Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
“End things with him, Tem. Or I’m marrying Vera.”
He was gone before she could even blink.
Tem didn’t know what to do with herself. She couldn’t end things with Caspen. It wasn’t an option. But she couldn’t get eliminated either. She had to marry Leo. Needed to marry Leo.
One question remained.
Why had she waited so long to sleep with him?
She was attracted to Leo. She had feelings for him. Yet she couldn’t pull the trigger-couldn’t let him all the way in. To sleep with him would be to lie to him. If Leo knew who she really was, if he knew she was a hybreed, he wouldn’t want her anymore. He would be repulsed by her; Tem was sure of it.
Or was she?
Tem never gave Leo the benefit of the doubt. She always assumed the worst of him, even when he’d only given her reason to assume the opposite. Did she truly have so little faith in him? Perhaps of the two of them, Tem was the unworthy one. Perhaps it had always been that way.
Leo would never get the chance to truly know her unless she gave him one. He loved only a version of her-the version she’d allowed him to see. It was time to show him all of her.
Leo deserved the truth.
But first she had to find him. He wasn’t in his room, and he wasn’t in Vera’s. Tem searched the entire floor, throwing open door after door until she’d searched every room. All empty. She took the stairs two at a time, hesitating only a moment before poking her head into the parlor, bracing herself to potentially see Maximus. He wasn’t there. Neither was Leo.
Tem stood in the foyer, breathing hard. Where could he be?
Then she remembered it was morning. There was somewhere Leo liked to go in the mornings-somewhere she’d found him before.
Tem waved down the nearest servant. “I need a carriage,” she said.
The servant frowned. “You’re not supposed to leave, miss.”
“It’s important.”
The servant shook his head. “The girls are meant to stay in the castle.”
“Is this a prison?”
“I am simply following orders, miss.”
“Fine.” Tem pushed past him, heading for the kitchen.
It took no time at all to locate Gabriel. He was washing dishes, laughing with the other kitchen staff as they prepared the morning meal.
“Gabriel,” she cried.
He turned, his eyebrows rising in surprise. “Tem? What are you doing down here?”
“I need a favor.”
He twirled a soapy spoon dramatically. “Anything for you, dearest.”
“Can you get me a carriage?”
He winked. “You’re lucky I know a stable boy.”
Gabriel disappeared, returning a few minutes later with Henry. Or maybe it was Peter. Tem was finding it hard to focus on anything but getting to Leo as quickly as possible. She barely felt the kiss Gabriel pressed to her cheek before she followed Henry-or Peter-out to the stables. They secured a carriage, taking extra care to avoid discovery by the gardeners, who were performing their duties on the grounds.
Tem sat with her hands clasped in her lap as the carriage took her into the village. The journey was rough, the streets still wet from the rain the night before. By the time they arrived at the graveyard, Tem’s stomach felt like it was eating itself. She had never been so nervous about anything in her life-not even for her first night in the caves. Back then, she hadn’t known what she was getting into. Back then, her biggest worry was having her first kiss. Now she understood the gravity of what she was about to do, and she simply had to do it anyway.
Leo was there, sitting on the bench beneath the willow tree, just like she hoped he’d be.
He looked up as she approached. Only this time, he didn’t seem pleased to see her. “Tem,” he said as he stood. “Unless you’ve come to tell me that you-“
“I can’t end things with him,” she said.
Leo snorted. He turned to leave.
“But you deserve to know why.” Tem grabbed his arm, and Leo paused, looking back at her with clear contempt in his eyes.
“You love him,” he snapped. “That’s why.”
“I do love him.” Tem stepped closer. “But that’s not the reason I can’t end things. At least…not the only reason.”
Leo turned to face her. He didn’t say anything. But she could sense his curiosity, and now that Tem had his attention, her heart beat even faster.
She knew what came next would determine not only their future but the future of the entire kingdom. The fates of everyone she loved depended on how Leo would react to what she was about to tell him.
So she asked, “Do you trust me?”
He blinked. “I do.”
“I’m not asking if you like me. Or if you want to fuck me. I’m asking if you trust me.”
A shadow of a smile lightened his face. “Just because I like you and want to fuck you doesn’t mean I don’t trust you, Tem.”
“Leo. This is important.”
He sighed, running a hand through his thick blond hair. “Very well. I trust you.”
She looked into his eyes, seeing his sincerity. He trusted her. She could feel it.
“Then you should know the truth.” But Tem paused. It felt as if the sky were falling down.
Leo was staring at her, his expression unreadable. He leaned in. “The truth about what, Tem?”
Me.
But she couldn’t say it. She just couldn’t. Instead, she borrowed Caspen’s line: “It would be easier to show you.”
There was a hairline pause. Then Leo dipped his head. “Lead the way,” he said simply.
Neither of them spoke the entire way back to the castle. Tem couldn’t help but think about the last time they were in a carriage together-how Leo had called her wicked, how she’d licked his cum right out of his palm. She wondered if he was thinking about it too.
When they arrived at the castle, they paused in the foyer.
“Is your father occupied?” she asked.
Leo shrugged. “Why?”
“I don’t want him to see us.”
The prince nodded slowly. “He usually meets with his advisors in the mornings,” Leo said. “He will not disturb us.”
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.