Chapter Nineteen
All around them, basilisks were already having sex.
It was mating season, after all. They would not control their urges just because a human was here.
Gabriel’s eyes went wide, his head swiveling from left to right, taking in everything he possibly could.
Tem remembered what it was like the first time she experienced all this and knew he had to be overwhelmed, no matter how excited he said he was.
Somewhere along the way, Caspen disappeared. He spoke to her just before he left: I will remain close by, Tem.
Tem let him go; she understood that he was waiting to see how this turned out—to see whether her delusional hope hadn’t been in vain—but almost immediately, she wished he had remained. The Seneca men were in the corner, watching her. Glaring.
Gabriel nudged her shoulder. “Shall we say hello?” he whispered.
“No,” Tem whispered back. “Definitely not.”
“Who are they?”
“Nobody you need to know.”
The last thing she needed was for the Senecas to get their hands on Gabriel.
But they weren’t the only ones glaring at them.
Evangeline was standing off to the side, her arms crossed, her face twisted in a frown.
A fierce protectiveness rose suddenly within Tem.
Gabriel was the kindest person she knew.
Evangeline had no right to judge him—none of the basilisks did.
“Come on,” she said, grabbing his elbow. “Let’s go.”
“There seem to be a lot of people we’re avoiding, Tem dearest.”
“There’s…a lot going on at the moment.”
“Clearly.”
“Things are tense right now, Gabriel. It’s a risk for you to be here, remember?”
“I remember.”
No sooner had she mentioned risk than Apollo appeared in her peripheral vision. “Oh no,” Tem muttered.
Apollo’s eyes bored into hers before raking over Gabriel. He raised an eyebrow.
“Who’s that?” Gabriel asked, following her gaze.
“He’s nobody.”
Apollo grinned, and she knew he had heard her.
You wound me, Temperance.
Oh, please. You’re not wounded, you’re just dramatic.
For good reason. He moved toward them.
No, Apollo. Stay right where you are.
He stopped. And who are you to give me orders?
You like it when I give you orders.
I do. But not this one. I want to meet your friend.
Well, you can’t.
“Why is he looking at us like that?” Gabriel asked.
“Like what?”
“Like he wants to fuck you, then me, then both of us at the same time?”
“That’s not how he’s looking at us.”
But it was. Apollo was eyeing them like they were his next meal. And Tem was not going to let Gabriel get eaten.
“Shouldn’t you introduce me?”
“Absolutely not. He’s Caspen’s brother, and he’s trouble.”
She steered Gabriel away from Apollo, only to run immediately into Damon.
“Temperance,” he purred, his eyes falling immediately on Gabriel. “So this is your guest.”
Tem sighed. Damon was the lesser of two evils. They might as well talk to him. “Damon. This is Gabriel, my best friend.”
Damon took Gabriel’s hand in his, raising it to his lips to kiss his wrist. It was the same way Apollo had greeted Tem when they’d first met. The similarity was not lost on her.
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Damon said.
Gabriel’s face slid into a devious smile. “The pleasure is all mine.”
“I can imagine.”
A pause. For some reason, Tem felt warm.
“Tell me, Gabriel,” Damon continued, still holding his hand, “are you enjoying yourself this evening?”
“I am now.”
The warmth increased. The way the two men were looking at each other made Tem feel like she was intruding on something. It wasn’t dissimilar to the way she’d felt watching the blood-bound couple make love in front of her.
“I trust Temperance has been an excellent host.”
Gabriel looked at Tem. “She’s the best. But I’m sure you know that already.”
Damon looked at her too. “We are fond of her, yes.”
He didn’t specify who “we” was, and Tem didn’t bother wondering. She knew that not everyone under the mountain was fond of her, but the people who were would do anything to make her happy—including allowing Gabriel down here in the first place.
Gabriel’s eyes dropped to Damon’s cock. “What else are you fond of?”
Tem froze. She knew that tone; she knew that look.
Gabriel was flirting. That was nothing new, of course, but flirting with Damon was something else entirely.
Something dangerous. Gabriel flirted with everyone—it was his default setting.
She held her breath as Damon’s gold eyes held Gabriel’s blue ones.
A solid five heartbeats passed before Damon turned to Tem and said, “Your friend is charming. Do not let Apollo near him.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Plans tend to go awry, Temperance.”
“Don’t I know it,” she muttered.
Out of the corner of her eye, Tem saw Apollo moving closer again. Her stomach performed a preemptive swoop. “Gabriel,” she said quickly. “Come with me.”
Without waiting another second, she hooked her arm in his and pulled him into the crowd. Anything was better than letting him talk to any more basilisks.
“So what’s his deal?” Gabriel purred. “He’s delicious.”
“He’s Caspen’s other brother.”
“Even better.” Gabriel grinned, pulling her closer. “We could be in-laws.”
“Don’t be gross,” Tem cried.
But Gabriel was already looking back over his shoulder at Damon, who was watching them with his mouth turned up at the corner. If Tem knew anything about basilisks, she knew exactly what Damon was thinking—and she wasn’t about to let him act on it.
“Didn’t you hear him?” Gabriel squeezed her arm. “He thinks I’m charming. Clearly he’s got great taste.”
“Oh please.”
“What? It’s not my fault Kora made me irresistible.”
Tem rolled her eyes.
They spent the next few minutes navigating the courtyard together.
Tem pointed out basilisk after basilisk, explaining their relation to each other and the differences between the quivers.
Always, Apollo’s gaze followed them. It was as if he had nothing better to do than to watch them traverse the crowd, analyzing their every move.
Caspen was never far away either. Tem saw him on the edge of her vision, his arms crossed, his brow furrowed. She knew he was protecting them from afar, acting as a bodyguard, reminding the other basilisks that they were under the Serpent King’s protection.
“What’s that?” Gabriel pointed at the fountain full of shimmering, white liquid.
“That is none of your concern,” Tem said firmly. “And you are not allowed to drink it.”
“Why not?” Gabriel whined. “Everyone else is.”
It was true. But everyone else was a basilisk.
“It’s not for humans.”
“Do you get to drink it?”
“Yes. But I’m not a human, remember?”
“What will happen if a human drinks it?”
Tem realized she didn’t know the answer to that question. All she knew was how the elixir affected her when she’d had it for the first time. She could only assume its effects would be amplified on a human. “It requires a tolerance. Even Caspen can’t drink too much of it.”
“I’ve got quite the tolerance, Tem,” Gabriel said, pulling her toward the fountain.
“You’ve got quite the tolerance for alcohol,” she insisted, pulling him away. “It’s not the same at all.”
Before Tem could yank Gabriel back, a man approached the fountain.
She already knew what he was going to do—she had seen it before, after all.
But for Gabriel, the experience of watching someone ejaculate into the fountain was an entirely new one, and the moment the man did so, Gabriel gasped, “It’s cum? ”
Tem sighed. There was no other way to explain it. Besides, it was the truth. “Yes.”
“That’s wild.”
She sighed again, pulling him away from the fountain. “Such is the basilisk way.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been hiding all of this from me.”
“I haven’t hidden anything. You’re here, aren’t you?”
“You could’ve told me you were drinking from a cum fountain, Tem.”
She rolled her eyes again. “You wouldn’t have believed me if I did.”
Gabriel didn’t reply for a moment. He was too busy watching as another man approached the fountain, his cock in his hand. “I want to try it,” he insisted.
“Try what? Drinking it, or…?”
“Both.”
“No. You get to try neither.”
“Tem.” Gabriel turned to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “You won’t let me flirt with Caspen’s hot brother. You won’t let me drink from the cum fountain. And you won’t let me come in the fountain. What am I even doing here?”
Tem opened her mouth, then closed it. What was he doing here?
He was supposed to be experiencing their culture; he was supposed to be healing the rift between the villagers and the basilisks.
And Tem wasn’t letting him. She closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind. A hand touched her shoulder. Damon.
“Your friend is thirsty. You should let him drink.”
Tem almost laughed. “He can’t handle it.”
“Of course he can. You handled it, did you not?”
Tem rolled her eyes. “I’m a Hybreed.”
“Which means you are half-human. You should have faith in your own species.”
Tem had nothing to say to that.
“Is this not why he is here?”
Tem sighed. It was essentially what Gabriel had just said. She wanted him to experience basilisk culture—to integrate. But letting him drink the elixir was a risk. “Can he really handle it?”
Damon placed his hand over his chest. “I would not lead you astray, Temperance.”
Tem rolled her eyes.
Damon looked legitimately offended. “Have you no faith in me?”
What a question. Tem had no faith in the Drakon brothers. But this was not Apollo. This was Damon, and he had never given her any reason not to trust him.
“One drop will not hurt him,” Damon said quietly.
“Do you promise?” she whispered, her voice nearly breaking.
Damon’s expression softened. “No harm will come to him. You have my word, Temperance.”
The same thing Caspen had promised. With so many basilisks looking out for Gabriel, Tem was starting to believe it.