Entranced by the Basilisks (Monstrous Matches, #3)

by Lillian Lark

“Well, that’s your first problem. It’s not a curse. It’s a blessing from the Goddess.” “Uh, what?” I blink. “She’s bestowed powers to you that have been unheard of for decades.”

Family is family wherever you go, but you only have one life and that’s for happiness and adventure,

“Just know, Emilia, you have nothing to fear between us. We will do whatever it is you want to do. I will not push you. You and Jasper are under my protection, and I take my responsibility for your care very seriously.”

All the years we’ve spent together, and I’ve never picked up on this craving of his to be needed. How tempted he is by Emilia because she needs him. Doesn’t he know that I need him too?

“You are what I want. Never doubt that.”

“It won’t matter. We’ve met you, and nothing will ever be the same again. The world continues to spin, and you, Emilia Adams Rivera, are a part of it.”

“I don’t think we ever stop. Hundreds of years later and I still miss my family. I’ve chosen to think of the ache as a gift. It’s proof that they existed.”

“Among the least,” I whisper. “The temptation I feel around you threatens to swallow me whole.” Emilia’s face breaks into a wicked smile. “And being swallowed whole would be such a terrible thing.”

I only know I’ve accepted that like Eve in the Garden of Eden, there’s no going back to how I was before I’d eaten of the tree of knowledge.

The well needs to be drained and even if my father doesn’t deserve forgiveness, I deserve this opportunity to be free from these doubts.

“You are not done yet. You’re on a journey with two other people who rely on you. You are not allowed to throw in the towel because of one speed bump. That’s the perspective of someone who doesn’t expect that the people they love are able to save them. A loner would assume that no one else could solve the problem, and wouldn’t trust anyone else to solve the problem. You want a family, but you must act like you’re a part of a family.”

“Alright then. It started with a book.”