Page 94 of Entranced By the Basilisks

“Is it bad to do too much?” I ask the more cognizant Ari.

“No,” he says, his smile warm. “The combination of the venom and your power will make him a little drunk though.”

Jasper narrows his eyes as if annoyed that we’re talking around him but stays quiet.

“Now the snakes, Emilia,” Ari prods.

I hesitate. Jasper seems so vulnerable this way. As if sensing my hesitation, Ari pulls me against his body again.

“You could do it to me first,” he says. “The bites won’t hurt me, and I won’t react quite as strongly to your power as Jasper will.”

Ari releases me to open his collar wide, displaying his mouthwatering chest. Jasper starts blinking more as if he’s sobering to watch the show.

“I don’t know how to make them bite,” I say.

Ari shrugs. “That’s something you have to figure out. I don’t have experience with serpent hair. They respond to your emotions, but see if you can try to mentally order them to do it first.”

I nod and try to do what he says.Bite him,I think.

Nothing happens. I bite my lip and try again, putting more of a command into the mental words, but the behavior of the vipers on my head is unchanged. I move on to visualizing the action and that results in the same.

I huff in frustration and the snakes hiss in accompaniment. There’s a stroke down my cheek that startles me. Jasper’s face is soft. Not quite as sober as I assumed.

“You’ve got this,” he says. The words are simple, but there isn’t an ounce of doubt in them.

I go back to my attempt, regrouping with vigor. I try to use the flow of the hot gold of my power next. My brain draws an imaginary target on Ari’s chest, and I clench my teeth. Something about the focus and frustrationfeelsright. A serpent strikes almost faster than I can track and Ari gasps.

I jump and see the bite right where I’d placed the target.

Ari huffs a laugh. “You got me! Very good, now heal it.”

I place my hand on the bite and repeat what I’d done to Jasper, trying not to push as much into the action. The burn of power is quick and then it’s over. I still at the intimacy of his heartbeat under my hand.

“You healed it,” Ari says, covering my hand with his, his words a purr. “And more efficiently too.”

I grin in triumph. There’s something about succeeding in training, in using magic that I’ve never known before, that adds to my elation. It makes me feel strong.

Not for the first time, I wonder if we should keep trying to reverse my condition. The snakes really aren’t so bad, and the power… It’s almost as addicting as following Ari’s commands. But those are silly thoughts. I’m not meant for magic. I’m a quiet woman who loves to restore books. The woman who beams at the two basilisks in front of her isn’t really me. Is she?

Could she be?

I shake off the thought and turn toward Jasper. I hadn’t missed the way he’d stiffened when I refused to use the snakes to bite him.

“Can I try with you?” I ask.

Jasper swallows. “I’d be honored.”

It’s a quick process now, I visualize the target, and a viper strikes at Jasper, landing a bite on the skin below where Ari had struck. Jasper hisses and I can’t tell if it’s from pleasure or pain. I press my hand to the bite and heal it with even less power this time, but Jasper’s eyes still roll back in his head.

“Fuck.” His whisper is slow.

“Is that a good or bad fuck?” I ask with a laugh.

He threads his fingers through mine, connecting our bodies there while my other hand still rests on his neck.

“A very good fuck.” The effects of the venom and power are still running high in his system if the lethargic heat in his eyes is any indication.

“Jasper, your hands,” Ari says. His voice is strangely toneless, but we look down. Jasper’s hands have shifted. They’re covered with smooth blue-green scales that shimmer. The texture is sleek against my palm.

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