Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
“Yes, you do. Tell me.”
He sat up, and Tem sat up too. “I do not know for certain. After you crest them, they will be bound to you.”
“And then?”
“I do not know,” he said again.
Tem stared numbly at his shoulder. It would be worth it. Whatever the cost, it would be worth it to avoid war.
“Caspen,” she whispered. “What if I can’t crest them?”
He took her face once more in his hands. “You can.”
“I thought you didn’t want me to do it.”
He sighed. “I do not want you to do it if you are not ready. But if this is the path you have chosen, I will help you prepare.”
“Prepare?”
“I will teach you how to harness your basilisk side. Once you do that, you will be able to perform the crest.”
“Do you mean you’ll help me…transition?”
He held her gaze steadily. “Yes.”
“How?”
Caspen shrugged. “It is like you said. I have taught you everything else. Why not this?”
Tem smiled at that. But it quickly faded. “I’m…scared,” she whispered.
His expression softened. “We do not have to do anything today. You can take your time.”
But they were running out of time. The ball was mere days away; the wedding would be shortly after. If Tem didn’t do this now-if she couldn’t master this new part of her-Leo’s safety wasn’t guaranteed.
Something else gnawed at Tem’s heart-a fear she didn’t want to name. She looked up at Caspen, staring deep into his golden eyes.
“Caspen,” she said slowly. “You said our connection is what made the council acknowledge your authority.”
“It is.”
“So you can…draw power from our connection? From me?”
He nodded. “I can.”
“Even if I’m not near you?”
Another nod. “Yes.”
Tem looked straight at him. “So when you send me pulses-when you turn me on-it makes you more powerful.”
“It does.” He said it calmly.
Tem frowned.
All those times he’d brought her to climax using the claw, he was drawing power from her. He was using her. She thought about the time in the bathtub-how it had occurred while he was meeting with the council, seeking approval for their engagement.
Caspen tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Why are you asking me this, Tem?”
“You’re using me to gain power.”
He didn’t respond.
Tem tilted her head. “Am I wrong?”
Still no response.
She hardened her tone. “What if I didn’t give you power? Would you still be with me?”
Caspen touched her chin, pulling her face to his. “Of course.”
She gave him a look.
“Tem,” he said as he leaned in. “Of course I would. It is true that you are a source of power for me. But that is not why I am with you. Do not forget that you are a hybreed. Everything I can do, you can do as well.”
Tem absorbed the meaning of his words.
Caspen spoke before she could. “I am a source of power for you too, Tem.”
It was an interesting thought. She wanted to know more, but another fear was seeping into her heart-one she didn’t want to face. Her next question was a whisper. “What if I never transition? Will you still love me?”
Caspen pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I fell in love with you when I thought you were human. Please do not insult me by assuming I would not love you otherwise.”
Tem hadn’t thought of it that way. At first, she’d been angry with Caspen for concealing the fact that she was a hybreed. But now she considered his choice from a different perspective. If he’d never told her, she may never have found out, and they would have continued on as they had been: her as a human, him as a basilisk. They might have lived like that for the rest of their time together. Caspen had never pushed her to do anything she wasn’t ready to do-never needed her to be anything other than human.
His next words confirmed it. “I will always love you, Tem,” he whispered. “In any form.”
There was nothing more to say after that. Tem knew in her heart that Caspen’s interest in her was not transactional, that their connection went far deeper than a mere exchange of power. He would have abandoned her long ago if that were the case. There was no guarantee she would be able to transition-no guarantee she would ever reach her full potential. He’d loved her before he saw her freckles. He would always love her.
Caspen kissed her again, and she kissed him back.
Eventually, he drew away.
“It is nearly morning,” he said quietly. “Your mother will be waiting.”
It seemed wrong to leave without having sex. But Tem was still exhausted; her body had been through far too much in the past few days, and she suspected Caspen knew this. He walked her to the head of the trail, kissing her deeply before letting her go.
The morning was a cold one; winter was beginning to set in. The last days of the autumn season were upon them, and soon the village would be covered in snow. Tem had always hated the snow. It was far too cold and made her feel miserable. Now she wondered whether that was a distinctly basilisk trait. Snakes coveted warmth-they were drawn to it in their deep, dark caves. There was so much she didn’t know about herself-so much she had yet to discover.
Tem went about her farm chores in silence. She noticed the crow of every rooster, marveling at how they physically pained her. It was worse somehow now that she knew the truth. It was as if the glass had shattered on her life and she would never put the pieces back together again.
When she entered the cottage, her mother was waiting for her.
“My dear,” she said quietly.
Tem sighed. There was still no closure between them-no resolution. “Mother.”
A pause. And then: “I should have told you sooner.”
Tem blinked. She hadn’t expected to hear that at all.
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.