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

by Lindsay Straube

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

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.

“Of course you are not ready. It is impossible to be ready for something you have never done before.”

She clung to him. It felt like her soul had been cracked open. “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.”

He was immovable—an ancient basilisk who wouldn’t be swayed by her or anyone else. As much as she wanted more from him, she wouldn’t get it until he was ready to give it.

“Am I not allowed to protect you?” he murmured. “You are,” she murmured back. “I just didn’t realize you wanted to.” Caspen held her gaze. “Protecting you is only the beginning of what I want to do.”

It felt as if Tem were unleashing a lifetime of trying to fit into a box that was too small for her—two decades worth of trying and failing to find her place in a world that didn’t care who she was and didn’t expect her to be anything more. Her place was here.

“I am weak when it comes to you, Tem. I cannot control my actions. I cannot follow logic or reason. All I think about is you. I wonder what you are doing and who you are doing it with. I obsess over every moment you are with the human prince, and I want to rip his head from his shoulders every time he touches you. It is not rational. It is not acceptable. But it is my reality, and there is nothing I can do about it.”

“Temptation, salvation, heaven, hell—you are everything, Tem. You are my undoing. You are beyond comprehension. There are no sufficient words to describe you, either in my language or yours.” His hands moved to her face, cupping her jaw. “My compass points to you. I could not change direction even if I wanted to.”