Page 108 of Bitten By the Basilisk

Cries of surprise filled the chamber as Lance threw up his forearm to protect his face, his expression one of startlement. Her fire hit as hard as a hefty rock, jolting his arm and splashing apart before disappearing.

Everyone turned to gape at her.

“Silas!” she cried out, pushing past a stunned serpent-folk who slithered out of her way.

Her mate whipped around, his brow tense, eyes searching. When they found her, relief seemed to overwhelm him.

Lance shot a glare at Eric, who was off to the side and staring at her with angry disbelief.

Silas wasted no time rushing over to meet her, pulling his jaw back together as he closed the distance. Once she finally reached him, her arms open, he scooped her against his chest and lifted her off the floor in a hug.

With the now-wrinkled gift bag dangling from her wrist, she wrapped her arms around his neck, not caring that he was sweaty, and squeezed him tight, wishing she could be even closer to him.

As though he read her mind, he wrapped part of his tail around her legs, supporting her. She remained half-aware of astonished voices around them, some echoing, but the voice in her ear had her full attention.

“Kitten,” he rasped, panting. “You’re safe. Stars above.”

“I’m okay,” she whispered back, unbearably touched that he was thinking only of her safety. “You don’t have to fight him anymore. Right?”

He gave her another squeeze before releasing her from his tail and setting her down, his silence worrying her. Bruno had appeared next to them, as confused as he was concerned, his bronze tail tightly coiled, ready to back up Silas. She imagined Nic was also on his way.

Silas inspected the bite wound she had been largely ignoring, cradling her arm in his clawed hands as carefully as if she were made of glass.

“Eric did this?” His expression was deceptively calm, but the way he trembled spoke to his fury, his tail whipping agitatedly behind him.

She gave a small nod. “I was on my way out the door.”

That detail only seemed to upset him further. He began stroking the inside of her wrist, as if needing to touch her. “How are you not still paralyzed?”

“My new power,” she revealed. “I kept it inside myself, just to feel warm, and it burned through the venom.”

He absorbed that with a tight sigh of relief and a nod, still staring at the twin puncture marks.

The violence in his eyes was striking, and yet he spoke to her with restraint and care. “I may not have to fight Lance…but I need to.”

Because she had been hurt. Terrorized. Alice didn’t need her ability to tell her she wouldn’t be able to talk him out of it. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to.

“Promise me you won’t get hurt,” she beseeched him. “At least…not any more than you already are.”

Silas crooked the corner of his lip. “Not planning on it, kitten.”

“Okay, then.” She rose onto her toes and kissed him right between his fangs, short and direct. “Go kick his ass.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Silas

Lance wasn’t smirking anymore and instead was jutting his chin in apparent defiance. Only the way his eyes darted around at everyone booing and hissing spoke to any fear.

His second, Eric, displayed his anxiety more openly, having curled his rusty brown tail protectively around his cringing figure, undoubtedly aware that his actions this evening would not go unpunished.

Once Silas had revealed Lance’s dishonor, his rival had tried to argue that Alice’s interference just now had also violated custom. Unfortunately for Lance, the other Basilisks and several elders agreed with Silas that she had been justified.

Many called for disfigurement and exile, for both Lance and his second. Many more called for their execution. All called for blood.

“Let honorable combat decide their fate,” Silas proposed from the center of the main floor. The chamber quieted, watchful, as he pointed a clawed finger at Lance. “If you can draw blood in a fair fight with me, you and your second shall face disfigurement and exile. Otherwise, both of you shall die tonight.”

His proclamation incited a flurry of conversation. His parents, side by side on the dais, both maintained stoic expressions.