Kiss of the Basilisk (Split or Swallow, #1)

by Lindsay Straube

This book is for anyone who has ever wanted more.

“It doesn’t hurt to have an advantage. After all, the prince is going to pick the most skillful girl. I intend to get as much practice as possible.”

Tem had always known she wouldn’t have a chance with the prince, regardless of what the basilisk taught her. The prince was far more likely to choose an experienced girl like Vera to be his wife.

In exchange for the territory outside the wall, the basilisks agreed to use their seductive talents to train the prince’s future wife to ensure she would bear him an heir. A tentative truce was formed, and the two groups had lived in relative peace ever since.

Those three girls would sleep with the

prince, showing off everything they’d learned during the training. The prince would choose his wife after that.

“You hold the stars in your hands,” her mother had always said, rubbing Tem’s fingers between hers. “Just like your father.”

“Leather?” Tem said. “Really? You said you weren’t trying to take someone home tonight.”

“I’m always trying to take someone home.”

“Can you smell that, Tem?”

“That is the smell of your virginity disappearing into the wind.”

“You seriously can’t go two weeks without kissing a stable boy?” Tem said. Gabriel laughed. “I could. But why would I want to?”

“True love waits for no one,” Tem said bitterly. Gabriel snorted. “That’s not true love. That’s an unplanned pregnancy waiting to happen.”

The prince was twenty years old, just like Tem. Only girls born in the same year as the prince were eligible for the training.

When she finally slept, she dreamed of fire. It didn’t burn her. Rather, it warmed her gently, from the tips of her toes to the base of her skull. The fire felt familiar somehow, as if it were sent by someone she had known a long time ago. Flames licked her fingers, her palms, her arms. A single breath brushed her cheek. Then it was over.

“It will be…transformative. You will take the first step to becoming a woman.” “I thought I was one already.” “Not nearly, my dear. You have barely begun to live. You cannot possibly fathom the journey you are about to embark on.”

Be brave, child.”

“You have come here to learn,”

“At the end of the training, the prince will select one of you as his wife.”

“It is our job to prepare you for that honor.”

“What is your name?”

“Temperance,” she managed to whisper. “But I go by Tem.”

“My name is Caspenon. But I go by Caspen.”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“Then what are you afraid of?”

“Failing.”

If what he said was true, it meant that Caspen was the Serpent King: the legendary basilisk whose power was far superior to all the others. His reputation was exemplary in the village; people talked about him like he was a god. Tem had the most coveted teacher.

“Tell me, Tem. Have you ever been kissed?”

“No,” she whispered, the word a pebble in a pond.

“That is good,” he said. “It means there are no bad habits to unlearn.”

And yet basilisks couldn’t lie—they were fundamentally incapable of it.

For the first time, she experienced what it was like to influence a man. Caspen’s arousal was undeniable—he grew harder the longer he looked at her, and she felt a surge of pride at being the one who caused it, along with an intense curiosity she could barely suppress.

between a liquid and a solid, thick and shiny, a handful of liquified pearls. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered. “Then it is like you.”

“Like I said, it will connect us. I can make it…pulse.” “Pulse?” He smiled, and she melted. “When it pulses, you will know I am thinking of you.”

“Will you think of me?” Tem whispered.

“I told you I would.” “I know. I just…”

“I wanted to hear it again.”

Instead, an aching pulse shot suddenly between her legs.

“You’re so…” Tem could barely get the words out. “…good at this.” Caspen let out a small laugh. “As I should be.” “Will it feel like this with the prince?” Maybe she was imagining it, but she swore Caspen frowned.

“Teach me how to touch you.” The words were not a question, and at them, Caspen’s expression shifted from something like mild curiosity to…pride.

His approval was undeniable; he was looking at her like he wanted to devour her, like she was the single most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. A moment later, the look was gone.

“Fuck me, Caspen,” she breathed. “Not tonight, Tem,” he said against her lips.

They stared at each other for a long moment. His next words were barely a whisper. “You are not meant to be tamed, Tem.”

“I hate that you have this much power over me.” To her surprise, he laughed. “What’s so funny?”

His grin only widened. “Of the two of us, I am not the one with the power, Tem.”

“Tem.” He cupped her chin in his palm, pulling her gaze up to his. “You can do anything. Of that I am certain.”

Tem watched in horror as his body began to change before her eyes—his torso elongating, his shoulders expanding. Too late, Tem understood what was happening. Caspen was transitioning into his true form.

She knew now what she had suspected then: it was Caspen in the dream—he had drawn her to him like a moth to a flame.

She arched her back, wanting him to see that she would do anything—withstand anything—for him. His next words filled the cave, penetrating every inch of the air: I could eat you alive. “I could let you.”

“I mean what were you thinking? I could have killed you.” “But you didn’t.”