Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
“I had to talk to you.”
“You should not have come here alone.”
“I know.”
“It is dangerous for you. I cannot protect you if-” He cut off, his eyes traveling over her with sudden concern. His nostrils flared. “Rowe. I can smell him. Was he here?”
Tem shook her head. If one more thing went wrong tonight, she was going to scream. “Caspen,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about Rowe.”
Caspen pursed his lips. It was obvious he wanted to say something else, but Tem was grateful when he refrained. The weight of the evening hung between them as they studied each other.
Tem chose her question carefully. “How do we move forward?”
Caspen sighed. “That…depends.”
“On?”
“Tem,” he sighed again. “I do not wish to discuss this now.”
But Tem was fed up. She was done letting Caspen decide what they could and could not discuss. He wouldn’t talk about the voice in the castle, he wouldn’t talk about the status of their relationship, he wouldn’t talk about anything of value. It was enough. She refused to live in a state of limbo any longer.
“How do we move forward?” she insisted, her voice sharp.
Caspen’s eyes narrowed. She had never used that tone with him before. “I cannot predict the future, Tem,” he said, his voice equally sharp.
“I’m not asking you to. I’m just asking what you want.”
“You know very well what I want.”
“But I don’t,” she cried. “You never confide in me. You never tell me how you feel. You expect me to read your mind, then you get angry when I can’t do it. You’re the one who won’t let me in. Not the other way around.” Tem was on the verge of tears. She waited a moment before finishing quietly, “You never talk about the future. I…don’t know what I am to you.”
Caspen was looking at her with unrestrained disbelief. She didn’t know if he was shocked by her words or the way she had said them. Either way, it was a long time before he spoke, and when he did, his voice was barely a whisper.
“You are my future. It is as simple as that.”
Now the tears fell.
Because it was not simple. Not at all. Even though it was everything she’d ever wanted to hear from Caspen, Tem had no idea how they were supposed to be together. She didn’t fit in with his people, nor he with hers. A future with Caspen was of no benefit to her mother or the farm. Things had never felt more impossible.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
He shrugged, the motion stilted. “It makes this complicated.”
“Was this not already complicated?”
Caspen shook his head. “It is more so now. You cannot comprehend the difficulty I am in.”
“Then tell me.”
He shook his head again. She’d pushed him too far; he was closing himself off from her. But Tem would not allow that anymore. If they had a future together, she deserved to have a say in it.
“Caspen.” She touched his arm, stepping closer. “Tell me.”
For a long time, Caspen stood motionless. Then he traced his fingertips along her shoulder and down the gold chain until he was touching the little claw between her breasts.
“This is not just a necklace,” he said softly.
“Then what is it?”
Caspen paused, his fingers stroking the charm. “It is…a gesture of intent.”
Tem frowned. “Intent to what?”
His eyes found hers.
“To marry you.”
“Are you saying we’re engaged?”
The room grew suddenly warmer. Tem could hardly breathe.
“No,” Caspen said quickly. “You would need to accept the proposal in order for us to be engaged.”
“Oh,” said Tem, still reeling from this revelation.
Now Rowe’s extreme reaction to the necklace made sense. Surely a basilisk and human pairing was uncommon or even frowned upon.
“Well…” she said slowly, “I accept.”
To Tem’s surprise, Caspen’s face darkened. “You cannot accept.”
“Excuse me?”
“What I mean to say is you cannot accept. My quiver, should they approve the match, would accept on your behalf.”
Tem absorbed this information. It was utterly bizarre; she’d never heard of someone being unable to accept their own proposal. It begged an obvious question: “Will they approve the match?”
“I very much doubt it.”
“Excuse me?” she said again.
“Tem.” He took her hands in his. “It is not personal. Basilisks and humans rarely mate. What we have is unusual, and my quiver will be wary of it.”
Tem was still trying to process the fact that Caspen had proposed to her. She thought back to when he’d given her the necklace; it was the morning after he’d touched her for the very first time. He’d made her come, and she’d done the same for him. Afterward, they’d shared their first meal together. Tem remembered how electrifying their connection had been that night, how exhilarating and significant it had felt to bring each other to orgasm. That night had meant a lot to her. Only now did she realize it had meant even more to Caspen.
There was one last thing Tem needed to know.
“How long have you loved me?”
Caspen held her gaze as he whispered, “Far longer than you have loved me.”
Tem wondered just how long that was.
Was it the moment she’d touched herself in front of him? Or earlier, when she’d first taken off her clothes in the cave? Or earlier still, when he’d visited her in her dreams? Had he known then that he loved her? Had she known too?
Caspen had always been an anomaly to her, a creature far beyond anything Tem could encapsulate with mere words. It shouldn’t surprise her that things had progressed for him in a way she never could have predicted. There was no point in trying to comprehend a basilisk. And yet Tem was not afraid of his declaration. She was not afraid of him. She never had been. Caspen had always treated her as his equal, despite the inequity between them. He was the only one who built her up-who told her constantly that she was enough.
As they looked at each other, something blossomed in Tem’s heart. There was a sincerity to his gesture that she appreciated more than he would ever know. To be told she was someone’s future wasn’t something Tem had ever expected to hear. She thought girls like Vera were the only ones who could catch the eye of a man-that every other girl in the world was worthy of affection but her. Caspen had shown her that wasn’t true. He’d opened her up-in more ways than one-and she would be forever changed because of it.
Caspen wore an expression of obvious caution, no doubt waiting to see how she would react to what he’d just told her. There was no reason to make him wait any longer.
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.