Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
“His Highness will see you now.”
There was no time to decompress after what just happened. The butler was already ushering them through the crowd, toward the doorway at the end of the ballroom. Tem felt a sudden prick of fear. Not only was Caspen about to be face-to-face with Leo, but he was already angry. There was no telling what he might do if provoked. Leo wasn’t exactly a peacemaker; he was even more prone to disruption than Tem was. The butler opened the door.
There stood Leo.
The prince held a glass of whiskey, which he swirled casually. His eyes flicked briefly over Tem’s dress before landing on Caspen. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Leo stepped forward.
He moved slowly, stopping only when he was in front of the basilisk. They were dead even in height, but Caspen’s build made him seem taller. Tem would have paid good money to know what each of them was thinking. But Caspen’s mind was still closed off to her, and she’d never been able to access Leo’s. She merely watched helplessly as the two men in her life stared at each other. Leo broke the silence.
“Thank you.”
Caspen blinked. “For?”
Leo looked down at Tem. “For her.”
Caspen stiffened. His hands were slowly forming into fists.
“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Leo said nonchalantly.
Tem wondered if he had any idea the danger he was in.
“Yes,” Caspen said through his teeth. “She is.”
“Of course.” Leo shot a grin at Tem. “She’s also rather difficult.”
Caspen didn’t acknowledge that. His voice was monotone as he asked, “Are you satisfied with her performance?”
There was a pause, and Tem’s stomach squirmed as she remembered the point of this meeting was to grade her.
Leo laughed. “Define performance.”
Caspen’s gaze slid to Tem before snapping immediately back to Leo. “You have not yet slept together?” His words lingered in the room like smoke.
Leo took a sip of his whiskey. “You sound surprised. Don’t you two communicate?”
A pulse went through the claw. If only the prince knew how they communicated.
“I assume you’ve slept together,” Leo continued without missing a beat. “Care to tell me what I have to look forward to?”
Tem’s mouth fell open. Leo had always been cavalier about sex, but hearing him discuss it so flippantly was still a shock.
Caspen bristled. Tem’s palms began to sweat again.
“She will satisfy you,” he said stiffly. “And if she does not, it is my failure. Not hers.”
Tem processed his words. She’d never thought about the training in that way. She hadn’t considered that she was a reflection of Caspen and if the prince didn’t choose her, it was just as much his fault as hers.
“Hm.” Leo swirled his whiskey. “You assume you know what will satisfy me.”
Caspen rolled his shoulders.
Tem said a silent prayer to Kora for Leo’s life.
“I assume nothing beyond what I know of human men.”
Leo frowned, and for the first time since the conversation began, his tone hardened. “And what do you know of human men?”
Another pause. Caspen’s eyes locked onto Leo’s, and Tem felt a tangible shift in the energy of the room as he said, “That they are easily satisfied.”
There was no mistaking the challenge in Caspen’s voice. He’d essentially called Leo simple. Predictable. He was belittling him, implying that Leo-and all humans-had no depth. Tem knew it was not an insult the prince would tolerate.
Leo’s fingers tightened on his whiskey. He bared his gold, tapered teeth.
“You forget your place, snake.”
Caspen went immediately still.
It was a mirror of the conversation she had just witnessed between Caspen and Rowe, only this time, Leo was the one putting Caspen in his place. Tem was reminded suddenly that although Caspen was an important part of her life, he was meaningless to Leo. To the prince, Caspen was nothing more than a tool-a means to an end-a cog in a tradition that was hundreds of years old. Leo believed the same thing his father believed: the basilisks were beneath him.
How wrong he was.
“Enough,” snapped Tem.
They both looked at her, eyebrows raised.
“I’m not livestock.” She barreled on before either of them had a chance to interrupt. “You can’t just talk about me like I’m not here.”
It was deathly quiet. Tem could hear her pulse pounding in her skull. She turned to Leo.
“I’m your future wife. And I deserve to be treated as such.”
Leo’s eyebrows hiked up even farther. Tem held his gaze. It seemed safer than looking at Caspen, who was palpably radiating anger. The prince seemed to be considering something-considering her. For all the times Leo had looked at her before, Tem wondered if this was the moment when he truly saw her as a person, not as a commodity. It was the bare minimum of what she deserved.
“You’re right,” Leo said finally.
Caspen said nothing.
This time, Tem let the silence sit. She wanted them to think about what she’d said-to truly comprehend her place in this process. It was unacceptable to her that they thought this was about them. Tem was the one with a choice to make. Tem was the one who held the power. If she chose to walk out of this room, neither the basilisk nor the prince could do anything to stop her. They both wanted her. They should start acting like it.
Leo reached for her hand.
A sudden wave of rage surged inside Tem’s mind. But it wasn’t hers; it was Caspen’s. For once, Tem didn’t let him in. She slammed the door shut between them, doing everything she could to keep him out. She took Leo’s hand, focusing on the way it felt-warm and strong, his long fingers intertwining with hers as he asked, “What do you need from me, Tem?”
He said it quietly, as if they were the only two people in the room. Tem considered the question. There was only one thing she needed from Leo-the same thing she needed from herself.
“Patience.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Not my specialty, I’m afraid.”
The rage was growing stronger. It took everything she had to suppress it.
Just when resistance became impossible, Leo turned to Caspen. “Leave us.”
Tem expected him to protest. Or perhaps explode. Instead he gave a curt nod, and a moment later, he was gone. As soon as the door snapped shut, Caspen’s rage retreated from her mind. Tem blinked, shaking her head to clear it. Leo was still holding her hand.
“Tem.” His grip tightened. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. But I should…check on him.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.