Page 23 of Split or Swallow

Tem followed him to the mat. Just like last time, he splayed his hands and said:

“Whenever you are ready.”

This time Tem didn’t demand that he undress first. Instead, she pulled her clothes off slowly, letting them drop to the ground in an easy pile. Caspen watched her, his mouth still tilted in a smile. He wasn’t even touching her yet, but Tem could feel his power from here. Without a word, he undressed too, and once again she let her eyes wander over his infuriatingly perfect body. Gabriel was right. Caspen was delicious.

Tem felt the same surge of power when she saw he was already on his way to being hard. It was incredible knowing he was hard because of her. It felt like the most intoxicating thing in the world to have this effect on him—to finally be perceived by someone other than her mother and Vera—someone who mattered.

“Lie on your back,” Caspen said.

She did so.

“Open your legs.”

She did so, and he knelt between them, pulling her thighs around his so he was centered above her. This wasn’t the first time she’d been exposed in front of him, but it was the first time he’d touched her, and the second his skin met hers, Tem felt a jolt of energy so strong that her heartbeat would not be soothed.

The claw was still inside her, and Caspen caressed the tip of it with his finger. He wasn’t touching her yet—just the claw—but he was so close that Tem could feel herself getting wet just from the thought.

“Did you enjoy what I sent you?” he asked quietly.

“Yes,” she nodded, hoping he would send another pulse right now. But he did⁠n’t. Instead, he slid his finger along the curve of the claw and pulled it out in a single, smooth motion.

Tem gasped at the sudden emptiness.

Caspen set the claw aside. His hands returned to grip her thighs, pulling her even closer. Tem had never felt so vulnerable.

He paused.

Tem had absolutely no idea what to expect, and briefly debated asking what they were about to do. Thankfully, Caspen spoke before she had the chance to:

“In order to understand a man’s body, you must first understand yours,” he said, his eyes tracing over her. “Do you know your own anatomy?”

Tem felt her inexperience rear its head once more.

“I’m… not sure what you mean,” she whispered.

Caspen extended his fingers, trailing them gently up her thighs. When he reached the center of her legs, he touched the most sensitive part of her, brushing against it with his fingertip. Tem had only touched that part herself, and now that Caspen was doing it she feared she might go slightly insane.

“I mean,” he continued, “do you know what this is called?”

“No,” Tem managed to say, and it was the truth.

“A clitoris.”

Tem had no idea it had a name. She knew it only as the part she teased just before she was about to finish—the part the tapered end of the claw pressed against, which throbbed with pleasure whenever Caspen sent a pulse.

“The prince may play with it,” he said.

“Play with it?”

“Yes. Like this.”

Caspen applied pressure with his finger, the veins in his arm flexing suddenly as he rubbed her clitoris hard. Tem cried out in surprise and pleasure. She could barely think, much less speak. Yet she felt the need to say:

“Am I to be played with?”

Caspen withdrew his hand. The sudden absence of his fingers left her cold. He leaned in, and Tem flinched at the hardness in his eyes.

“You are to do exactly what the prince wants. If he wants to play with you, you will let him. If he wants to do anything at all, you will let him.”