Page 176 of Between Two Kings

“The first tier is simple: it will involve only Caspenon and Rowe. They will transition, and they will fight for your hand.”

Tem didn’t like that at all. “And then?”

“The remaining contenders will give a…demonstration.”

“A demonstration of what?”

“Of…virility.”

Tem crossed her arms. “I’m going to need exact details.”

Adelaide smiled. “Is this how you are with Caspenon? Your persistence is rather exhausting.”

“Yes.”

The beautiful basilisk chuckled.

Tem just shook her head. “Details, please.”

Adelaide was still smiling as she said, “The remaining contenders will bring themselves to climax in your honor.”

Tem stared at her blankly. “In my honor? And what exactly is the point of that?”

“It is meant to impress you. The men who can finish the quickest are the most qualified to wed you.”

“The quickest? Shouldn’t it be the opposite?”

“Not in this case. They will be touching themselves to the sight of you; if it takes them too long to come, you should view that as an insult.”

Tem was having a very difficult time wrapping her mind around this. But she supposed that, in some twisted way, it made sense. She wouldn’t want to be with someone who wasn’t turned on by her. Still, she couldn’t imagine a group of men staring at her and stroking themselves all at once. She was just one woman.

“You said there were three tiers. What happens in the final tier?”

Now Adelaide fell silent.

But Tem already knew where this was going. She should have known the moment the tournament was mentioned at all. “Let me guess,” she whispered. “I have to have sex with them.”

“Yes,” Adelaide said simply. “You do.”

It was a testament to her indoctrination into basilisk culture that the news didn’t faze Tem whatsoever. Her human side might have recoiled at the thought, but the basilisk side nearly roared with delight. Warm, lush anticipation filled her center. She thought of the ritual—of how she’d fucked Caspen’s father in Kora’s palms.

“And how exactly am I supposed to do that?” Tem asked.

“The men will line up and you will take them one after the other.”

Tem’s mouth fell open. “I have to fuck them all in a row?”

“Yes. We do it this way so that it is easy for you to determine who is best. It is meant to be quite straightforward.”

Tem almost laughed. The thought of going down a line of twelve men was preposterous. Nothing about this was straightforward. But she understood how it seemed that way to Adelaide, how, in her mind, riding one cock after another was the best way to test their worth. Tem had stopped trying to find reason within their customs a long time ago. Now she simply took it as it came and tried not to lose her mind.

“Once you have completed the final tier, your heart will make its choice.” Adelaide said.

“I will choose Caspen.”

“You may. Or you may choose someone else.”

“How can you say that?”