Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
Tem entered slowly, her eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness. With a snap of his fingers, Caspen lit a torch, and suddenly she could see the room they had entered.
It was massive.
There was an enormous bed against the far wall, covered in deep maroon sheets and silk pillows. The mattress was set directly into the stone, with a small set of steps leading up to it. A full-length gilded mirror was propped in the corner, and Tem stared at her reflection as Caspen snapped his fingers once more, filling a fireplace with flickering light. It was warm here-just like the tunnel. The stone floor was smooth and adorned with rich rugs.
“Is it what you expected?” Caspen asked, his eyes on her.
“I’m…not sure,” Tem answered honestly. She hadn’t expected anything, really. “It’s more…human…than I thought.”
“That is because when I dwell here, I wear my human form.”
“Where do you dwell when you wear your true form?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Elsewhere.”
It was clear she wouldn’t get a more specific answer from him. She wasn’t sure she even wanted one. It was a deeply intimate thing to show someone where you slept. Tem was already grateful to be here, and she didn’t want to give him any reason to kick her out.
“Thank you for having me,” she said quietly. “I know it’s an imposition.”
Caspen crossed his arms, the muscles in his bare shoulders rotating under his skin. “You are not an imposition.”
It was all he said, yet somehow it put her at ease. Caspen was looking at her calmly, and she knew he wouldn’t lie about something like that. She wasn’t even sure he could lie. Legend said that basilisks burst into flames if they spoke anything other than the truth.
“What is on your mind, Tem?”
She blinked, startled at the question. It was significant that he had asked. They both knew he could easily explore her thoughts himself. But he seemed to be treading carefully in light of what had just happened.
“I was wondering if the stories were true.”
“Which stories?”
“The ones about basilisks.”
“That depends,” Caspen said, tilting his head. “There are many stories about us.”
Tem nodded, trying to muster the courage to ask what was on her mind. “Do you really burst into flames when you tell a lie?”
To her surprise, Caspen threw his head back in laughter. Tem had never seen him laugh like that before, and she couldn’t believe she had caused it.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, suddenly self-conscious.
Caspen smiled. “Your question,” he replied. “It is not what I expected. And to answer it, no, I would not burst into flames. But lying is…uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable?”
“Yes. It requires effort, and our bodies reject it.”
Tem nodded. So there was some truth to the legends after all.
Caspen’s mouth tilted in an amused smile. “Is there anything else you wish to ask me?”
Tem considered the question. There were plenty of things she’d always wanted to ask him, but now that she had the opportunity to do so, she couldn’t remember any of them. There was only one pressing matter she could think of.
“Why do you have a mirror?”
Caspen arched an eyebrow. “To check if I have anything in my teeth.”
It took Tem a good long moment to realize he was making a joke. “Oh,” she said. “Right.”
She had no idea how to react to his humor. Caspen was watching her with such obvious amusement, she couldn’t help but blush.
“You are wondering how I can look in a mirror without dying,” he said before she could figure out how to recover.
“Well…yes.”
“The same way I can look at you now without killing you. My gaze is not lethal when I wear my human form.”
Tem frowned. “But that means you can…” She trailed off. She was going to say that if it was true he could look in mirrors when wearing his human form, it meant he could bypass the mirrored wall that surrounded the village.
“What is it that I can do, Tem?” he asked softly.
But there was no point in saying it. If the basilisks were going to invade the village, they would have done so long ago. The fact that they hadn’t meant they knew the wall was useless and chose to remain outside it anyway. Tem couldn’t imagine why.
So she shook her head. “Never mind.”
Caspen watched her thoughtfully, as if he didn’t quite believe her. “If you think of anything else, do not hesitate.”
Tem never expected to get such an open invitation from him. She nodded, and he nodded too. Then he said, “Would you like a drink?”
She blinked in surprise. “What kind of drink?”
“Anything you wish.”
Tem couldn’t have named a single drink if she’d tried. The evening had already been so overwhelming, it felt as if her brain had been squeezed through a sieve.
“I’ll have whatever you have,” she said finally.
He nodded. “I shall return in a moment.”
In his absence, Tem sat tentatively on the end of the bed.
She wondered whether anything like this had ever happened to the other girls. Had Vera seen her basilisk’s chambers? Or was this a habit specific to Caspen-something the Serpent King did with everyone he taught? Up until now, her interactions with him had been strictly surface level. Even when they were connected with their minds, they didn’t discuss anything of true significance. Now they were spending time together in a different way: talking and getting to know each other, as if they were dating.
Tem stifled the thought. They were not dating, and the basilisk was not her boyfriend. He was a fearsome creature-one who was her mentor and her teacher, training her for a role. He could not possibly care about an ordinary girl like her. Not to mention that their last conversation had consisted of Tem telling him to remove the claw so she could undress in front of Leo. Caspen was probably furious with her.
And yet.
He had healed her. He had taken her into his private chambers, and he had protected her. Those were not the actions of someone who didn’t care. He could have sent her away when she showed up with her ripped dress. Instead, he chose to comfort her. Surely that meant something. Tem stared at the fireplace, losing herself in the flames. She knew what she hoped would happen tonight.
But would it?
Sometime later, Caspen returned with a bottle of dark liquid. Tem thought it might be wine, and when he poured her a glass, she knew from the smell that she was right. Caspen sat next to her on the bed before pouring himself a glass too, and they drank together in silence. The wine was sweet and made Tem feel even warmer than she already was. Sitting and drinking with Caspen reminded Tem of the meals they had shared, and another question occurred to her. She remembered he had encouraged her to ask.
So she said, “What do you eat when you wear your true form?”
Caspen was unperturbed by the query, answering easily, “Many different things. Fish if I feel like swimming. Small game if I feel like hunting. It depends on my desires.”
She nodded, processing the information. For all their proximity to the basilisks, nobody seemed to know anything specific about them, and Tem found it fascinating to finally learn some of the things she had always wondered about. Now that she had started, she couldn’t resist asking more.
“What does it feel like when you transition? Is it like putting on different clothes?”
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.