door that joined the corridor between their minds.

But it was shut.

Tem shouldn’t have been surprised. Surely Caspen was deep beneath the mountain, surrounded by his own kind. She wondered if the other basilisks knew what he’d done. Or worse, if they’d sanctioned it.

“Tem,” her mother was suddenly beside her. “We’re going home.”

Before Tem could protest, she was already steering her away.

They walked in silence. Her mother stared purposefully ahead, her hands clasped at her sides. She didn’t seem afraid. Rather, it was as if she were preparing herself for something imminent: something she’d expected for a long time.

“Mother?” Tem asked quietly.

“Yes?”

“Is there any way to bring them back?”

Her mother shook her head.

“No, my dear. They are petrified. It is permanent.”

“But if there was some magic—some way to reverse—”

“You cannot reverse death, Tem. Their souls have gone to Kora.”

Neither of them said a word the rest of the way home.

Tem planned to sneak out to see Caspen when her mother went to bed. But her mother sat awake in the kitchen until well past midnight, and Tem ran out of excuses to sit up with her. Eventually, she had no choice but to retreat to her bedroom and stare at the ceiling. Hours passed. Her mother never went to bed. By the time Tem finally drifted off, the roosters were starting to crow. She awoke in the same position she’d fallen asleep in.

Her mother was still in the kitchen when she emerged. Before either of them could speak, there was a knock at the door. A footman handed Tem a letter.

Temperance Verus,

Tonight’s event will proceed as planned.

Kindly be ready at 8:00 p.m.

Tem turned it over, surprised at the twist of disappointment she felt when she saw that there was no additional note scrawled in red ink this time.

Then she remembered what tonight’s event was.

Seven girls were left: they were halfway through the elimination process. At this point in the competition, it was tradition to host the girls and their teachers at the castle to give the prince an opportunity to fine-tune their training. It meant that Tem was about to be judged on her progress.

It also meant that Caspen was going to meet Leo.