Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
Caspen let out a noise that made it clear he didn’t agree. But Tem couldn’t let Caspen kill Rowe. It would mean war. It would mean a target on Caspen’s back and, by extension, a target on Leo’s. And it would all be because of her. She couldn’t have any more deaths on her hands.
Not even Rowe’s.
“Be merciful,” Tem whispered. “Please. For me.”
For a moment, Caspen didn’t relinquish his grip.
Then came a deadly whisper: “There is nothing I would not do for you, Tem.”
Finally, he released Rowe, who let out a sputtering cough as he grasped at his own throat. Caspen sneered down at him in disgust before looking straight at Tem.
“This is the only time you will get mercy from me. Do you understand?”
Tem nodded because she couldn’t do anything else. She understood that she had asked too much-that she had forced Caspen to go against his instincts, that he had compromised himself for her.
“I understand.”
Caspen looked at her for a long moment before his expression softened. He touched her throat again-gently this time-and concern returned to his face. It was like watching the sun slowly set.
“Are you in any pain?” he asked.
Tem tried to answer him but found that she couldn’t. She felt lightheaded, as if she might faint.
A moment later, she did.
***
“Will she live?”
Caspen’s words came to her through a fog. Tem was somewhere warm, a soft pillow beneath her head. Caspen’s chambers. She was conscious, but she couldn’t seem to move.
“She is breathing. Beyond that, I do not know.”
The second voice belonged to Adelaide. Some vague part of Tem was distantly jealous.
“What can be done?” Caspen whispered.
“Nothing,” Adelaide said just as quietly. “We must wait.”
Caspen’s voice turned suddenly sharp. “If you are lying to me, if this is some pathetic, jealous ploy to take her place, I will-“
“I would never stoop so low,” Adelaide snapped, and Caspen fell silent. A second passed. She continued quietly, “I do not wish to prolong your pain, Caspenon. This clearly wounds you. If I had a solution, I would readily give it.”
Tem opened her eyes.
Caspen was the first thing she saw. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his brow furrowed in worry. Rowe’s blood, as well as his own, was drying on his body. Adelaide was leaning against the wall, watching them with her arms crossed. She was naked, and Tem tried not to look at her infuriatingly perfect breasts.
“Tem.” Caspen leaned forward, and Tem flinched. He retreated, concern flashing across his face. “How do you feel?”
What a question. Unanswerable, really. Tem asked a question of her own. “What’s she doing here?”
Adelaide snorted. “I should be the least of your concerns.”
Tem sat up. “I decide my concerns.”
“Tem.” Caspen leaned forward again, and this time, she let him. “Adelaide is here because the last known hybreed belonged to the Seneca quiver. She has some knowledge of your condition.”
Tem looked at Adelaide, who was looking at her. “You…have met someone like me before?”
Adelaide shook her head. “No. But my family has.”
A thousand questions came to Tem’s lips-too many to ask. She started with “Did it work?”
Adelaide blinked. “Did what work?”
“The crest. I mean, am I…”
Tem looked to Caspen for guidance.
“Are you bound to me?” he finished.
Tem nodded.
“I do not know.” Caspen cast a glance at Adelaide. “Is she?”
Adelaide shrugged. “How should I know? Give her an order and find out.”
Caspen’s eyebrows shot up, then knit together.
“Yes,” Tem said, sitting up fully. “Good idea. Give me an order, Caspen.”
Caspen glanced between the two women, who were both staring at him expectantly. “What sort of order shall I give you?”
“Anything. But make it something I wouldn’t want to do.”
Caspen’s mouth twitched.
Tem rolled her eyes. “And don’t you dare be cruel about it. I swear to Kora if you-“
“Stop talking, Tem.”
For half a heartbeat, there was silence. Then Tem said easily, “Rude.”
Adelaide clapped her hands together. “Good. Now if you will excuse me, I must-“
“Wait,” Tem said. “What else do you know about hybreeds?”
Adelaide hesitated. Her eyes flicked to Caspen, who nodded.
“Humans with basilisk blood are rare,” she said slowly. “Extremely so. Your existence is…an anomaly.”
“What does that mean?”
“The two halves of you are paradoxical,” Adelaide explained. “Your basilisk side is a predator, while your human side is prey.”
Tem frowned. “I don’t understand. Are you saying my body is trying to kill itself?”
Adelaide shook her head. “The opposite. You carry the balance of nature within you. It is an extremely powerful thing.”
Tem was reeling from this information. She had to know more. “How powerful?”
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.