Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
“I don’t need to fuck you,” she said softly, her lips grazing his throat. “I don’t even need to take my clothes off. You want me so badly, you’d marry me just for the chance to see me naked. Am I wrong?”
Tem didn’t know where her courage came from. She was risking everything on this-her place in the competition, her mother’s reputation, her reputation. She was banking on Leo’s predictability, assuming that what his sister had carelessly said about him in the bathroom was not only completely true but a surefire indicator of his future behavior. It was the biggest gamble she’d ever taken, and if she was wrong, it would cost her everything.
A vein was twitching in Leo’s neck. Tem wanted to lick it.
Instead, she waited. When he finally spoke, his voice was a raw groan.
“You’re never wrong, Tem.” His eyes were hooded, the greed in them unmistakable. “I hate that about you.”
His lips were on hers before her heart could take another beat.
Leo’s hands grabbed her waist, nearly lifting her off the floor as his body curled down to intertwine with hers. She could taste every ounce of whiskey he’d consumed-along with something sweet, like honey.
They didn’t bother going slow.
His tongue was in her mouth; her chest was pressed against his. Tem matched Leo’s energy, giving him exactly what he was giving her, kissing him as hard as she wanted with no regard for consequences. It was liberating to be with him here-completely alone-where no one could see what they were doing. Tem felt irrefutably free, like she was flying over open water. She wondered if Leo felt the same.
When she ran her tongue over his gold teeth, she felt him smile.
“Do you like those?” he murmured against her lips.
“No,” she murmured back.
“Liar.”
Leo bit her bottom lip, pulling it toward him-not enough to cause her pain, just enough to make her want to bite him back. So she did.
The next thing Tem knew, her spine was slammed against the door. Leo’s hands, which until now had been wrapped around her waist, were hiking her dress up to her hips. His cock was hard between her legs, the fabric of his trousers the only barrier between them. Tem imagined for a moment what it would be like to rip that last barrier away. She knew it was exactly what Leo wanted. But she also knew he had just seen Vera-and seven other girls-naked. He’d gotten enough of what he wanted tonight. Tem wasn’t about to give him any more.
She gave him a sharp shove backward, breaking them apart.
“I’m still not taking my clothes off for you,” she said.
Leo leaned in so his arms formed a cage around her head. “You assume I wouldn’t fuck you with your clothes on.”
Tem rolled her eyes. “Don’t push it. You should be happy I let you kiss me.”
He raised his hands in mock surrender. “I am.” He lowered them slowly, and the smirk faded. “I am very happy.”
There was a pause, and Tem wondered if she was happy too.
For a minute, they simply looked at each other. In the silence, Tem allowed herself to truly see Leo. He was breathing hard, just like she was. His hair was a mess of chaotic spikes, and his lipstick-smeared shirt was surely ruined. He looked perfectly, incandescently human. In that moment, despite herself, Tem felt her heart bend in his direction.
“You never turned the hourglass,” she whispered.
Leo smiled. “You’re right.”
He crossed to the table and flipped the hourglass on its head. Tem watched as the sparkling gold flakes began to fall. When Leo returned to her, he kissed her again. It was a proper kiss this time-one that built slowly, warming Tem from the inside out. His tongue traced along hers as his arms pulled her closer with unprecedented tenderness. He held her as if she were something precious to him-something sacred.
In the sanctuary of his embrace, Tem forgot about the evening. She forgot about Vera, about Caspen, about the voice in the castle. There was only this kiss, right now, with Leo. When they finally pulled apart, the hourglass had long since run out.
“So,” Tem whispered, her lips still an inch from his. “Will you keep me around?”
Leo smiled, his gold teeth flashing in the dim light. “For as long as you’ll let me.”
Tem went straight to bed without washing up.
She told herself it was because she was tired, but she knew in her heart it was because she didn’t want to wash Leo’s scent off. His cologne lingered in her hair, on her dress, on her hands. It reminded her of the way his body had felt when it was pressed against hers-how he’d hiked up her dress and touched her. Tem pictured those long fingers of his, imagining what else they could do. She fell asleep thinking about Leo.
She woke up thinking about Caspen.
It was her first day without the claw, and Tem felt its absence the moment she opened her eyes. She touched her clitoris tentatively, missing the way it used to cradle her.
“Tem, dear?” Her mother knocked on her door. “Are you awake? They expect us at the square.”
It was then that Tem remembered what day it was.
Every autumn, the village celebrated the anniversary of their victory in the war with a weeklong festival honoring the royals. It was a time of reverence and gratitude, culminating in an extravagant celebration in the town square. Tem and her mother always provided rooster feathers to symbolize the defeat of the basilisks. This year, the festival was even more important: it was rumored that a special ceremony would occur.
The Passing of the Crown was a long-standing tradition in the royal family. Whenever a prince was about to take a wife, the king would pass him his crown. It wasn’t an official transfer of power-that would occur at the wedding. Rather, it was a way for the current king to acknowledge the future king’s potential. The gesture represented a father’s faith in his son’s ability to rule. It was an extremely important event and a way for Maximus to give Leo his blessing.
Tem rolled onto her back, closing her eyes.
Do not trust the king.
She still had no idea where the voice had come from. But she knew it was somewhere in the castle, and Tem vowed that the next time she was there, she would find it.
Tem joined her mother in the chicken coop to gather feathers for the festival. When they arrived at the town square, it was packed with people. Tem immediately found Gabriel and joined him in hanging golden flags from the eaves of the shops surrounding the square.
The day passed in a series of menial tasks.
Tem alternated between thinking about Leo and thinking about Caspen. She wondered if either of them was thinking about her. Her attempts to contact Caspen had been fruitless; the wall between them remained firmly in place, and every time Tem tried to send a thought down the corridor in her mind, it was met with resistance. Eventually, she stopped trying.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Gabriel prompted. They were hanging flags outside the butcher shop.
“I’m thinking.”
“About?”
Tem sighed. “Last night.”
She told Gabriel everything that had happened at the castle, leaving out only her conversation with Caspen and the disembodied voice. He asked her to describe her sixty seconds with Leo in excruciating detail, giggling with unrestrained glee at everything that occurred behind the closed door.
“So?” he asked when she’d finished.
“So what?”
“So who’s a better kisser? The snake or the prince? Come on, Tem. You can tell me.”
“I am not answering that.”
“I’ll bet it’s the prince,” Gabriel continued as if she hadn’t said anything. “He seems like he’s got something to prove. Guys with something to prove are always better in bed. It’s like they’re grateful to be there or somethi-“
“If you say one more word, I’m telling Henry what you did with Peter.”
Gabriel’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I would.”
Gabriel placed his hand over his heart in mock hurt. “Sex has changed you, Tem. You’re not the woman I used to know.”
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.