Page 58 of Bitten By the Basilisk

Like Nic, he wore gold cuffs above his wrists, although Silas’s were even larger and set with more red gems. Multiple rings adorned his hands, and his upper arms had two sets of gold bands.

Rather than a crown, he wore a gold circlet shaped like a snake wrapped around his head, and his gold fringe earrings were so long they brushed his shoulders.

How could someone so handsome be real, let alone infatuated with her?

“One moment,” she whispered to Nic, her pulse spiking as she prepared to awaken her ability—and possibly break her heart. They paused at the threshold of the rear bailey.

Engaging her True Sight had become easier over the last day. As it revealed the invisible to her, she ignored the many magical auras within view, the largest being the spell that kept hundreds of candles suspended overhead, and instead focused on perceiving any red threads, specifically any that led to Silas.

While some of the guests were indeed connected by the red thread of fate—more pairings, in fact, than she’d ever seen at one time—none of them were tied to him. She blew out an enormous sigh of relief.

“All good?” Nic asked. She didn’t see a red thread for him, either.

She nodded, her shoulders relaxing. “I’m ready now.”

Silas hadn’t yet noticed her, as he was conversing with several other serpent-folk and she was a head shorter than those around her, but a few nearby guests looked at her with curiosity.

She fought the urge to shrink away from their glances, instead watching her step and keeping her back straight as she and Nic wove their way through the crowd. Nearly everyone had their tail coiled to maintain a bit of personal space, and yet Nic ended up politely excusing their passage twice.

The moment Silas turned his gaze in her direction, his courteous expression transformed into awe, his lips parting, his posture straightening. He appeared to excuse himself, and his tail uncoiled, sliding and twisting, pushing him toward her.

The way he swayed as he glided to meet her made her core clench and melt at the same time. He looked both powerful and graceful—a king in his prime.

“You made it,” he said, holding his hand out to her. His smile looked relaxed, but she detected relief as well.

“I…couldn’t talk myself out of it,” she bantered, struggling to remain nonchalant as he drew her toward him. He smelled amazing. Looked even better up close.

His golden gaze slowly slid down her body. As it traveled back up, he made a long, low hum of appreciation. “You look exquisite,” he purred before pressing his lips to the back of her hand.

Her cheeks flushed hot. Though she knew Silas possessed a lethal amount of charisma, it unfortunately didn’t make her impervious to such an honest display of desire—in front of so many of his kind, no less.

“Thank you,” she managed to say without stammering, only to gasp softly as something cool and smooth touched her ankle, curling around it. She glanced downward to confirm the tip of his tail had found its way into the slit of her skirt.

“I won’t be able to focus on anything but you tonight,” he said in a low, sultry voice, “other than when I might get to steal you away.”

The sentiment was undeniably mutual.

No! Be strong, Alice!

“You’re quite handsome yourself. I can’t help feeling a tad underdressed,” she said, her gaze flitting across his many accessories to linger on his body chain. Her fingertips tingled with the desire to feel his skin, not to mention his scales.

“Allow me to fix that,” he said, withdrawing his tail from her leg.

“Plated service begins in twenty, Boss,” Nic leaned in to say.

Silas nodded. “Plenty of time.”

He led her toward the back of the courtyard, minimizing the sway of his natural gait, his tail rasping against the well-swept stone pavers. She couldn’t help glancing behind them to admire the way his scales rippled.

What she wouldn’t give to be sitting at an easel right now, capturing the beauty and strength of his shifted form.

Sensing a growing number of curious stares that had her noticing more and more scattered whispers, she risked glancing at those around them as surreptitiously as possible.

No one seemed appalled to see her walking beside Silas, at least until she spotted an older male serpent-folk scowling at her, his face so similar to Silas’s that she instantly knew who he was. His tail was also gold but a much lighter shade.

Okay, maybe “scowling” was overstating it, but her intuition was certain his father’s expression wasn’t merely a case of “resting bitch face.”

She broke eye contact, only to discover another, younger male serpent-folk assessing her with a deep furrow between his eyebrows. He had short blond hair, deep-set eyes, and wore a chocolate-brown tunic that paired well with his white-gold and diamond accessories and his cream-colored tail.