Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
But Tem shook her head. Leo didn’t know what he was signing up for, didn’t know that the crest would bind him to her.
And yet Caspen was right. What was Leo’s love for her if not another version of a bond? He had already pledged himself to her-already married her, for Kora’s sake. She couldn’t think of anyone who the crest would impact less. It was one thing to crest a stranger. It was quite another to crest Leo, who loved her.
“Please.” He pressed his lips to her hand, and they came away bloody. “You know I would do anything for you, Tem. Anything.”
Caspen was watching them, his eyes dark.
Crest him, Tem. Do it now.
Tem looked up into Leo’s eyes. He was terrified of losing her. It was written all over his face. “Do you trust me, Leo?”
She’d asked him that before. But this time, she wasn’t asking to confide in him. She wasn’t asking him to swallow her venom. This time, she was asking him to trust her with his life. His answer was the same as it always was.
“I trust you, Tem.” His hands were shaking as they held her.
You are running out of time, Tem. I can barely feel you in my mind.
“It won’t hurt,” Tem said to Leo, continuing calmly as if everything that was happening wasn’t happening at all. “I promise.”
“I don’t care if it hurts. Just do it.”
The moment he said the words, Caspen knelt beside them, taking Tem’s hand and wrapping it around Leo’s throat. Tem was grateful for his help; she couldn’t have done it alone.
It was the last thing Tem wanted. But she had no choice.
She pulled on the strings of her power, yanking with all her strength and aiming it at Leo. Energy thrummed in her hand. She sent the crest with everything she had left, feeling a bright beam of warmth shoot from her body to Leo’s. His eyes slammed shut as it hit him.
Tem watched his face, recognizing his expression as the one he wore when he finished. She knew exactly how he was feeling right now-knew the utter euphoria the crest was giving him. What she didn’t know was how it would feel for her.
It was different from when she had crested herself. That hadn’t felt sexual, only powerful. This time, she felt an unequivocal sense of arousal, even stronger than anything she had felt for Leo before. It was as if someone were stimulating all the nerve endings in her body. Leo’s face looked suddenly like an angel’s-like every inch of him was made of diamonds. His skin shone in the moonlight, and before Tem knew what she was doing, she was leaning in.
When their lips touched, her whole body opened up to receive him. He was streaming into her, filling her with himself until the pain fell mercifully away and there was only lightness. Dimly, she felt Caspen’s hand on the back of her head. He was holding them together, ensuring she drew as much power as possible from the human prince.
The wound on her shoulder was closing; she could feel the skin seaming back together as her body healed itself. Her bones clicked back into place; her ribs realigned. Clarity returned to her mind, bringing with it the focus she’d been unable to access just moments ago. Pure, unfiltered power shot through her.
Tem pulled away.
When Leo’s eyes opened, he looked at her like she was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. It was the same way he’d always looked at her, she realized.
“What…just happened?” he whispered.
Caspen was still holding them an inch apart.
“You saved me,” Tem whispered back.
Leo smiled. He looked so radiantly happy that Tem couldn’t help but feel happy too. Her gaze moved from his face to Caspen’s. The two men she loved. This was all she needed: both of them, right here, beside her.
Eventually, Tem stood.
Caspen and Leo rose too, standing on either side of her as all three of them looked out over the clearing. The view was nothing short of carnage.
Some humans were killed, while others were crested. Still more were petrified; statue after statue filled the clearing, all cowering in various defensive positions, forever preserved in their final state of fear. The once-pristine grass was strewn with body parts that had been ripped from their sockets. Blood was everywhere. It stained the white tablecloths and dripped in great uneven splatters from white roses. Sobs and screams filled the air.
It was horrible. All of it.
Beside her, Caspen stepped forward. He leaned down, sinking his fists into Bastian’s wet corpse before lifting what was left of his father high above his head. He let out a roar of anger and victory that echoed throughout the clearing with terrifying finality. All other sounds ceased immediately. Both basilisks and humans alike stared up at Caspen, the new Serpent King, wielding his dead father. As soon as everyone’s eyes were on him, Caspen hurled Bastian’s body off the stage. It landed in the middle of the aisle, crumpling into a bloody heap.
And just like that, it was over.
The remaining basilisks bolted for the maze, sprinting into the gaps in the hedges. Some of them wore their true forms, their giant bodies crushing straight through the walls. Caspen lowered his arms, watching them go. He would be merciful today.
Silence fell on the clearing.
Only then did the true cost of the evening become apparent. The grass was littered with bodies-some stone, some flesh, some halfway in between. Anyone who was still alive was huddled by the maze walls, their hands covering their eyes in case a basilisk wearing its true form was still nearby. Tem saw her mother in the distance, clinging to Gabriel. Pure relief passed through her.
“Caspen.” She pointed. “My mother-“
He was already stepping forward. “I shall retrieve her,” he said, touching her jaw gently. “Rest.”
Tem didn’t protest. She watched as he descended the steps, the humans on either side of him cowering as he passed. Lilly followed in his footsteps, extending her hand to the first person she saw.
Tem turned to Leo.
He looked back at her, his face still shining with love. “Tem,” he began slowly. “That was…not how I thought our wedding would go.”
Tem almost laughed. They were standing exactly where they’d gotten married earlier. It was dark now, the clearing lit only by the light of the harvest moon. Nothing was the same.
“Me neither,” she said.
He brushed his fingertips along her shoulder. “Are you in pain?”
She shook her head. Not anymore. “Are you?”
Leo held up his hand. His palm was badly scraped, blood dripping down his wrist.
Tem took it in hers, pressing her own palm over the injury and closing her eyes. She’d never done this for someone else before, but she did it for Leo, using her power to fix the ripped skin, stitching it back together as Caspen had done so many times for her. When she lifted her hand, the wound was healed.
“That’s…quite extraordinary,” Leo whispered.
Tem nodded. It was.
For a moment, they simply looked at each other. Leo was covered in blood, but it was mostly Tem’s. He extended his fingers, reaching for her face. Tem let him touch her, leaning into his warmth, remembering the way his lips had felt during the crest.
“I…have some regrets, you know,” he said quietly.
“About what?”
He cupped her cheek with his palm.
“I’m afraid I wasn’t what you deserved.”
“You didn’t need to be anything for me,” Tem said.
“No, I didn’t, did I? You already had everything you needed.”
He brushed his thumb slowly over her bottom lip, just like he had when he’d told her about Evelyn. Then his fingers went lower, touching the little golden claw between her breasts. Tem remembered how Leo had tried to give her jewelry on their first date-that could be special too, he’d said-how she’d refused to accept it.
Now it was time to give him something in return.
Tem would not doom Leo to a life as her slave. That wasn’t love. True love was doing what was best for the other person at the expense of yourself. True love was sacrificing your happiness for theirs. Leo deserved to be loved the same way Caspen loved Tem-unconditionally and without obligation. Leo deserved more. Their bond was permanent; there was nothing she could do to change that. But Tem would not take his agency away. She would bestow it instead.
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.