Filed To Story: Between Two Kings: A Split or Swallow Book PDF Free
The silence grew heavy.
“Tem,” he said slowly. “Has he ever hurt you?”
She thought of the time when Caspen nearly bit through her lip. It was one of many incidents. But Leo wasn’t privy to that information. She didn’t owe him any details of her experience with Caspen. “If he has, it’s none of your business.”
Devastation darkened Leo’s face. “You’re my fucking business, Tem.”
“No. I’m not. Not anymore.”
Leo stepped closer. “When did he hurt you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does.”
“No it doesn’t, Leo. It’s different for us.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we-” But she cut herself off.
“What does that mean, Tem?”
Tem didn’t want to answer. But she did so anyway. “It means he can heal me.”
“He can heal you,” Leo repeated blankly.
“Yes. So it’s different for us.” Tem had healed Leo once, on their wedding day. He’d called it extraordinary.
“So…he hurts you because he can heal you?”
By the way he asked it, Tem suspected he already knew. Still, she whispered, “Yes.”
Leo’s face went completely white.
Tem let the silence sit, waiting for him to speak.
“That’s despicable,” he said finally.
“On whose part?”
Leo’s eyes flashed. “His.”
“Are you sure?” Tem was pushing him, and she knew it.
“It is despicable on his part, and his alone.”
But Leo was missing the point. Tem was half-basilisk. She wanted it just as much as Caspen did. She liked it when he smacked her ass too hard, leaving a welt. She liked it when his teeth left bruises on her neck. All basilisks did. She thought of when she’d slapped Apollo, and he’d opted not to heal the mark.
I’d rather have a reminder of you.
“Even if I’m fine with it? Even if it was my idea?”
“If it was your idea, he planted it in your brain.”
“His power doesn’t work like that.”
“Doesn’t it? You told me yourself that he can infiltrate minds.”
“Infiltrate them. Not influence them.”
“Is there a difference? Because I don’t see one.”
“That’s not what he does. He-“
“He’s a snake!” Leo yelled.
Tem fell silent.
Leo leaned in, his voice dropping to a strained growl. “He may wear a human form but make no mistake, Tem. He is a monster. You have no idea what he would or wouldn’t do.”
Tem stared up at him, shocked at the fury in his tone.
“This is not your concern, Leo.”
“You do not get to tell me where my concerns lie.”
She could feel the warmth of his body. Her basilisk side was fully awake, hungry, reaching for him. Tem couldn’t suppress it forever. “And you do not get to be angry that he hurts me when you hurt me too.”
Leo froze.
“Your only concern,” Tem whispered, “should be your wife.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You were once my wife.”
This was dangerous territory. Tem had to steer them out of it. “Not anymore.”
He was still holding the end of her curl. Now he dropped it, touching his fingers to her waist instead. The heat of his skin radiated through the thin fabric of her dress.
Tem didn’t move. She could only stand there, helpless, as Leo brushed his fingers slowly across her ribs and up between her breasts. He tugged gently at the front of her dress, deepening the V and exposing her cleavage.
They stared at each other.
Slowly, as if daring either herself or Leo to stop her, Tem raised her hands and brushed her hair away from her shoulders. Leo sucked in a tight breath, his eyes dipping immediately to her breasts. There was no sound except the crackling of the fireplace. A glance between his legs told her that his cock was hard, straining against his trousers. How easy it would be to touch it-to take it in her palm and squeeze.
Her nipples hardened at the thought. She knew Leo could see them.
Tem should turn away-she should adjust her hair and cover herself. But she did neither of those things. She wanted Leo to see her-wanted him to know exactly what was waiting for him beneath her dress. Tem was starved for his touch. The crest was pulling them together, forcing them to face what neither of them dared to voice out loud. It wasn’t over for them. It never would be.
“Tem,” Leo whispered, her name barely a breath.
Everything seemed to shrink-the walls contracted, as did the space between them, Tem’s will to resist. There would be nothing left of her if she stayed in this room for one more second.
Leo stepped closer.
Tem stared at his shoulders, his chest, his hands. She saw the sharp bones of his fingers, the deft angle of his thumbs. She wanted those hands on her.
Another step.
He was far, far too close.