Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
“No,” she whispered, the word a pebble in a pond.
Caspen smiled fully, baring his teeth. “That is good,” he said. “It means there are no bad habits to unlearn.”
Tem nodded, although she didn’t quite believe him. She couldn’t imagine it was better to have no experience at all. And yet basilisks couldn’t lie-they were fundamentally incapable of it. At least that was what all the legends said. So he must be telling the truth, and if he was telling the truth, it meant Tem was better off than Vera. The thought cheered her immensely.
“Is that what we’re doing tonight?” she asked with sudden courage. “Kissing?”
“No.” Caspen shook his head. “I will not touch you tonight.”
“Oh.”
He seemed to sense her surprise, because he continued. “Before we touch, I need to see you.”
She frowned. “You’re seeing me right now.”
He smiled. “Not all of you.”
Anticipation curled in her stomach. She remembered the dream, the warm darkness surrounding her. She remembered the feel of breath against her bare skin. She wondered if somehow, it was Caspen’s breath she had felt, if the dream was foreshadowing this.
He stepped back, splaying his hands palm up. “Please. Whenever you are ready.”
Tem’s heart leaped in her chest. She remembered that basilisks could smell fear, and she didn’t want Caspen to think she was afraid. And yet she hesitated. She’d never disrobed before anyone, certainly not a man. She was only ever naked at home, when she bathed or when she touched herself. And even then, she avoided looking at herself in a mirror. There was nothing natural about this to her-she didn’t know how to show herself to someone else. Not even the dream could have prepared her for this.
At her hesitation, Caspen clasped his hands together.
“All journeys begin with a step, Tem.”
She still didn’t move. Her mother’s voice was beating through her brain: You will do as he says and try to learn something.
But Tem wasn’t accustomed to following orders. It went against every instinct in her body-it violated everything about who she was as a person. She couldn’t just blindly obey him. She wasn’t built that way. She never had been. So she said, “You first.”
Caspen’s eyebrows shot up, then darted immediately together. At his reaction, a sharp knife of anxiety stabbed Tem’s chest.
Do not offend him, or else he may not allow you to come back.
Her heart dropped to her feet. What if she had just offended him? What if he hurt her? Or worse-what if he transformed into his true form, looked her straight in her eyes, and killed her? She would apologize. She would get on her knees and beg for forgiveness. She would disrobe and let him look as long as he liked.
Before she could do any of those things, Caspen said, “As you wish.”
Now Tem was surprised. She had no idea whether anyone had requested this of him before. But there was no taking it back, and she didn’t want to anyway.
Caspen stepped closer, stopping only when he was a few feet away. He was so much taller than her; she had to crane her neck to meet his eye.
He looked down at her calmly, as if this entire process was of no concern to him. And she supposed it wasn’t. He’d seen dozens of girls before her and would see hundreds after. This was a duty for him-nothing more.
For Tem, it was everything.
Caspen removed his shirt slowly, grasping the bottom and pulling it up over his head in an impossibly smooth motion. Half of him was still clothed, yet Tem could barely handle what she was already seeing. His body was unreasonably fit, his torso corded with hard muscle. His trousers were slung low enough to reveal the sharp angles of his lower abs, which pointed downward like two arrows. Tem felt her entire face flush at the sight, accompanied by a wild urge to pull his trousers down herself. But Caspen’s hands were already untying them, and before Tem could take another breath, they dropped to the ground.
Caspen’s cock was nothing like the ones on the marble statues leading up to the church.
His was unfathomably long and straight as an arrow. He wasn’t even hard yet, and Tem was already wondering how the hell it was going to fit inside her. She’d never taken anything that big. She wasn’t even sure it was possible. It was the perfect extension of him-exactly as formidable and beautiful as he was. Tem stared at it in awe.
Suddenly she understood his reputation as the Serpent King. Everything she’d ever heard about Caspen made sense now that she was seeing this final part of him. The way the villagers spoke of him in hushed tones, the way his girls were always chosen by the prince-all of it justified by what was between his legs. Why should he submit to anyone when he was superior in this most fundamental way? Why cede his power when his was so much greater?
Tem was overwhelmed by the sight of him. She wanted to feel him inside her. She wondered if he wanted that too. Immediately, she banished the thought. She wasn’t the first girl he’d had in his cave. And yet somehow, it felt like this was just for Tem.
Caspen let her look, watching her reaction with the slightest trace of warranted arrogance on his face. Eventually, he whispered, “Now you.”
It was only fair.
Somehow, her nerves had abated now that he was naked. Seeing Caspen vulnerable made Tem feel brave, and she knew she was ready for what came next. With steady hands, she unlaced her dress and let it fall to the ground so she was standing in her underclothing.
Caspen’s eyes didn’t leave hers as he said, “And the rest.”
Tem pulled off her underclothing.
The warm air of the cave caressed her skin, enveloping her in a breathless wave. It was impossible not to think about the fact that she was naked. But before she could dwell on it, Caspen circled her silently, looking her up and down. She looked at him too, observing the way he walked with undeniable control, his steps smooth against the roughness of the cave floor. She saw the way he observed her clinically, without emotion. Tem realized that while this was very new to her, this was absolutely nothing new for him. He had done this many times before. She was nothing but a number to him-he wasn’t looking at anything he hadn’t already seen.
Finally, Caspen stopped in front of her. He studied her eyes, her cheeks, her hair. Eventually his gaze slid down her neck to her collarbones, passing over her breasts, and landing on her stomach. He extended his hand, the tips of his fingers mere inches from her skin. But he didn’t touch her. Instead, she felt a sudden warmth below her belly button, and the firelight dimmed.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I am checking to see if you are fertile,” he said without making eye contact.
“And? Am I?”
Caspen’s eyes flicked up to hers. “Patience is a virtue, Tem.” He said it like a reprimand.
Tem sighed. “So I’ve been told.”
His gaze returned to her stomach. Tem resisted the urge to tap her foot as she waited, patiently, for the examination to yield a result. She should have expected something like this. Sex and fertility were intertwined with the basilisk’s influence. It was rumored that they drew power from it-that their ability to seduce humans was intrinsic to their nature. It was the reason they were tasked with training the prince’s future wife: they were the only creatures who could be trusted to mold girls into women.
After what felt like an eternity, Caspen said, “You are fertile.”
Tem didn’t know how to feel about the announcement. Part of her wished she weren’t-it would have meant she was out of the running for the prince. But if that were the case for Tem, she wouldn’t achieve what she had come here to achieve. She would never be kissed, never be fucked. And that wouldn’t do at all.
Caspen was speaking again.
“You will need to gain weight,” he said. “The prince requested a fuller girl.”
“I can’t,” Tem said without thinking.
Caspen’s eyes narrowed. “And why not?”
She hung her head. “We…don’t have much food at home. I have no way to eat more.”
They had no shortage of eggs. But other food was scarce, and their social status as chicken farmers had long since distanced them from the kindness of their neighbors.
“Then you will eat while you are here,” Caspen said. “I will feed you after our sessions, starting tomorrow.”
Tem nodded, still staring at the ground.
“And do not cut your hair,” he continued. “The prince likes it long.”
Tem’s hair currently fell just below her shoulders, although it was longer when it was wet, before her curls set in.
“Lift your chin,” Caspen commanded.
She did so.