Split or Swallow

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

Tem got in his bed.

She laid on her back.

“Fuck,” Leo breathed.

Tem decided to take her time.

She brushed her hands slowly down her body, caressing her breasts before letting her fingers dip between her legs. Leo undressed as he watched, unbuttoning his shirt and pulling down his trousers. When he was finally naked before her, Tem whispered:

“Touch me, Leo.”

He stepped forward.

His fingers found her wetness, and she moaned in deep fulfillment.

“ Fuck ,” he breathed. “You’re so wet, Tem.”

Her hand joined his, pulling him even deeper.

“Just for you,” Tem whispered. She knew he needed to hear it. And she want?ed to give him what he needed.

Leo bent down to kiss her inner thigh.

“How could you keep this cunt from me for so long?”

“You had to earn it.”

“And now that I have?”

“It’s yours.”

Leo pulled away.

Tem looked up at him as he looked down at her, both of them comprehending the significance of the moment.

“Leo,” she whispered.

He smiled.

“I know, Tem.”

Then he lowered his head.

He licked her, his tongue softer than silk, pressing against the most sensitive part of her as if he knew exactly what it would do to her—as if he knew exactly how much it would make her need him.

“Leo, please,” she whispered.

“Please what, Tem?” he murmured against her clitoris.

“Fuck me.”

“Not yet.”

Now Leo was the one resisting her—taking his time now that he finally had her in his bed. His hands gripped her thighs, holding them apart. Tem arched her hips, meeting his mouth as his tongue delved even deeper.

It was nothing like when he’d tasted her in the maze. That time had been aggressive and militant—almost like a punishment. This time was slow and sensual and intimate , and Tem felt connected to Leo in a way she never had before. He was cherishing her—adoring her with his tongue—kissing the center of her like it was the most precious thing he’d ever tasted.

“ Leo ,” she cried as his fingers joined his tongue.

His response was wordless, yet Tem understood what he was telling her with every stroke—she heard his message in every moment that he lost himself inside her. He loved her.

Tem was approaching the edge. It was inevitable; she couldn’t resist if she tried.

She threaded her fingers into his hair, holding his head between her legs. She felt no shame—this was everything they were always meant to do—this was the way they were meant to be.

“Fuck,” Tem moaned. Leo’s favorite word.

It was the easiest thing in the world to come against his tongue.

Leo swallowed every last drop of her. There was no limit to his allegiance—no threshold he wasn’t willing to cross. Tem arched her hips, rewarding him for his devotion, letting him know without a shadow of a doubt that he had earned access to any part of her he craved.

When Leo raised his head, he smiled.

“Do you want my cock, Tem?”

She nodded.

“Say it,” his fingers slid in and out of her, teasing her beyond what she could take. “Say you want my cock.”

Tem would obey. Just this once.

“I want your cock, Leo.”

“When?”

“Now.”

“Where?”

Her fingers joined his.

“Here.”

Leo kissed her thigh again, forcing her to wait for him—forcing her to be patient.

But patience had never been her strong suit.

“Leo,” Tem insisted. “Now.”

He chuckled softly.

“So fucking needy.”

That wouldn’t do at all.

Tem moved her hands to her breasts, squeezing them while he watched.

“Tem,” his voice was a broken murmur.

“Fuck me,” she whispered. “Right now.”

Leo stared at her, enraptured.

She arched her back.

“ Now , Leo.”

That was all it took.

The moment Leo centered himself between her thighs, Tem’s mind ceased to function. There was no logic or reasoning—there was only want and need .

Tem moaned as Leo’s cock touched her center. He paused, his eyes flicking to hers, silently seeking permission one last time.

She grabbed the back of his neck, angled her hips, and pulled him all the wayin.

Tem had handled his cock before, so she knew it was big. But it was something else entirely to feel Leo enter her—to take him the same way she’d taken Caspen. It was incredible to watch Leo’s face as he slid inside her. If his expression was any indication, he felt what Tem felt: pure bliss.

He kissed her neck. Then her lips.

“Tem,” he whispered against them.

“Leo,” she whispered back.

They moved in perfect unison. Tem touched every part of his body, digging her fingernails into his back as his thrusts deepened. His cock roused something within her—something that had patiently waited until now to emerge. She wanted more of him. She wanted him to stake his claim on her—she wanted to stake her claim on him .

“Faster, Leo,” Tem whispered.

She felt him smile against her neck.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Tem.”

“Why not?”

“If I go any faster, we won’t be doing this for very long.”

She smiled, pride shooting through her as she understood the effect she had on him.

Tem arched her hips so his thrusts went deeper.

Leo’s fingers tightened in her hair.

“ Fuck ,” he groaned.

He pushed her down firmly, pressing her hips against the mattress so he was once more in control.

“We do this my way, Tem.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes,” his fingers wrapped around her neck. “It is.”

She looked up at him.

“What if I don’t want to do it your way?”

“You can have anything you want next time, Tem. But not this time.”

Before she could respond, Leo drew away.

He gripped her hips with his hands, pulling them up so he could watch her beneath him. He stared at the place of their union with covetous rapture, honoring their connection with every thrust. Tem’s fists twisted into the sheets as he fucked her—letting him see everything he’d only dreamed of seeing. Just as Tem could feel herself building toward her climax, Leo paused. His fingers flexed on her hips as he tightened his grip, holding her in place as he pulled his cock out until only the head was inside her.

He thrust in an inch. Then back out.

Then another inch.

Then back out.

It was befitting of Leo. It was torture.

He was teasing her—bringing her to the brink of where she needed to go without actually letting her get there. The prince was in control; the prince decided what happened next. Tem couldn’t blame him. It was only fair.

“Do you want to come, Tem?”

Leo thrust a little further, letting her have just half of his cock.

Tem nodded desperately.

“Use your words,” he ordered.

“I want to come.”

“Beg for it.”

“Let me come.”

“Again.”

She understood why he needed to hear it—why he needed her to ask for him over and over. After so many weeks of acting ambivalent toward Leo, he needed to hear that Tem craved him as much as he craved her. Tem, of all people, could understand how it felt to be unwanted, and how good it felt when the opposite was finally true. She would let him take anything he wanted from her; she would let him have exactly what he’d coveted for so long.

Tem begged for it again and again, calling his name until she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began. She vocalized everything she loved about him, telling him exactly how he made her feel. With every word she said, Leo’s cock went in a little further. Finally, he was all the way inside her.

Tem asked for it one last time.

“Let me come, Leo. Please. I want to come.”

Leo pressed his fingers to her clitoris, and it was this, finally, that took Tem over the edge.

“So fucking pretty,” he whispered.

Tem barely heard him.

She was flying— soaring —plummeting into the abyss with absolutely nothing to stop her. Leo was still touching her, still pushing her where he’d always wanted to take her. It was as simple as breathing to give this to Leo—to fall apart just for him—to see the complete and total victory in his eyes as she came.

Her body was laid out before him. She had nothing more to hide.

Leo reached for her, sliding his fingers behind her neck and pulling her upright. To be this close to him after what he’d just made her feel was nothing short of paradise.

“I want to come together,” she whispered.

Leo kissed her neck, then her jaw, then her lips.

“We will.”

Tem didn’t argue. He was lifting his hips, thrusting into her from below. In one smooth motion, he reclined onto his back, pulling her on top of him. She immediately began to ride him.

“Be still,” Leo said.

Tem didn’t want to be still. It went against everything her body was telling her to do.

“Why?”

“I want to look at you.”

Tem whimpered, straining her hips against his command. Leo’s hands shot forward, gripping her waist and holding her down.

“Be still ,” he ordered.

Tem was still.

Leo leaned back, appraising her. The future king.

“You look so good on my cock, Tem,” he whispered.

Tem wanted to move—to slide her hips forward to show him how good she looked riding his cock. But he had told her to be still, so she was. She watched him as he watched her, his eyes traveling over her body with haughty satisfaction.

“Who knew that the only time you took orders was in bed?”

Tem rolled her eyes.

“Don’t get used to it.”

“I certainly won’t.”

He was still holding her in place, still looking at her like she was his greatest prize.

Tem looked at him too, noticing all the things she’d never let herself notice before. His body was sculpted beneath hers, the rigid length of his cock placed perfectly in her center. She wanted to ride him so badly . But they would do this his way first. Then they could do it hers.

Leo brushed his fingertips up her thigh, raising goosebumps on her skin.

“I’ve imagined this so many times,” he said, his voice a husky whisper.

Tem took his hand in hers, raising it to her breasts. She guided just the tips of his fingers over her nipples, one after the other.

“Did you imagine this?”

Leo’s expression was one of unrestrained hunger.

Tem guided his hand even higher, biting down on his thumb. She sucked it gently, holding eye contact the entire time.

“ Kora ,” he breathed.

His other hand was on her hip. His fingernails dug into her skin, coaxing her forward.

The time to be still had passed.

Tem rode him slowly, splaying her hands flat on his torso. Both his hands went to her breasts, giving them a hard squeeze before gripping her hips once more.

“So fucking wet for me.”

It was true. She was dripping for him.

It made riding his cock easier—made it so that she could slide up and down without restraint, ignoring everything but the way he felt inside her. Leo let her ride him, and Tem knew he’d imagined this. It only turned her on more to think of him that way—to picture him touching himself in the quiet darkness of his room, perhaps in front of the fire, coming into his palm at the thought of her on his cock. It was part of the reason she liked Leo so much. He was obsessed with her.

Tem felt her orgasm building long before it arrived. She worked toward it slowly, taking her time, bringing herself there while the prince watched. Leo touched her the entire time. He ran his hands over her ass, her hips, her waist. He filled his palms with her breasts.

“You were made for me,” he rasped.

Tem leaned forward so he could see even more of her. The angle was nearly unbearable—his cock penetrated her so deeply that she gasped.

“Take it, Tem.”

Tem did as she was told.

She took it over and over until she knew she couldn’t take it anymore. When she reached that point, she let herself go—surrendering to all the pleasure Leo provided her. Her climax was cerebral and visceral and raw , beginning between her legs and spreading throughout her entire body, unraveling her to her very core.

Leo held out, waiting until Tem’s orgasm had completely run its course before having his own. It was incredible to watch him come. Tem noticed everything: the way his hands tightened on her hips, the way his veins popped beneath his skin, the way he tilted his chin as if to get a better view of her. It was clear that Tem had made him come—not the sex, but Tem herself. She was all he wanted—all he needed.

She was his muse.

“Leo,” she whispered as he poured himself into her.

He sat up, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tightly against his chest.

“I know, Tem,” he murmured as he rubbed her back. “I know.”

His fingers stroked her spine, his lips pressed against her shoulder.

Tem drew in a shuddering breath. Leo’s heart was beating frantically in his chest, even faster than hers. He’d wanted this for far longer than Tem had. Leo was the one who yearned for her; Leo was the one who wanted a future that may never happen.

Tem lifted herself up.

She touched the head of his cock before trailing her fingers up his torso, spreading a thin trail of his own cum over his skin, marking him with irrefutable evidence of their congress. Then she licked her fingers.

Leo watched her in amazement.

“You’re so gorgeous, Tem,” he whispered, his lips drifting to her neck. “So fucking stunning.”

She grasped a handful of his hair.

“So are you.”

Leo let out a soft laugh, pulling her down onto the bed.

“Is that right?”

“Yes. Boys can be pretty too, Leo.”

They laid together for a long time, doing nothing but touching each other. Tem explored the soft blonde hair that trailed down to Leo’s cock, the smooth dips between his ribs, the prominent Adam’s apple on his neck.

Leo explored her too, touching her thighs, her hair, her sensitive nipples.

They kissed while they touched, and eventually, Tem’s hand found his cock. He wasn’t immediately hard again, like Caspen always was, but Tem didn’t mind. Perhaps it was beautiful, in a way, that there were limits with Leo. Each time with him was precious—each time meant something. She was content simply to stroke him with her fingers, listening to the sounds he made while she did it. It wasn’t until later, when he began fingering her, that he became hard once more.

“Leo,” she whispered as he rolled on top of her. “You said I could have anything I wanted.”

“So I did,” he whispered back. “How do you want me?”

Tem pulled him closer.

“Just like this,” she whispered. “Right here.”

Leo smiled.

“Then so you shall have me.”

He slid inside her.

Somehow it felt even better than the first time. They both moaned in unison, their breaths becoming one. Leo cradled her head in his hand, holding her securely as he sank into her again and again.

“So soft, Tem,” he whispered. “So wet.”

Tem took him deeper and deeper—all the way to the very center of her—validating their connection in the best way she knew how. She wanted to seal them together indefinitely—she wanted Leo’s heart imprinted on hers. She wanted to give him her heart in return.

“I’m close, Leo.”

He slowed his pace. “Not yet, Tem.”

“Why not?”

“You said you wanted to come together.”

Tem wanted nothing more.

She let Leo set the pace, savoring the way his tongue tasted in her mouth, tracing it with hers. She remembered their first kiss—how he’d told her to find him when she was ready. It was always that way with Leo. He always waited for her—always made sure she got what she wanted, even when she didn’t know she wanted it. He listened to her. He cared.

Leo’s face was right in front of hers. When he looked into her eyes, Tem understood that this moment meant everything to him. He’d chased her for so long, never truly earning her favor until it was too late. She wanted to give this to him now: to be together before everything inevitably fell apart around them.

Tem relaxed beneath his thrusts, knowing they would find their way together. She felt the hardness of his body—how perfectly it moved within hers. Their song had taken a long time to write. But now it was all Tem wanted to hear. Leo wasn’t perfect, and neither was she. Tem didn’t know what their future held—didn’t even know if she would survive the week. But she knew she wanted to try. For him.

“Tem,” Leo murmured, his lips dropping to her neck. His thrusts were quickening. “I’m going to fuck you harder now.”

The words were strained; he was clearly holding back.

Tem nodded eagerly, showing him she wanted that too.

“Fuck me harder, Leo.”

Her hands left his head and wrapped around the bedpost, holding on tight as he drove into her. This was it: the moment for them both. Tem had been waiting for this ever since they’d met in the study and they’d drank whiskey together for the first time. This had been building between them since then.

Tem closed her eyes. She knew Leo was watching her—knew he wanted to see every moment of this. But Tem wanted to feel it instead. She wanted to understand how her body took his, how perfectly they would conclude their union. This could be goodbye, after all. Tem didn’t want to forget a moment of it.

Leo called her name.

Tem answered with his.

They came together.

Tem opened her eyes to see Leo above her, content and fulfilled, his thrusts slowing as their waves began to ebb. Tem brushed her hands up his torso, pulling his face down to hers. She kissed him, and he kissed her back, and for a very long time that was all they did. When they pulled apart, Leo smiled, flashing his teeth. Tem touched the gold ones.

Leo’s expression sobered. Already, reality was setting in. Already, it was time to think about the future.

“Tem,” he whispered. “I didn’t know. If I had…”

Tem placed a single finger over his lips. She knew he hadn’t known. But Tem was not so naive to think he would have charted a new path if he had. Not without knowing her—not without falling in love with someone who contained the very thing he’d been trained to hate.

Her response was the same thing Caspen once told her:

“I don’t hold you responsible for the sins of your ancestors.”

Leo nodded, although she couldn’t tell if he believed her. But there was nothing she could say to comfort him. This sliver of happiness was temporary for them. The moment they left Leo’s room, they would have to face what came next.

But that moment did not have to be now. They laid together, their breathing in sync, and Leo’s fingers brushed over the little claw necklace. Tem hadn’t bothered to take it off.

“Tem,” he whispered. “How did you find out about…who you are?”

She noticed how he said ‘who’, rather than ‘what’.

It was progress.

“Caspen told me I was a Hybreed.”

“A Hybreed?”

“Half human, half basilisk.”

“How did he know?”

Tem raised her hands, showing Leo the freckles on her palms.

“These,” she said as he looked at them. “My father has the same ones. He passed them on to me.”

Leo pressed his lips to the freckles.

“And he could talk to me using his mind,” she said. “That capability is only between basilisks.”

They were silent for a long time. Tem simply breathed Leo in, smelling the way his cologne mixed with his skin, feeling the way his body felt against hers. She brushed her fingers up his chest, to his shoulders, then around the back of his neck. She paused.

There was a ridge there—a firm line of scar tissue. When Tem touched it, Leo flinched.

He pulled away. Tem pulled him back.

“Leo,” she said. “Turn around.”

He shook his head. “No.”

Tem sat up, and so did he.

“Leo,” she said again. “Now.”

To her surprise, after a pause, Leo obliged.

He turned slowly, kneeling on the bed so his back was to her. The moment the firelight hit his skin, Tem reached for him.

There were four ridges, she saw now, each about three inches long, two on either side of his spine. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed them before.

“What happened to you?” Tem whispered.

“Carriage accident,” he said quietly.

Of course it was a lie. He’d said that about the scar under his chin, but that one was jagged and irregular, befitting an accidental injury. The scars on his back were purposeful—almost surgical—and they looked like they had been administered fairly recently.

“Leo,” she said. “Tell me.”

“It’s nothing, Tem.”

She brushed her fingertips over the scars, and he shuddered.

“It doesn’t look like nothing.”

Without thinking, she leaned forward, pressing her lips to each scar.

She turned her head, resting her cheek on the back of his neck and wrapping her arms around his torso. They sat like that for a long time, until finally, Leo spoke:

“They’re traditional,” he answered. “My father has them too. His father gave them to him, and so on.”

Four raised scars, perfectly identical. She thought of the statue in the maze: King Maximus III. Leo was the fourth.

Father and son.

“But why? ”

Leo’s shoulders rose, then fell.

“Why does my family do any of the idiotic things we do? It’s like any other ceremony. The Passing of the Crown, the Cutting—it’s all the same. Yet another opportunity to mark the progression of power. My family has always been this way.”

The Cutting. More tradition.

Tem thought of that time at the Horseman—how Gabriel had asked about Leo’s golden teeth. Leo had answered: The men in my family get them when we turn eighteen, among other gifts.

Some gifts.

She thought then of the freckles on her hands—a gift from her own father, but not one that had made her bleed. Leo bore the marks of his family in the same way she did, but his were administered with a blade. She imagined Leo doing this to his own son someday—cutting into his skin and leaving a scar. She couldn’t picture it.

Tem relinquished her grip on his back, crawling around so she was facing him.

“Are you going to do it to your child?” she whispered.

Leo twirled one of her curls around his finger.

“I would prefer that my son not hate me, Tem.”

It took her a good long moment to understand what he was saying.

“You…hate your father?”

“Trust me,” he smiled sadly. “The feeling is mutual.”

He said it so bluntly that Tem felt a sudden rush of sympathy for Leo. She couldn’t imagine what it was like for him to grow up in this castle with a father who hated him. Maximus’s contempt for her was scathing. No doubt it was tenfold for his own son.

A healed wound still bears a scar.

She took his face in her hands and looked him straight in the eye.

“Maximus was wrong for doing this to you.”

Leo shrugged.

“It’s all he knows.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

The prince had no rebuttal for that. Instead he kissed her, and she let him.

When they pulled apart, Leo whispered:

“I know you won’t end things with Caspen.”

Tem nestled herself more securely into his arms.

“How do you know that?”

Leo gave her a sad smile.

“He’s your Evelyn.”

Tem did not reply, because she realized it was true.

“I don’t want to talk about Caspen,” she whispered.

His hand brushed slowly down the curve of her waist before slipping between her legs.

“Then we won’t talk,” he murmured as he slid his fingers inside her.

He touched her slowly, kissing her while he did it. Tem spread her legs for him, letting him go deeper, letting him touch everything he had earned the right to touch.

Eventually she asked for all of him, and he gave it to her.

By the time they had finished with one another, night was falling. The sky outside Leo’s window was rapidly turning black, and Tem knew they couldn’t stay here forever.

“If you want to meet with him,” she said, her lips still on his. “We should go tonight.”

Leo sighed. He propped himself up on his hands, looking down at her. For a moment, Tem wondered if he would go back on his word—if everything that had just happened wouldn’t be enough.

Then Leo nodded.

“Very well.”