Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
At the sound of his name, Kronos opened his eyes, and Leo took a step backward.
Tem retained her grip on his hand, forcing him to remain next to her. “My mother went through the same training I did. She fell in love, just like I did.”
Leo shook his head slowly, his eyes locked on Kronos. Tem filled the silence, trying to give him as much information as possible before he inevitably bolted.
“The royals have been capturing basilisks ever since the war. This is what they do to them. It’s called bloodletting”-she pointed at the wires-“and it’s the reason your family is so wealthy.”
Leo gripped her hand to the point of pain.
Kronos closed his eyes.
“It’s cruel, Leo. It’s inhumane.”
Her choice of words was not an accident. She desperately needed to humanize her father, to show Leo that his life mattered-and by extension, Tem’s life too.
“It’s been happening for centuries. And it will continue to happen until someone breaks the cycle. That person should be you.”
Leo’s jaw was clenched. He didn’t look at her.
“I cannot break it off with Caspen. We have a bond that goes beyond love. We are…connected. I’m bound to him, Leo,” she finished softly. “I will always be bound to him.”
Leo pulled his hand from hers.
Tem fell silent.
All the parts of her were finally unfolded before him-all the secrets she’d kept for so long. He’d asked her not to lie to him, and she had. She’d lied so much. But she’d lied to protect him. She’d lied because she cared. Was it really such a sin to lie to protect the ones you love?
Leo turned to her. “You’re one of…them?”
“Yes,” Tem whispered. “I am.”
His expression was unreadable. There was no telling which direction he was leaning in, which path he would choose.
Tem had only one card left to play-one last secret that could tip him in her direction. “Your father sabotaged your relationship with Evelyn.”
Deep pain passed over Leo’s face. “How do you know that?” he whispered.
“He admitted it to me.”
At the flash of shock in Leo’s eyes, Tem almost reached for him.
Instead, she drove her point home. “He said if you choose me, he will do it again.”
Leo went still.
Tem could do nothing but wait to see where the cards fell. Leo would either reject her or choose to protect her. She was relying on nothing but instinct to hope he made the right choice. Perhaps his love for her was not enough.
Perhaps it was.
“Leo,” she whispered. “Please say something.”
Leo didn’t say anything. He simply took her face in his hands and kissed her.
The moment his lips touched hers, something bloomed within Tem-a combination of safety and tenderness and love-something she didn’t know she could feel for two people at once.
When the kiss ended, Leo didn’t pull away. Instead, he looked Tem deep in the eyes and said, “I never really had you, did I?”
Tem stared back at him, noticing the traces of green in his irises. She thought of Evelyn. “I never really had you either.”
A sad smile twisted his lips. “We both know you did.”
There was a pause, and Tem didn’t know how to fill it.
Leo’s next words were a whisper. “I’ve been in love with you ever since I saw you in that green dress, Tem.”
The dress Caspen had given her.
Tem thought back to that night-how they had agreed not to lie to each other, how she’d forced Leo to admit that he wanted her. How far they had come.
Before she could reply, Leo dropped his hands, a shadow of his former self returning as he asked, “What can be done?”
At his words, Tem felt immense relief. If Leo was asking that, it meant he wanted to help. It meant he was on their side.
“We need to try to make peace,” Tem said. “We must change the future of your kingdom.”
“How?”
Tem didn’t know the answer to that question. But she knew who would. “I’m…not the person to ask.”
“Then who is?”
Now she avoided his eyes.
Leo sighed. “Ah. Of course. Him.”
Tem didn’t reply.
They stood in silence, and she prayed she hadn’t just made a grave mistake. Then Leo said, “Can you…arrange a meeting?”
He spoke slowly, his tone cautious and controlled. Tem knew this was the last thing he wanted to do, and it would be the last thing Caspen wanted to do too. But with Leo on their side, the future between the royals and the basilisks could be different from the one Bastian had planned. There was hope. And as long as there was hope, they had a chance.
“Yes,” Tem said. “I can.”
Neither of them spoke on the way back from the dungeon.
When they reached the top of the stairs, the prince turned to his room.
“Leo, wait,” Tem said.
He paused, his hand on the door. An eternity passed. “Tem?” he prompted.
Her heart slammed in her throat. It took all her courage to say, “Can I stay?”
Leo’s eyebrows rose an almost imperceptible amount.
He’d asked her to stay so many times. But now Tem was the one asking-begging-to stay. She wasn’t just asking about the competition. She was asking whether she could stay in his heart-in the place he’d saved for her since the moment he saw her in that green dress.
Leo didn’t answer.
Instead, he opened his bedroom door, swinging it wide to reveal his four-poster bed.