Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube

Here is a summary with spoilers for Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube

Temperance Verus has never been kissed in her life. All she knows is her life on the farm with her mother and no idea who her father is. Not only is her life very humble, she has no friends, as everyone believes her to be the girl not good enough for the chickens. Her only friend is Gabriel, who sees the good in her and wants what’s best. The rest of the town couldn’t care at all for Tem, and one of the worst is Vera, who constantly teases her for not being good enough for any guy in town. Vera likes to rub this in, as both she and Tem are getting ready for a series of weeks of training with the basilisk. For them, long ago, there was a war, and the basilisks failed, leaving them to stay away from the humans. That is, until there is a new prince, then the village girls will be trained in seduction by the basilisks to fight for the prince.

Tem goes to her first night with the basilisks. She finds her cave, where her teacher is inside. He turns out to be the infamous Serpent King, Caspen. He tends to always teach the winning girls. She is intimidated by him, but they talk about her life, relaxing her a little. He won’t kiss or have sex with her until he feels like she is ready.

After some time goes on, Tem learns all sorts of other things from Caspen, enough that she feels somewhat confident when the ball to meet the king happens. The problem Tem has is she is falling for Caspen, and she doesn’t want to meet the prince. But the prince ends up finding her and introduces himself as Leo. The two then offer some playful banter, with Tem being bold in what she does to him. Even after their flirting, by the end of the night, Leo cuts two of the girls from the trials and puts Tem in last place, and she is angry.

Caspen and her continue their training, where they finally share a kiss. Their bond gets stronger. Caspen is able to speak every once in a while to Tem. But along with that, Tem starts to hear another voice in her head, but the voice never responds back to her.

The second trial arrives, and once again, Tem has still fallen for Caspen and doesn’t want to go for Leo. The trial that night is to kiss the prince. Tem is the last to do so, and it is a fiery kiss, one that gets her the top spot for the night. Not only that, she continues to play hard to get with the prince, which makes him want her more.

Because Tem won the trial, she gets a date with Leo the next night. He invites her to meet his family, where she finds that his father is terrible and doesn’t think very highly of Tem. They leave the family, and Leo continues his flirting skills with her during a private dinner. But because she keeps playing hard to get, Leo doesn’t know where she stands, so he leaves her to think about it. Tem overhears a conversation between Leo and his father, where his father says Tem is a nobody farm girl and he needs to pick someone else. He continues to talk about how he should know better, being as the last girl he had was a mistake as well.

The next couple of days are a bit rocky for Caspen and Tem. Caspen seems upset that she is flirting with Leo, and it puts them back a few steps. However, they get closer again. That is, until Caspen accidentally starts to transform into his basilisk form. Tem doesn’t leave when he does so, and he almost harms her. He tells her to get out. That night, not liking how Tem and Caspen left things, she reaches out via her mind and finds out that she too can talk to Caspen in her mind. They make up again, but things go on tentatively when Caspen says they should not talk like that.

The third trial takes place. This time, each girl has 60 seconds with Leo to show him what they have to offer. Before any of the girls have their chance, Leo and Tem have a lot of flirting, but it turns into a bit of a tiff. But when Tem goes in for her 60 seconds, he doesn’t time her. Instead, they talk until she starts to kiss him. It is another passionate kiss, and Leo tries to convince her to do more.

Back with Caspen, the two finally have sex, and their bond grows even more. Tem believes the two are made for each other, and she just can’t get enough of him. But she isn’t sure what to think about him when she finds out that he killed for her. But she can’t figure out how she feels, because it’s the next challenge; Leo will meet with both Tem and Caspen. The meeting goes terribly, as Caspen leaves, and Leo finds out that Tem cares for and loves Caspen. Leo says he will share if he has to but ends up letting her go so she can go find Caspen.

When she meets back with Caspen, she also meets another basilisk, Rowe, who has a vendetta against Caspen and realizes that he can use Tem against him. Caspen wants to protect her even more now. So when they have sex together, Caspen gives her some venom, a way to protect her from being crested—essentially a way for Rowe to bind the two of them together and make her be his slave. Caspen also mentions that the necklace he gave was actually a declaration of his intent to marry her. Tem readily agrees, but Caspen says it won’t happen because he needs permission from his quiver, and they won’t agree to that.

While upset with Caspen, Tem finds herself with Leo, and after a night of flirting, she ends up deciding to sleep with Leo. Their intimate moment is cut short when Tem feels Caspen in her head, and it hurts, as he feels jealous. Leo holds Tem all night, saying it is fine, but it just makes Tem realize she loves both men, and she doesn’t know who to choose.

Caspen then tells her what is expected to be part of the quiver, and if they are to be engaged, she needs to have sex with his father, the king. After witnessing the humans get upset with Leo, Tem decides she wants to do the ritual so she can be with Caspen. The ritual takes place, and many of the quiver are there to watch it happen. Once she finishes with the king, she goes straight for Caspen, and once again, everyone watches.

Even after everything that Tem has given up, Caspen is still keeping secrets from her, and she gets angry. She goes to Leo for comfort but is eventually led back to Caspen, as they are now officially engaged. Now that she has been brought into their pack, she needs to continue with the plan of seducing the prince so she can win the tournament and crest everyone there, thus giving the basilisks the power to rule over the humans. Tem agrees to the plan, on the condition that Leo and his sister are spared.

Still angry with Caspen, Tem gets an invite to Leo’s party, as she is one of three finalists. During the party, Leo and Tem share an intimate moment together, and she starts to panic because she was not able to hear Caspen the whole time she was with Leo. She goes to Caspen to figure out what is wrong, and he takes her to Adelaid (Caspen’s ex-fiancée), and her best guess is that Caspen tried to bond her, which failed the basilisk side of her, and now that side of her is slowly dying. Her best guess: Tem has a week left to live with the basilisk side before she becomes fully human. Tem starts to panic because she is reminded that her life is linked to Caspen’s, specifically the basilisk side.

Tem decides to tell Leo everything because Leo found out that she’s still meeting with Caspen. He says he will not pick her unless she lets go of Caspen, so in response, she decides to show him all of the basilisks that his father is keeping in the prison and teaches him about blood leading (the reason why the king is keeping them in the prison). She then says that the two of them can work together to create a better kingdom, but that they also need to meet with Caspen so they can all be on the same page. After Tem is forced to be a mediator, the two boys talk, and Caspen agrees that Leo can be saved, as long as it makes Tem happy. When she goes back with Leo, he officially proposes to her, saying he could never live a happy life if she wasn’t in it. She accepts, and they plan their wedding for the next day.

Before the wedding, the basilisks join, and Bastion comes up to her to make sure the plan will still happen. That is when Tem realizes what his plan is—he will crest her after she crests everyone else. He is motivated by power, and after Tem crests everyone, she will be the most powerful. Bastion basically confirms that is his plan but says if she doesn’t follow through, there will be death. The wedding is quick so Leo’s father can’t veto it quickly. After the marriage, Leo is officially crowned king, and Bastion goes into her mind and tells her to crest them. She refuses, and war breaks out amongst the humans and basilisks.

As Bastion transforms and attacks Tem, Caspen jumps in and tears his father apart, but not before he brutally injures Tem, causing her to pass out. When she wakes back up, Bastion is dead, making it so Caspen will be the next king. But Tem is so injured that she can’t heal herself, and there is only one way for her to gain power and heal herself—she needs to crest someone. After debating, they bring Leo in, and he volunteers to be crested. Tem can’t handle it though, knowing that Leo is basically just a slave for her, so Tem gives him a command: to go look for his long-lost love, Evalyn; his father should know where she is. Caspen and Tem go back to the caves together, realizing that they have many decisions to make together but are happy to just be together before they have to do so.

Leo, meanwhile, finds his father and puts him in the prison. While interrogating him, he learns that his father bought off Evalyn—making Leo feel terrible that his love could be bought off. His father mentions that Evalyn is in the city right next to theirs. Leo decides to go looking for her and finds her.