Filed To Story: Spit or Swallow: Kiss Of The Basilisk
The crowd of basilisks had grown. Tem wasn’t surprised; this was the grand finale after all. This final hour would determine whether everything had been worth it-whether Tem was worth it.
Caspen rolled on top of her. Tem knew it was his way of protecting her from himself. This way, her body was covered-she was no longer on display, and Caspen could control the pace. Tem heard just a singular thought in his mind, desperate and deliberate:
Keep her safe.
He clung to it like a life raft, syncing his thrusts to its rhythm, chanting it again and again and again. It was a temporary solution; nothing could prevent what was coming. Caspen was pressing her into the mattress; his skin was burning her alive. Despite being soaking wet, Tem felt as if she were straining to take his cock-as if he were growing inside her. He no longer felt the way he always felt. He felt harder. Tem remembered the first time she’d stroked him in the cave, how her hand had bled.
Keep her safe. Keep her safe. Keep her safe.
Even his presence in her mind was shifting, changing from something that felt human to something completely foreign to Tem-something animalistic and feral. It gnawed at the edges of her brain, clouding her vision and consuming her consciousness with its insatiable hunger, crushing her-smothering her.
Caspen’s cock was hard and unyielding and ridged, changing into something that was far too big for Tem’s body. It was stretching her-forcing her legs open beyond the point of comfort, far beyond what Tem’s hips could accommodate naturally. Blood joined her wetness.
The fine line between pain and pleasure blurred until it was nonexistent, both sensations twining together in her body and her mind in an indistinguishable thread.
Keep her safe.
But Tem was fading. It had been too long a day; she had been through too much. Hours of sex had left her exhausted, and she was becoming a mere shell of herself.
Keep. Her. Safe.
Her body strained to take him, but it was impossible. Caspen was ripping her apart-breaking her, just like Rowe hoped. Every time he pulled away, each ridge of his cock shredded her on its way out before he pushed back in again. Her blood was everywhere. Tem shut her eyes against the wave of panic gripping her like a vise.
Then, with a horrible crack, Tem felt her pelvis break.
Pain slammed into her so sharply that she screamed.
At the sound of her scream, Caspen came with a feral roar-one that shattered her eardrums and cracked the stone walls of the suite. He released such a powerful wave of energy that the basilisks surrounding them knelt in unison, bowing their heads immediately to the floor.
The last thing Tem saw before she blacked out was Bastian walking toward them once more.
***
Caspen’s presence returned slowly to her mind, trickling into her skull like water. She barely heard the first time he whispered her name:
Tem.
It was only when he spoke again that his voice became clearer:
Please, Tem. Come back to me.
Tem opened her eyes.
She looked up at Caspen’s dark, concerned face. The only thing she knew was pain.
“Just take it away,” she begged, the words barely a whisper. “Caspen. Please.”
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Tem felt the pain subside, and she gasped in relief. It ebbed steadily away as her body stitched itself back together. Nothing had ever felt so good in her entire life. Relief washed over her as the pain in her pelvis retreated and her hip bones realigned.
Tem tried to sit up, but Caspen immediately held her down.
“Lie still,” he said, his voice tight with fear.
Tem allowed her head to fall back on the mattress. They were still in the suite, still surrounded by basilisks. A glimmer of starlight touched her face.
It was midnight.
Caspen gathered her in his arms, lifting her. Nobody stopped them.
Caspen carried her like that through the tunnels, all the way back to his chambers. When he laid her gently on his bed, she saw blood on his legs, and she knew it was hers.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice hoarse.
He shook his head. “When will you learn that you have nothing to be sorry for? I am sorry.”
Tem could only nod.
Caspen disappeared for a moment before returning with a clean linen. He pulled her legs open gently and began wiping the blood from her thighs. Tem watched him as he did it, and despite her exhaustion, she was struck by his tenderness. The linen was warm and soft. He cleaned every part of her, and when he was done, he ran the towel over his own legs, removing the last traces of the ritual.
Then he looked down at her. “Can I get you anything, Tem?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“I just want you.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. He climbed into bed beside her, pulling her into his arms. “You have me.”
In response, she kissed him, and for a while, that was all they did. But eventually, Tem wrapped her legs around him. She traced her fingers gently down his cock, coaxing it between her thighs.
“Tem,” Caspen murmured. “It is over. You should sleep.”
But she shook her head. “Please.”
Caspen sighed. “I cannot say no to you, Tem.”
“Then don’t.”
They had sex once more. Just the two of them, alone, with nobody watching. They fucked slowly, with no agenda or deadline. Several times, they stopped just to kiss before starting up again. Caspen brushed his lips softly over every inch of Tem’s skin, pressing kisses to her neck, her wrists, her collarbones. He kissed each of her fingertips one by one, then he kissed the freckles on the palms of her hands. He had already healed her injuries, but it felt as if he was healing her all over again, the cooling pulse of his magic blooming wherever his skin touched hers.
Tem didn’t think she could climax again. Yet somehow, with Caspen thrusting slowly between her legs, she felt herself building toward it once more.
“Caspen,” she whispered.
“Tem,” he whispered back.
She came. A moment later, so did Caspen. She fell asleep while he was still inside her.
Tem awoke in a fog.
Her mind was tired, her body more so. It was as if she had been trampled by a carriage. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Caspen was already awake, watching her.
“Tem.” His voice was low and hopeful. “How do you feel?”
Tem groaned in response. She was sore everywhere-her back ached; her hips hurt. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was.
Then she remembered.
The events of the previous night rushed over her in a relentless wave, threatening to overwhelm her. She remembered the auditorium, the altar, the king’s body beneath hers. She remembered every single time Caspen had entered her in the public suite and how by the end of it, she was nearly split in half.
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.