Page 67 of Entranced By the Basilisks

And she isn’t afraid of me. I taste it now. The nerves and thrill. Her heart beats against my chest and the palm of my hand spanning her waist. My calluses drag against the fabric of her dress, and she moans against my mouth.

My senses haven’t completely abandoned me. I sense a basilisk approaching.

The only thing left to make this moment of heat and seduction perfect is Ari. I lift from her, dazed and expecting to see his charming face. Instead, my blood runs cold.

How like the Goddess to bestow a blessing and a curse at the same time.

My tormentor, the cause of ills, mental and physical alike and the source of more than a few of my nightmares, strides toward us with his eyes narrowed, two of his regular goons by his side.

Fuck.

31

EMILIA

“Why did you stop?”I murmur before my senses pick up the tension drawing Jasper’s body tight.

Danger!My instincts shout, but it’s too late. My kiss-addled brain can hardly catch up.

“What do we have here?” comes a guttural question. The speaker’s words carry a German accent, but hearing that type of accent has never caused my skin to crawl. I turn to see who is addressing us and Jasper’s grip on my waist tightens.

“We were just leaving,” Jasper says, as cold as I’ve ever seen him. This is the director I recognize, but even with this mask I see the glimmers of him I’d missed. The crease of concern around his eyes. The way his steely gaze sears protectively and not just dangerously.

“Now, now, not so fast. You’re not going to introduce us to your friend?” The man has white-blond hair and would be considered quite attractive if it weren’t for the sneer lifting his lip.

Jasper flexes his hand on my waist as if trying not to show any possessive urges.

“Emilia, this is Sigmund Dietrich. He’s a serpent kin,” Jasper says.

Oh shit.Exactly the type of person we didn’t want to run into.

Sigmund’s sneer increases at the introduction, but he wipes it away quickly and focuses on me. “Call me Sig.”

Yeah, I’ll stick with Sigmund.

“You’re quite pretty,” he says smugly without prompting. “I can see why Adder here has forgotten himself around you.”

“Forgotten himself?” I blurt out the question and mentally curse myself for being drawn into talking to him.

Sigmund smiles, and it isn’t a nice one. “Forgot what he can have.”

I don’t need a crystal ball to figure out that this isn’t good. Jasper’s jaw is tight, and he obviously doesn’t think we can leave safely. We’re outnumbered. Sigmund looks to have two hangers-on. A dark-haired man a head taller than everyone else and twice as broad and a slender redheaded man who gives me slimy vibes.

“When I heard you were asking around about Chosen initiations, I was curious, but I never dreamed that you could believe your girlfriend would be approved by the Circle to become Chosen.” Sigmund addresses Jasper now. It takes a little interpretation, but when I make sense of the statement, I’m at turns relieved that he hasn’t noticed I’m already Chosen and offended on Jasper’s behalf.

“The Great Conflict was a long time ago,” Jasper says, playing along. “There are many serpent kin who don’t dwell on the past anymore.”

Sigmund sneers. “A millennium won’t be long enough to wash the taint of your house’s crimes.”

“And it won’t be enough to distance yourself from almost having the same fate,” Jasper grits out.

Sigmund’s face shifts with surprise before screwing up in anger. He must not be used to Jasper talking back to him.

“Perhaps I should show this pretty girl what a real serpent kin is capable of,” he says, taking a step forward.

For an inconvenient moment, my social anxiety disappears in the face of my anger. How dare this guy tell Jasper what he deserves based on the actions of an ancestor?

“No thank you,” I say, my voice heavy with disgust. My eyes burn for a split second, a moment of my anger slipping out of my control. I shut down the reaction, but it’s already too late.

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