Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
“You’ll never guess what happened to me last night,” Vera whispered.
Tem sighed. She had come to the bakery to deliver eggs and had gotten gossip instead. It was always that way with Vera.
“What happened?” she asked.
Vera leaned over the counter so only Tem could hear. “Jonathan took me under the bridge.”
Tem’s mouth fell open. Everyone knew what happened when a boy took you under the bridge. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.” Vera smirked. “I saw his”-she glanced over her shoulder, then back at Tem-“cock.”
Tem blushed at the word.
“You’ve never seen one?” giggled Vera, tossing her blond curls over her shoulder in haughty satisfaction.
“No,” Tem muttered. Vera knew quite well that she had never seen one, at least not in person. There were plenty depicted on the marble statues that lined the steps leading up to the church, but those were nothing to write home about. They looked like baby carrots. “What was it like?”
Vera leaned in, pursing her lips in a conspiratorial triangle. “It was firm,” she whispered. “Like a cucumber. But warm, and it fit perfectly in my hand.”
“You held it?”
Vera laughed.
Tem resisted the urge to hurl an egg at her.
“You don’t just hold it. You play with it. You stroke it up and down.” Vera moved her hand to mimic the motion, and Tem memorized it instantly. “Until he finishes.”
Vera giggled cruelly at the look on Tem’s face. “Oh, Tem,” she whimpered, her condescending tone unbearable. “Don’t worry. You’ll learn tomorrow night. That’s what the basilisk is for.”
Everyone knew what the basilisk was for.
“Of course,” Vera continued. “It doesn’t hurt to have an advantage. After all, the prince is going to pick the most skillful girl. I intend to get as much practice as possible.”
Only Tem knew the painful truth, which was that there was no one she could practice with. The boys her age didn’t talk to her, and if they did, it was only to inquire whether her mother’s farm had any spare roosters available. Gabriel was her only friend, and he wasn’t interested in girls at all. But it didn’t matter anyway. Tem had always known she wouldn’t have a chance with the prince, regardless of what the basilisk taught her. The prince was far more likely to choose an experienced girl like Vera to be his wife.
It was as if Vera knew what Tem was thinking, because she said, “You could always practice at home.”
Tem looked up. “How?”
“Touch yourself. If you know how to do that, you can better understand how to touch someone else.”
For once, Tem felt a small surge of victory.
She had already touched herself plenty of times in the privacy of her own room. She’d done it for as long as she could remember, and she knew exactly how to bring herself pleasure. Those solitary moments were important to her; they made her feel sexual and alive. She loved the euphoric weakness she felt after her orgasm, and she wondered if men felt a similar way when they finished.
“I’ll try that tonight,” Tem said, keeping her secret to herself.
Her superiority disappeared immediately at Vera’s next words. “Of course, I was so pleased when Jonathan returned the favor.”
Tem’s jaw dropped. “He touched you too?”
Vera smiled widely, eager to perform for her audience. “He didn’t just touch me. He tasted me.”
Tem frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Vera laughed, the sound cutting Tem to her core. “No, you wouldn’t, would you? You’ve never even been kissed.”
Tem’s embarrassment only deepened. If Vera wasn’t referring to kissing, she must mean the other, more intimate act-the one Tem had only ever imagined and never expected to experience. Blush rose once again on her cheeks, dovetailing perfectly with her shame.
“What was it like?” Tem asked despite herself. She loathed giving Vera a platform but desperately needed to know the answer.
“Oh, Tem,” Vera giggled again. “You’ll find out eventually.” She paused, and her mouth twisted cruelly. “Or maybe you won’t. After all, who would want a girl who tastes like chicken shit?”
The insult was too great for Tem to bear. It hit her right in her insecurities, confirming every dark, horrible thing she had ever thought about herself-that she was nothing but a farm girl, that she was dirty and unlovable, that no man would ever look at her the way she dearly wished to be looked at. It took enormous effort to keep those thoughts at bay, and just when she’d managed to do so, girls like Vera reinforced them.
Tem had had enough of this stupid conversation. “Do you want these or not?” She brandished the carton of eggs in her arms.
“Yes,” Vera sighed, clearly disappointed they were no longer talking about her. “One moment.” She grabbed the eggs and flounced away.
Tem used the time to gather herself. She felt ridiculous and pathetic every time she let Vera get the best of her. But it was impossible not to feel inferior when she’d never even kissed a boy. She would never be like Vera with her silky pink ribbons, dangled teasingly in front of the boys at the market. She would always be the girl who tasted like chicken shit.
When Vera returned with Tem’s payment, she sneered one last time.
“Get some rest, Tem. You’re going to need it.”
On the walk home, Tem allowed herself to cry.
She took the roundabout way through the woods so nobody would see her tears, walking along the edge of the wall that encircled the entire village. Twelve feet tall and made of wood, the wall looked nondescript from the inside. But on the outside, it was sheathed in mirrors.
Centuries ago, when humans had arrived in this part of the world, they hadn’t known that the basilisks were already here. The monsters weren’t a problem at first; when they wore their human forms, they looked just like humans-attractive humans. Their sexual influence was undeniable, and it was the main reason the villagers were able to coexist with them for so long.
But when they wore their true form-when they turned into huge, ruthless snakes-they became a threat. The resulting war was bloody. The basilisks had magic that the villagers couldn’t defend themselves against. That is, until they learned that the basilisks had weaknesses: the crowing of a rooster, the smell of a weasel. It wasn’t until a snake dropped dead after looking at itself in a puddle of water that the villagers realized they were also a threat to themselves. They’d won the war with mirrored shields. In exchange for the territory outside the wall, the basilisks agreed to use their seductive talents to train the prince’s future wife to ensure she would bear him an heir. A tentative truce was formed, and the two groups had lived in relative peace ever since.
The small cottage Tem shared with her mother was nestled on the edge of the forest, and Tem felt a wave of warmth when she saw it. It had always been home to her, no matter what awaited her outside its walls.
Her mother looked up from the kitchen table when she walked in. “How did it go at the bakery, my dear?”
“Terrible,” Tem said.
“With the eggs or with Vera?”
“With Vera.”
“I told you to ignore that girl.”
“She’s like a gnat. Gnats are hard to ignore.”
Tem’s mother sighed, wiping her hands on her apron. “You must learn to shut out the noise, Tem.”
“Like you do?”
It was a low blow, and Tem knew it. Her mother was the only person more affected by the town gossip than Tem was. Raising a child on her own in a village that revered fatherhood and idolized male heirs hadn’t been easy. Add to that her occupation as a chicken farmer, and Tem’s mother was a pariah. Which made Tem the daughter of one.
“I’m sorry, Mother,” Tem said preemptively.
Her mother pursed her lips, clearly suppressing her hurt. “Think nothing of it, my dear. I know you’re nervous for tomorrow.”
Nervous didn’t even begin to cover it.
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.