Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
“Tem,” he said, his voice low, his face centimeters from hers. “I am ashamed that my people allow this.”
“Allow what?”
When he didn’t answer, she pushed him away, crossing her arms and staring into the fire. This was beyond infuriating. Her heart was pounding; her shoulders were tense. All she wanted was to run from this room. But more than that, she wanted Caspen to be transparent with her. And she knew it would only happen if she stayed. So Tem stood there stubbornly, waiting him out.
Eventually, Caspen spoke. “Basilisks are sexual creatures,” he said slowly.
“Yes.” Tem nodded. “Obviously.”
“The ritual is ancient,” he continued. “It is the one way humans can prove themselves to us, in the one language we understand.”
She turned to face him. “But what does it entail?”
His next words were barely a murmur. “Our culture revolves around our king.” Again, he paused, and the fire crackled.
“So?” Tem insisted.
“So,” Caspen said, and she knew they were coming to the crux of the issue. “In order to earn my quiver’s favor, you would need to prove yourself to him.”
“And how would I prove myself to him?”
Caspen closed his eyes, as if he couldn’t bear to look at her. “The same way you proved yourself to me.”
His words sank in slowly, then all at once.
Finally, Tem understood: “I would have to have sex with your father?”
For a single, static moment, time stood still.
Then Tem cried, “That’s barbaric.”
Caspen opened his eyes. There was nothing but remorse in them. “It is tradition, Tem. You will find they are often one and the same.”
“I can’t believe you expect me to-“
“I do not expect you to do anything.” Caspen grabbed her shoulders, shocking her into silence. He sighed, hanging his head and pressing his forehead gently to hers. “Put it out of your mind. It will not come to pass. I will never request it of you.”
To Tem’s surprise, she felt a flare of anger. “Why not?” She stood taller. “Do you think I’m incapable?”
Caspen sighed again. “Tem. Do not do that.”
“Do what?”
“Do not bait me into saying something you will hold against me. It is not that I think you are incapable. It is that I would never subject you to something that should not be expected of anyone. It is not a tradition I wish to be a part of.”
“Then why did you propose to me in the first place?”
Caspen’s grip on her tightened. “I proposed to you because a life without you is not a life I care to live.”
His words stopped her short. A life without Caspen wasn’t a life she cared to live either. But it didn’t make what he’d done any better.
Now it was Tem’s turn to close her eyes. She was still aware of Caspen before her, of the burning fire beside them. But she took a moment to delve deep within herself, to listen only to her own mind. Tem couldn’t believe Caspen had kept this from her. And yet she understood why he’d done so. She was quite sure she wouldn’t have been able to absorb this information even a week ago. But things were different now. She was different now.
Tem opened her eyes. “If it’s the only way I would be accepted, why wouldn’t you beg me to do it?”
A slight frown wrinkled Caspen’s brow. “Because it is an insult, Tem.”
“It’s also tradition.”
“Fuck tradition.”
To her surprise, there was true anger in his eyes. Caspen was sometimes firm, often strict, but he rarely used profanity with such emphasis. Tem recalled their conversation about his strained relationship with his father-a relationship that surely wouldn’t improve if Tem were to have sex with him. It occurred to her that she was not the only one who would be affected by the ritual; Caspen would suffer in his own way.
“It is meant to test you,” Caspen continued. “Basilisks value sex above all else. It is how we measure our capability, how we determine who succeeds, who ascends, who rules. It is both a revered and deeply primal act-one that, the more it is done and the better you are at it, the higher your position in our society. The king holds the highest male ranking. He earned that position through sex.”
“Earned?”
“Yes, Tem. Such is the basilisk way.”
Tem was in shock. At the look on her face, Caspen sighed.
“If the king approves of you, everyone will. Or at least they should. The idea is that if you are worthy of the king, then you are worthy of any basilisk.”
So it was an initiation. Tem could understand that on a basic level-she could understand theoretically how the basilisks would want a human to prove themselves worthy.
“But he is your father,” she whispered.
Caspen sighed again. “Yes. I am well aware of that. But this has always been the way things are done. I would not be the first son to experience this situation with my father.”
Tem shook her head. There were no words.
She thought about Leo’s relationship with his father. She could only imagine that Caspen, also a prince, had similar problems-problems that couldn’t be fixed with a single conversation, problems the depth of which Tem couldn’t possibly fathom.
There was no way she could do this, no way she could mount a father the same way she mounted his son. Tem had always known how the basilisks valued sex. But this was so far beyond the scope of sanity that she was having a hard time processing it.
She looked up at Caspen.
“What happens if I don’t do it? Can we still be together?”
“We can. But…”
He faltered. Tem waited him out.
“My people will not accept you,” Caspen said finally. “They will consider you an accessory-a plaything-a-” He paused, searching for the right word. When he finally found it, he finished quietly, “They will look upon you as my pet, Tem.”
Rage shot through her. Tem was nobody’s pet. “Is that the future you want for us?” she said sharply. “As owner and pet?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Of course not.”
“Then how do you suggest we proceed?”
In the pause that followed, Tem watched as a thousand emotions passed through Caspen’s eyes-regret, desire, and concern foremost among them. All he wanted was for her to be safe-for her to fit smoothly into his life without the struggles that inevitably came with their relationship. But it was not destined to be so. Now Tem knew the truth-that she would never be accepted, that she would never be able to stand beside him as his equal in the eyes of his people unless she did this single unfathomable thing.
Caspen didn’t reply. Instead, he kissed her.
In his kiss, she felt everything he couldn’t say. She remembered the parts of her that had been stifled and miserable until the moment she’d met Caspen in the cave. Her life was empty before Caspen. He’d shown her that she was capable, that she mattered. It was a revelation Tem now believed wholeheartedly, and she was no longer willing to settle for less than she deserved. Even if that meant having no one at all.
Caspen’s lips were gentle on hers. He didn’t pull her closer or try to undress her. Tem knew he was purposefully holding back, and she was grateful for his restraint. The only advance he made was internal; she felt him tentatively brush along the edge of their connection, as if he were knocking on the door to her mind.
Tem didn’t let him in yet.
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.