Chapter Twelve #2
Tem stopped. To her surprise, Caspen’s tone was panicked—almost fearful.
She looked up at him and found that he wasn’t looking at her.
He was staring around the courtyard, his eyes flicking from basilisk to basilisk.
Smoke filled the air, and through it, Tem saw shadows coming into focus.
Several basilisks—the same group of men who had eyed her on the first night of mating season—were approaching Tem with a ferocity she couldn’t understand.
They didn’t look aroused, like everyone else.
They looked…angry. Violent. A chill shot down her spine at the sight.
“What’s going on?” Tem said out loud.
At the sound of her voice, Caspen returned to her. “Do not move.” He held her still again, but this time in a different way—this time in a way that was protective, as if he were afraid of what could happen.
Tem pressed her chest to Caspen’s despite the heat radiating from his body.
It seemed like an eternity passed. But the longer they stood there, the calmer things became.
Rather than building toward a collective climax, Tem watched as the energy in the courtyard slowly cooled.
The smoke cleared, and the hiss quieted.
The frenetic burst of adrenaline that had been crawling relentlessly under her skin retreated, replaced by wariness.
The couple in the middle of the ouroboros stood, clearly finished with each other. Tem had no idea who had climaxed first.
Caspen had de-escalated the trajectory of everyone in the courtyard, and he’d done it out of fear. Why? Tem knew just how difficult it was to deny yourself an orgasm. To stop everyone’s orgasm was a task so impossible she could hardly comprehend it.
Caspen’s arms were still locked around her, holding her against him.
Tem couldn’t have moved if she’d tried. She could only watch as the rest of the basilisks concluded their unions—either completed their orgasms or drew apart—emerging from their partners with dazed expressions.
But not everyone was dazed. The men were still coming closer—still staring at Tem like they wanted to devour her. Their eyes were black.
Do not look at them, Caspen’s voice commanded.
Tem immediately trained her gaze on Caspen, staring determinedly at his collarbone. Why are they looking at me like that?
Caspen didn’t answer. It had been a long time since Tem had seen him so tense. His muscles felt as if they were crafted from metal, clamped around her so securely that she was rigid beneath their grip. Something was wrong; that much was perfectly clear. But Tem couldn’t imagine what it was.
Before she could ask another question, Apollo appeared beside them. His eyes flicked first to Tem’s, then to Caspen’s. “You must leave.”
“Why?” Tem interjected. “What’s going on?”
Apollo ignored her, directing his next words at Caspen. “She is not safe. You must—”
“Do not tell me what to do,” Caspen snapped.
Apollo didn’t retreat. Instead, he stepped closer, jerking his head at the men, who were coming ever closer. “The Senecas want her,” he insisted. “They will take her.”
“They will not take anything from me.”
“Your arrogance will get her killed.”
“Do not speak to me of arrogance, Brother,” Caspen snapped.
“Caspenon.” Apollo glanced once more at her, and Tem saw the fear in his eyes. “You must leave.”
“She is mine,” Caspen said harshly. “And I will do with her as I please.”
Tem couldn’t help but feel like they were no longer talking about the Senecas.
Apollo stepped closer. “They only reason they have not attacked her is because you are by her side. If she is alone next time—”
“She will not be alone. Clearly, she has you to protect her.”
That seemed to shut Apollo up. His eyes flicked once more to Tem’s, and this time they lingered. His mind brushed against hers, but she didn’t dare let him in. Instead, they stared at each other, Caspen’s arms still around her, Tem’s body still pressed against his chest.
Apollo opened his mouth to speak again, but Caspen was already pulling Tem away. His grip was unbearably tight as he propelled her from the courtyard and out into the passageway. As soon as they were alone, Tem said, “What just happened?”
Caspen pursed his lips. He didn’t answer.
“Caspen,” she insisted. “You can’t shut me out. Not anymore.”
Still no answer.
Tem thought about the men who had been walking toward her, their eyes glazed with want. But what, exactly, had they wanted? Tem shuddered. She needed answers, and she knew Caspen would have them.
“What did Apollo mean? Why would those men attack me?”
“Tem,” Caspen said. They had reached their chambers, and as soon as they were inside, he pulled her onto the bed. “I will not let anyone attack you.”
“I know that. I’m asking why they would even want to.”
Finally, he looked down at her. “They want your power.”
Tem wrinkled her nose. “Well, they can have it. There’s not much to give.”
“You are a Hybreed, Tem. You are the most powerful among us.”
A Hybreed. Both basilisk and human. Limitless.
“But I don’t feel powerful.” She could barely transition. Things like the ouroboros still overwhelmed her, and every minute under the mountain was a test of her endurance. Everyone seemed to understand her value but her.
“But you are,” Caspen said quietly. “You may be made up of two things, but each of them is whole.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your basilisk side does not function at half capacity just because it makes up half of you. The part of you that is a basilisk is fully so. The same with your human side.”
“So?”
“So you are two things, Tem. You always have been. And you are both of those things fully. Your power is unparalleled.”
Tem thought about what Caspen had just said to Apollo: She is mine. If she was so powerful, did Caspen covet her power? Tem knew she was safe with him—she always had been. But if Tem was as powerful as he said, perhaps even Caspen could not resist such a draw.
“But how would they get my power?”
“There are many ways. They could crest you. But my guess is they would not dare to do so.”
“Why not?”
“Because even my father did not succeed.”
Tem remembered the wedding—Bastian’s hand around her throat, squeezing. It had taken everything in her to resist, and even then, she’d needed Leo’s help to survive.
Caspen continued. “Most likely they will try to kill you.”
“Kill me?”
“Yes.”
“But if I’m so powerful, why would they want to kill me?”
“Because you are more useful to them dead. Whoever kills a basilisk receives their power.”
Tem had no idea that was possible. “Really?”
“Yes,” Caspen said. “When my father died, I received his.”
That was news to Tem. “But you…ate him.”
Caspen gave her a grim smile. “Yes, I did. And by doing so, I proved my worth.”
Tem stared at him. Basilisks were simply bizarre. But she understood, on some level, how Bastian’s violent death at the hands of his son might have earned Caspen the king’s power. It was no small feat to kill a king.
“So…you’re powerful right now?”
Caspen smiled wider. “I was always powerful.”
Of course he was. But he was even more so now, and it was something to consider.
Caspen shifted her in his arms, pulling her closer. “Had he lived, I would have had access to his power anyway.”
“How?”
“My venom.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The bite of a basilisk is not fatal by itself. My father only died because I…kept going.” A beat passed, and Tem remembered the sight of Caspen cannibalizing his father. She shuddered. “But it has a significant effect.”
“Which is?”
“Once bitten, the victim is made vulnerable to the basilisk who bit them. The presence of my venom in my father’s bloodstream would have created a connection between us.”
“What kind of connection?”
“I would have been able to use it to siphon power from him.”
Tem frowned. “But I have your venom in my bloodstream, and you’ve never siphoned from me.”
“That is because you merely drank my venom. If I had bitten you properly—with my fangs, while wearing my true form—I would have been able to siphon from you too.”
“Thanks for not biting me, I guess.”
Caspen smiled. “You are very welcome, my love.”
Tem pictured Caspen on the stage, ripping his father’s torso to shreds. It was hard to believe that Bastian would want his power to go to the very person who had destroyed him. But such was the basilisk way.
“So…the Senecas want my power. Are they going to kill me or siphon from me?”
Caspen’s jaw tightened. “I cannot know that. But my brother was right.” It looked like the words pained him to say. “You are not safe when you are alone.”
Tem understood Caspen was afraid for her, and she could understand why.
It seemed like everyone wanted to take from her.
Always, always taking. It was exhausting, and Tem was tired of it.
There was never enough of her to go around—never enough to make everyone who wanted something happy.
It was beginning to wear on her, to rip her at the seams.
Tem sighed. Unlike the other customs basilisks adhered to, this one wasn’t sexual at all.
It was serious, and it was dangerous. And it put a target on her back.
From the way the basilisks in the courtyard had just looked at Tem, Caspen had every reason to be scared for her.
She could feel it in the way his hands were gripping her waist a little too tight, as if he feared she might disappear.
“Caspen,” she said. “Nobody’s going to kill me. They’d be idiots if they tried.”
His grip didn’t lessen. “And why is that?”
“Because then you’d kill them.”
Caspen let out a soft laugh. “I suppose that is true.”
It was certainly true. Tem might be a tempting source of power, but Caspen was a terrifying source of wrath. She couldn’t imagine that anyone under this mountain would dare to touch her. He was already the Serpent King—there was no one more powerful.
No one except for her.