Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
“Am I to take that as a compliment?” she asked.
“Certainly not. That dress looks beautiful on you. That’s a compliment.”
“I hardly consider it one.”
Leo’s mouth twisted in a condescending smile. “What could possibly be wrong with it?”
“You complimented the dress. Not me.”
Tem didn’t know where her courage came from. She shouldn’t be talking like this, especially not to the prince. But she was angry-at Leo, at the situation she was in, and perhaps at herself for letting her insecurities impact her so greatly. Whatever she was feeling, it lit a fire in her that was stronger than any whiskey, and she was in no mood for banter.
Leo considered her answer. “Perhaps. But the implication is that the dress is only beautiful because you’re the one wearing it.”
“Implications aren’t compliments.”
Leo frowned. She doubted he was used to being defied.
He stepped closer. Despite downing two whiskeys in the span of a minute, he didn’t seem affected by the alcohol at all. His eyes narrowed. “You already know you’re beautiful, don’t you?”
Tem had only been called beautiful once, by Caspen. And yet his word had made her believe it, so she answered honestly, “Yes.”
“In that case, would you even care to hear it from me?”
Again, she spoke the truth: “No.”
The cruel smile slipped from his face-definitely not used to being defied. “Then I won’t burden you with it.”
“How considerate of you.”
A vein in his temple pulsed. It felt as if their entire conversation had been a battle of wits, and Tem wasn’t sure who had won. This was the person she was supposed to give herself to? How could she be expected to compete for his affections when the way he was looking at her made her feel as if she’d been turned inside out?
“Shall we rejoin the party?” Leo said finally, his voice hard. “You’re the guest of honor after all.”
His timing couldn’t have been better. Tem wanted nothing more than to get out of this room.
Leo gestured stiffly with his hand. Without another word, Tem followed him out, and he walked a step ahead of her all the way back to the ballroom. The moment they arrived, he left her. She watched his lanky frame navigate the crowd with understated authority, his whiskey glass still in his hand. People moved for him, and if they didn’t, a casual wave of his long fingers cleared his path.
In the prince’s absence, Tem knew a moment of peace. Then Vera appeared. Her eyes ran greedily down Tem’s body, not unlike the way Leo had looked at her just minutes before. But instead of sexual attraction, there was nothing but pure jealousy in Vera’s eyes.
“That’s your mother’s dress?”
Tem considered lying, but the truth was so much better. “No,” she said. “Caspen gifted it to me.”
Jealousy turned to utter loathing. “The basilisk gave you that?”
“The Serpent King gave me that.”
Vera stood silently, gaping like a fish. It had taken twenty years, but finally, Tem understood how it felt to have the upper hand. She savored it.
Just then, Gabriel appeared at her elbow, holding a beer. “Piss off, Vera,” he said cheerfully.
Vera’s face contorted into a sneer. She and Gabriel had never gotten along-possibly because he was friends with Tem, possibly because he always somehow ended up kissing the boys Vera liked. Either way, they hated each other.
“There’s no need to be rude,” she hissed.
“I know there’s no need. I’m rude because I want to be.”
Vera didn’t bother with a retort before flouncing haughtily away. Gabriel handed Tem his beer. She sipped it gratefully, using it to wash away the taste of the whiskey.
“Can’t stay long,” he said. “The kitchen is chaos tonight.”
“Thanks for sneaking away.”
“Of course.” He tilted an eyebrow at her. “So? Have you met him yet?”
There was no need to ask who he was referring to.
“Just did.”
“And?”
Tem sighed, avoiding his eyes. “I don’t know, Gabriel. It was…strange. I couldn’t really tell what he was thinking.”
He was thinking he wanted to fuck you.
Tem nearly jumped out of her skin at Caspen’s voice, which was so crystal clear, it sounded as if he were standing right next to her. He chose now to return to her mind? Tem tried to send a question back to him-to ask him if he was still angry about the skull-but it was like throwing water at a wall. There was a barrier between them that it seemed only he could bypass. Tem felt a slight twinge of annoyance.
Gabriel was speaking, but she hadn’t heard it.
“What?” she asked.
“I said, he was probably thinking how diabolically good you look in that dress.”
Even though it was just Gabriel, Tem blushed.
Before she could come up with an appropriate answer, the energy in the ballroom changed. When a moment ago there had been raucous chatter, now a sudden hush fell as movement broke out at the far end of the room.
“What’s happening?” Tem whispered.
“The first elimination,” Gabriel whispered back.
But that was impossible. It was far too soon-the first elimination wasn’t supposed to happen for another week, after the prince had a chance to kiss each girl.
“Are you sure?”
“Everyone in the kitchen was talking about it. He’ll be cutting two girls tonight.”
“Two? Based on what? He hasn’t gotten to know any of us yet.”
“Looks, I suppose.”
“And you’re just telling me this now?”
“Vera distracted me! The girl is a terror. Anyway, I figured you knew already.”
But Tem hadn’t known. And she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. There was supposed to be a proper order to the training process-one that shouldn’t involve surprise eliminations. It wasn’t fair. Then again, none of it was really fair. Lilly’s words ran unbidden through her mind: I have a feeling he won’t be able to resist you.
Tem glanced down at the dress Caspen had given her, remembering the way the prince had looked at it with hunger in his eyes. Would it be enough? Or had she insulted him by not accepting his compliment? He’d abandoned her the moment they’d returned to the ballroom-did that mean he wasn’t interested in her? Their conversation in the study had been unconventional from start to finish and had ended on decidedly less-than-friendly terms. Tem had no idea where they stood.
Tem had gone her entire life without men liking her based on her looks. Why should the prince be any different? She’d probably be the first girl to go. But if she was eliminated tonight, her mother would never forgive her. Even worse, she’d never see Caspen again. She would have no excuse to go into the caves, no reason to see him. Without Caspen, Tem would probably die a virgin.