Kneel Before Me by Lindsay Straube

Here is a summary with spoilers for Kneel Before Me by Lindsay Straube

Kneel Before Me is a prequel to Kiss of the Basilisk and follows Daphne Verus, Tem’s mother, about twenty years before the events of the first book.

Basilisks live beneath the mountain near the human village and are divided into competing quivers, including the Drakons and Senecas. Basilisk status is measured through magical vials and rankings that increase through sexual activity and competition. The human village participates in a competition in which young women are trained by basilisks to compete for the human prince’s attention and his hand in marriage. The basilisk whose student succeeds gains status within the basilisk hierarchy. At the same time, Serpent King Bastian has called for a rare Ranking that could determine who eventually succeeds him. Bastian wants his son Caspen to eliminate Kronos Seneca, a rising rival, by cresting him, but Caspen refuses because cresting a basilisk in this circumstance is essentially an act of murder and one of the worst crimes in their society. Caspen is also involved with Harmony, a Seneca basilisk who has sexual relationships with both Caspen and his brother Apollo and uses the debt created by taking both brothers’ virginities to maintain control over them.

Daphne, twenty years old, is assigned to Kronos Seneca as her basilisk trainer. She immediately tells him that she will not have sex with him or with the prince. Her position comes from a humiliating encounter with a village boy named Benjamin, who lured her away under false pretenses and then insulted and degraded her when she refused to sleep with him. She doesn’t want to be known as the town whore. Daphne decides that she will not have penetrative sex again until she genuinely loves the person involved. Kronos is surprised by her refusal because sexual activity is central to basilisk culture and status, but he accepts the boundary rather than forcing her. Their early training sessions therefore consist largely of conversation instead of physical training. They gradually learn about one another, and Daphne becomes interested in Kronos’s unusual Y-shaped mark and constellation-like freckles. Although Daphne initially wants nothing to do with the competition, Kronos insists that she must participate because his own standing depends on having a successful competitor.

Daphne is eventually brought to the castle and meets Prince Maximus. Maximus is still grieving his wife, Lilibet, who died giving birth to their daughter Lilly. Daphne leaves the party to celebrate the prince, and hears a baby crying. She goes to the child and comforts her. Maximus comes in and scolds her for holding his daughter. The two make an understanding and he is ok that she is in there. Maximus has no interest in choosing another wife, while Daphne has no intention of becoming sexually available to him. They therefore make an arrangement that benefits both of them: Maximus will select Daphne as his preferred candidate, which would anger his controlling father, Augustus, and potentially cause Augustus to cancel the marriage. Daphne agrees because participating satisfies Kronos’s requirement that she compete.

One of the first events is an actual date. Daphne goes, but they end it early because she is cold. Maximus runs her a bath and he than gets to see her naked, but nothing else happens. During the early competition events, including the Showing and the timed Frisky Sixty, Daphne continues to advance while keeping Maximus at a distance; she even manages to get him to undress rather than her be undressed. During her first significant encounter with Maximus, she is able to maintain her promise to herself while still impressing him, and he begins to become genuinely interested in her rather than simply treating their arrangement as a political maneuver.

Daphne’s relationship with Kronos develops at the same time. Kronos begins giving her dresses and spending time with her outside their formal lessons. He walks her home through the forest even though doing so is dangerous for a basilisk, and when he wants to kiss her, he explicitly asks permission first. Daphne realizes that this is the first time a man has asked her for consent instead of assuming that he is entitled to her. Kronos explains more about basilisk society and tells her that his power and ranking have suffered because he refuses to pressure her into sexual activity. Daphne also begins secretly going beneath the mountain to find him. Agnes, Caspen’s younger sister, is fascinated by humans and helps Daphne reach Kronos despite Caspen’s orders. Daphne and Kronos become increasingly intimate while maintaining her rule against intercourse. When another basilisk woman expects to have sex with Kronos because communal sexual relationships are normal among basilisks, Daphne is hurt by the realization that their understanding of love is different. Kronos explains that this is how basilisk relationships traditionally work, but he ultimately offers to be exclusive to Daphne if that is what she needs.

Maximus also begins falling in love with Daphne. Their original agreement was supposed to be a way of manipulating Augustus and ending the marriage competition, but Maximus eventually admits that he genuinely wants Daphne to marry him. Daphne cannot give him the same commitment because she is increasingly attached to Kronos. Maximus becomes jealous after discovering letters Kronos has written to Daphne. At the same time, the conflict between the Drakon and Seneca quivers becomes more dangerous. Bastian continues pressuring Caspen to deal with Kronos. Caspen eventually attacks Kronos, but instead of killing him, he bites him and creates a parasitic connection that allows Caspen to siphon Kronos’s power. Kronos is badly injured and manages to reach Daphne. As the siphoning continues to affect him, Daphne decides that she must do something to save him and asks Kronos to crest her. Kronos initially does not want to do it because he understands that the crest gives him magical control over her, but Daphne insists. The crest saves Kronos’s life and heals his injuries, but it creates a new problem: the two of them have become magically connected, and if the bond is not consummated, the crest will eventually kill them both.

Maximus’s relationship with Daphne deteriorates further as his feelings become stronger. He wants her to become his wife, while Daphne remains committed to Kronos and to her own boundaries. Maximus also learns about the secret beneath the castle. Augustus reveals that the royal family’s wealth comes from bloodletting: basilisks are imprisoned in the castle dungeon and their blood is used to create gold. Maximus learns that the practice has been occurring beneath the palace, meaning that the human royal family has been exploiting imprisoned basilisks for its wealth. Despite what he learns, Maximus does not immediately reject the system. Instead, he becomes involved in the political arrangement surrounding the bloodletting.

Daphne agrees to become Kronos’s guest in the three-day Ranking, giving him an opportunity to increase his position among the basilisks. The first challenge requires Kronos to satisfy Daphne twelve times while she is blindfolded, and they successfully complete the challenge. The second challenge requires the guests and hosts to rotate, meaning Daphne would have to participate with other basilisks. Kronos refuses to allow anyone else to touch her and forfeits the challenge instead. His ranking drops significantly because of that decision. The third challenge takes place at an underground sacred lake and involves the participants on floating platforms while the basilisk crowd creates movement in the water. Daphne still refuses full intercourse, so she finds another way to participate while maintaining her boundary. During the challenge, strange basilisks from the sea appear, and they carry the same Y-shaped mark that Kronos has. Kronos eventually begins shifting into his serpent form and accidentally injures Daphne before she loses consciousness. They nevertheless win the challenge, although Caspen ultimately wins the overall Ranking.

After the Ranking, Queen Deltene examines Daphne and realizes that the crest between Daphne and Kronos has not been consummated. She tells Daphne that the bond will eventually kill both of them if they do not complete it. Daphne initially believes that Kronos may have intentionally engineered the situation to force her into having sex with him. Kronos is devastated by the accusation and makes it clear that he would rather die than violate the promise he made to her. Daphne believes him and chooses to have sex with him for the first time because she has genuinely fallen in love with him. Afterward, Daphne tells Kronos that she loves him, and his basilisk ranking rises above Caspen’s. Their relationship has therefore moved from a training arrangement into a genuine relationship based on Daphne choosing Kronos for herself.

The political situation then collapses. Deltene secretly loves Solomon, a Seneca basilisk, even though she is blood-bonded to Bastian. She deliberately breaks that bond by sleeping with Solomon. The violation activates the consequences of the blood bond, forcing Bastian to kill her. Caspen and Apollo try to intervene, but Bastian snaps Deltene’s neck. Bastian then orders Apollo to crest Solomon, but Apollo cannot bring himself to do it. Caspen takes Apollo’s place and performs the forbidden act himself, knowing that doing so will make him a pariah. Bastian’s vial begins to drain, creating a possibility that the Serpent King could lose his position, but Kora ultimately does not transfer the throne to Kronos, so Bastian remains king.

The aftermath becomes chaotic. Bastian’s loyalists seize Kronos and Harmony. Agnes, who has become an ally to Daphne, tries to protect Daphne when another basilisk begins transitioning and attacks. Agnes throws herself between Daphne and the basilisk and is killed. Before her death, Agnes realizes that Daphne is pregnant with Kronos’s child, something believed to be impossible between a human and a basilisk. Maximus then arrives with human palace guards. Daphne initially believes he has come to help her, but it becomes clear that Maximus has secretly negotiated with Bastian to obtain basilisks for the royal bloodletting operation. Maximus specifically wants Kronos. Kronos is taken away to be used as part of the system that turns basilisk blood into royal wealth.

Before Kronos is taken, he uses the magical power of the crest to command Daphne not to follow him and not to search for him. He also commands her to forget what they mean to each other until fate brings them together again. Because the command is connected to their crest, Daphne is unable to simply ignore it. She later confronts Maximus after learning the full truth about the bloodletting. She refuses his marriage proposal and rejects the royal system that he has chosen to support. Maximus responds by insulting and degrading her rather than accepting her decision. Daphne tells him that he will never hear her voice again. Kronos is taken away, and Daphne is left pregnant with his child without knowing whether she will ever see him again.

The story then jumps forward twenty years. Maximus eventually marries Constance, who had previously been one of Caspen’s students. Constance dies giving birth to their son, Thelonius. Maximus becomes an increasingly cruel king and expands the bloodletting system rather than ending it. He even wears a golden cuff made from Kronos’s blood, making Kronos’s captivity physically part of his royal status. Caspen also remains trapped in basilisk politics. He accepts an arranged marriage intended to unite the quivers, but the marriage does not redeem him or resolve the damage caused by his earlier choices. The story’s Caspen sections therefore show how the political and family conflicts surrounding him eventually lead toward the version of him seen later in the series.

Daphne raises her daughter alone and names her Temperance. Because Kronos commanded Daphne to forget their relationship, her memories of him gradually disappear, although the effects of their relationship remain in her life through their daughter. Daphne lives on a chicken farm, where the roosters provide protection from basilisks. She does not form another serious relationship and remains focused on raising Temperance. The story establishes that Daphne and Tem have parallel experiences: both eventually become involved in the basilisk competition, both become connected to basilisk men, and both are caught between the human royal world and basilisk society.

Twenty years after the events involving Daphne and Kronos, Thelonius begins the competition for his future wife. Temperance enters Caspen’s training cave as one of the human competitors. Caspen immediately senses that she is not an ordinary human, beginning the chain of events that leads directly into the story of Kiss of the Basilisk. The prequel therefore ends with Tem unknowingly entering the same competition that her mother entered twenty years earlier, while carrying the basilisk heritage inherited from Kronos.