Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
She touched his arm gently. “Please,” Tem whispered.
For a long moment, he didn’t react. Then he uncurled his fingers, letting his hands hang loose at his sides. They entered the cave.
Leo was leaning against the wall but straightened when he saw them. He immediately glanced at Tem before looking at Caspen.
A long moment passed, and Tem held her breath. Leo said nothing. He seemed resolved to let Caspen take the lead. It wasn’t until Caspen dipped his head in Leo’s direction in the barest form of acknowledgment that Tem finally let out her breath. It was good enough for her.
Tem stepped between them, spreading her hands in what she hoped was a neutral gesture.
“Both of you have been told that the other is the enemy,” she said quietly. “But that is a lie.”
The two princes stared at each other, neither of them speaking.
“I’m living proof that you can coexist,” Tem continued. “If you want peace, you need to break the cycle.”
Caspen tilted his head, and Tem thought he might say something. Instead, Leo was the first to speak.
“I understand you may have…reservations about me,” Leo said, addressing Caspen directly. “But I can assure you we are on the same side.”
Caspen let out a dry, incredulous noise.
“Tem has informed me of my father’s actions,” Leo went on as if Caspen hadn’t made a sound. “They are appalling, and they should not go unpunished. I’d like to help with that if I can.”
Caspen still hadn’t spoken, and Tem was starting to wonder if he was ever going to.
Leo continued doggedly. “You may not trust me, but Tem does. And I know you value her opinion.”
Caspen blinked.
Then he looked at Tem.
They held eye contact for a long moment, and Tem felt the gaping void where their connection used to be. Caspen finally broke his silence.
“The only opinion I value is my own,” he growled.
The two men stared at each other. Caspen’s hands were slowly balling back into fists, and Tem rushed to break the moment before things got worse.
“You both want the same thing,” Tem said. “Can we at least agree on that?”
They looked at her.
She realized she had inadvertently spoken too much of the truth and scrambled to move things along. “When Leo becomes king, he will cease the bloodletting immediately.”
Caspen looked back at Leo. “Your father might mind.”
“He won’t be king anymore. He won’t have a say.”
Caspen’s jaw tightened. “The bloodletting is the reason you have so much gold. If you cease it, you forsake your wealth.”
Leo licked his lips, and Tem wondered if he was thinking about the golden fangs in his mouth. “Wealth obtained in such a way is of no value to me. There are far greater treasures than gold.”
Tem didn’t miss the way his eyes flicked to hers. Caspen stepped toward Leo, who immediately stiffened. For a single terrifying moment, Tem thought he might tell him about the crest. But then Caspen said, “Why?”
Leo blinked. “Why what?”
Caspen stepped even closer. To Leo’s credit, he didn’t step back. “Why are you willing to go against your own father?”
Despite how close Caspen was standing, Leo looked over at Tem for a long moment before answering. “I know how it feels to lose something you love,” he said. His eyes slid back to Caspen’s, and he finished quietly. “My father loves power above all else. I’d like to see him lose it.”
Caspen didn’t know Leo’s story, didn’t know he was referring to Evelyn. But Tem knew Leo’s motivations better than anyone. The bloodletting wasn’t just a misdeed that needed to be corrected-it was a way for Leo to heal from his past.
Caspen raised his eyebrows, and Tem swore she saw a modicum of respect pass over his face. Then he stifled it.
“No royal is so altruistic. What do you expect in return?”
“He doesn’t want anything,” Tem said.
“But I do,” Leo said quietly. He turned to Tem, and her heart stopped. “I do want something in return.”
A beat of silence passed.
Now Tem understood. Leo was willing to do this, but only on one condition: Her.
Caspen let out a dry snicker.
Leo held up his hand. “I do not expect you to stop seeing each other. I am not so naive to think that your bond could be ignored. Love demands to be felt.”
There was a pause, and Tem’s heart nearly broke. Leo was always doing this, saying deeply impactful things in a matter-of-fact manner. He was skilled with his words, even now.
He continued. “I understand that basilisks live very long lives. You will have nearly an eternity together.” His gaze moved to Tem, and his next words were a whisper. “I just…want you while I can have you.”
It was, as Bastian might say, an elegant solution.
Why shouldn’t they share her? Tem was in love with them both. She was equal parts human and basilisk. Tem already knew that Caspen didn’t consider the human prince to be his equal. As such, he also shouldn’t consider him a threat. Caspen looked down on Leo in the same way the royals looked down on the basilisks. Leo was not important to Caspen-he never had been. But he was important to Tem.
She looked at Caspen, and he looked back at her.
In his gaze, she saw how deeply her absence had affected him. He missed her-she could see it in his eyes, in the way they drank in hers. And she missed him. She needed their mental connection back, needed that essential part of her. And in order to restore it, she needed to marry Leo.
Caspen spoke first. “It is up to Tem.”
Leo nodded. “Of course.” He looked at her. “It’s up to you.”
Tem opened her mouth, then closed it again. It was extraordinary-there was no other word for it. She couldn’t believe she was standing here in this cave, between these two men, deciding the fate of a kingdom. It wasn’t anything she ever expected for herself.
And yet it was everything she was meant to do.
There was no future for her on the chicken farm-no possibility of ever going back to the way things were. It was time to step into who she was always meant to be.
Tem was ready to speak her truth.
“I love you both.”
There was a distinct change in the air when she said it, as if the universe had tilted on its axis. For some reason, she felt powerful. It was incredibly freeing to finally say it-to lay herself bare before both of them at the same time. They were all on the same page now. There was nothing left to hide, nothing to fight over. She loved Caspen, and she loved Leo, and she wasn’t about to stop anytime soon. They would move forward together; they would forge their own path.
Tem wasn’t sure what would happen next. There didn’t seem to be much else to say after what had just been said. She found herself looking to Caspen, as she always had, for guidance.
He turned to Leo. “I still do not trust you.”
Leo sighed. “Then allow me the chance to prove myself,” he said calmly. “I will be crowned king at my wedding, at which time I will announce that we are entering a new era-one in which there will be no more bloodletting. If I don’t keep my word, you are welcome to kill me then. That will be my fate if things continue as they have been anyway. Am I wrong?”
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.