Split or Swallow

A chicken farmer's daughter commands history's most fearsome basilisk

Tem is a twenty-year-old chicken farmer's daughter in a village protected from basilisks by a mirrored wall.

A chicken farmer's daughter commands history's most fearsome basilisk

Tem is a twenty-year-old chicken farmer's daughter in a village protected from basilisks by a mirrored wall. Every generation, girls born the same year as the prince enter the basilisks' caves to be sexually trained; one will become the prince's wife. Tem's rival Vera mocks her inexperience relentlessly, but on the night of the training, Tem is the first girl brave enough to step forward. Instinct draws her to the farthest cave, where she meets Caspen—the legendary Serpent King, whose students are always chosen. When he orders her to undress, she demands he go first. Astonished, he complies. They pleasure themselves in front of each other, finishing together. From his essence, he forges a smooth claw and slides it inside her—a tether that pulses whenever he thinks of her.

Leo humiliates Tem on a podium, then she claims revenge with her lips

At the castle, Tem meets Prince Leo over whiskey in his study. He's sharp-tongued and entitled, with gold-sheathed fangs and gray eyes that linger too long on the green silk dress Caspen sent her. When Leo holds a surprise elimination, he ranks girls on podiums by attractiveness and places Tem dead last. She storms after him and demands to know why. He admits she was the most beautiful girl in the room—he ranked her last to punish her for refusing his compliment. Their adversarial chemistry intensifies through weeks of escalating encounters. At the next elimination, Leo kisses each remaining girl. Tem seizes him by the face and kisses him so fiercely the crowd falls silent. Leo places her on the first podium. The reversal is total.

Caspen breaks his own rules and takes Tem completely at last

Night after night, Caspen teaches Tem: anatomy, touch, how to stroke him, how to take him in her mouth. He shows her herself through his own eyes using their mental bond—extraordinary, wanted, flawless. Yet he refuses to have sex with her, even as every other girl's basilisk has already crossed that line. When Tem confronts him, Caspen admits he's terrified of losing control—his true form craves her pain as much as his human form craves her pleasure. She tells him to try. They consummate on his silk sheets, again and again, until her body gives out. Caspen bites her lip hard enough to draw blood, revealing the razor-thin margin between ecstasy and destruction. He forges a new claw from their combined fluids—something iridescent, binding them deeper.