Lindsay Straube’s Between Two Kings (2025) is the second installment in the Split or Swallow series, a romantasy saga. The novel picks up immediately after the first book’s conclusion, following protagonist Temperance “Tem” Verus. Tem is half-basilisk (a magical creature that shape shifts from human to snake) and half-human, a combination known as a “hybreed.” Now married to the formidable basilisk king, Caspen, Tem must navigate her new role as basilisk queen and learn to control her burgeoning powers. Her loyalties are tested as she remains bound to her former husband, human king Leo, creating a volatile love triangle with kingdom-wide consequences.

The novel blends a high-stakes fantasy plot with steamy romantic content to explore how personal desires can shape political destiny. This dynamic informs the novel’s exploration of themes such as Greed and Precarity As Drivers of Conflict, The Inevitable Conflict Between Love, Duty, and Fate, and Embracing Moral Ambiguity to Achieve Self-Acceptance.

This guide is based on the 2025 Bloom Books edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of graphic violence, sexual content, bullying, cursing, illness or death, substance use, and sexual violence and/or harassment.

Plot Summary

Temperance “Tem” Verus lives in a magical land populated by both basilisks (magical creatures that can shape shift between human form and the form of giant snakes) and humans. She has recently learned that she is a rare and powerful hybreed (half basilisk and half human). At the start of the novel, Tem is newly married to powerful basilisk king, Caspen. She and Caspen are deeply in love, but she is conflicted because she also loves Leo, who has recently assumed the throne of the human realm. A series of dramatic conflicts previously led Tem to “crest” Leo, engaging in a magical process by which a human becomes inexorably bound to the will of a basilisk. As a result, Leo is compelled to do whatever Tem tells him. Immediately after the crest, Tem told Leo to find Evelyn (his first love).

When the novel begins, Tem and Caspen live together in the caves that make up the basilisk colony. They rule as king and queen. Leo summons Tem to the castle to annul their marriage so that he will be free to marry Evelyn. Tem is still intensely attracted to Leo and jealous of his new relationship. To her surprise, Leo proposes that he, Evelyn, Tem, and Caspen begin having weekly dinners to foster peace between their kingdoms. The dinners are typically tense, revealing that Tem dislikes and distrusts Evelyn. Evelyn and Leo were in a relationship before he met Tem, but she disappeared abruptly one day, breaking Leo’s heart. Since their reunion, Evelyn has claimed that she left because she received a forged letter and mistakenly believed that Leo had rejected her. Tem is skeptical of this story, although it seems plausible that Leo’s father, Maximus (who disapproved of the relationship) would have forged the letter.

Between the dinners, Tem becomes more immersed in basilisk culture. She meets Caspen’s alluring brother, Apollo. Apollo aggressively pursues Tem and Caspen explains that he has no objection to them sleeping together. In fact, Caspen tells Tem that she can explore her sexuality with anyone she chooses, as often as she likes. However, she can never fall in love with anyone else. Caspen and Tem share a blood bond (a deep emotional tie which they forged when Caspen gave her a pendant fashioned out gold derived from his own blood). He cautions her that, should she ever have sex with someone she sincerely loves, a curse will be activated, and he will be compelled to kill her. This information makes Tem nervous, since she knows she still harbors love and desire for Leo.

Meanwhile, political unrest undermines both the human and basilisk kingdoms. Two basilisk clans, the Drakons (Caspen’s family) and the Senecas, experience increasingly strained relations. Since Tem’s basilisk side is descended from the Seneca clan, they are angry that she married into the Drakon clan and resent that they do not have access to her hybreed power. The Senecas are led by a powerful basilisk named Rowe, who has a long-standing feud with Caspen (after a clash between Rowe and Caspen early in Caspen and Tem’s relationship, Caspen brutally castrated Rowe).

The human kingdom is facing an economic crisis: The human royals formerly relied on abducting basilisks and painfully extracting their blood to turn it into gold. Tem urged Leo to stop this practice when he became king, and he agreed, but neither of them realized what the economic impact would be. To Tem’s dismay, the humans in the village where she grew up now face food shortages, since what wealth remains goes directly to the royals.

These food shortages anger the villagers, who blame the basilisks. Their anger is heightened because Caspen previously killed two boys from the village by petrifying them (turning them to stone); unbeknownst to the villagers, this was an act of revenge after they sexually assaulted Tem. Gabriel, Tem’s best friend, becomes involved in leading protests and uprisings in the village. For her part, Evelyn urges Leo to reinstate bloodletting, which causes even more friction between her and Tem and Caspen.

Tem takes steps to resolve these conflicts. She invites Gabriel to observe basilisk festivities, hoping he will gain an appreciation of their culture. She also volunteers to have her blood drained, attempting to offset the financial losses and restore economic stability. The former plan is successful, and Gabriel even falls in love with Damon (another of Caspen’s brothers). While Tem is having her blood drained, she questions Maximus (Leo’s father) but he denies Evelyn’s story about a forged letter. He explains that he offered Evelyn money to leave Leo, and she readily consented. Meanwhile, Caspen and Tem’s marriage is becoming increasingly strained by their diverging loyalties. He is hurt and angry when he finds out Apollo taught Tem how to petrify after he refused to do so.

The couple faces a more serious challenge when Rowe formally contests their marriage. This sets in motion a traditional basilisk ritual in which Caspen and other basilisks compete in a tournament; at the end, Tem will be magically compelled to choose whoever she loves the most. Tem is terrified that her conflicting feelings for Leo will prevent her from affirming her love for Caspen. Thankfully, with help from Apollo, she chooses Caspen and cements their marriage bond.

By this point, Tem has become worried about her inability to transition into basilisk form and Leo’s visibly declining health. She realizes that because Leo is a human whom she truly loves, her crest requires consummation: They must have sex to affirm their bond. The longer they go without doing so, the more they both weaken. However, because she loves Leo, having sex with him will activate the blood bond curse and compel Caspen to kill her. Tem is unable to make this terrible choice and delays by having intimate encounters with Leo but stopping short of intercourse. She is also distracted by an attack on the basilisk colony that causes significant loss of life.

On the night of Evelyn and Leo’s wedding, Evelyn admits to Tem that she was bribed to leave Leo. She also reveals that she has found the intimate love letters that Leo writes to Tem as a way of working through his unrequited feelings. Leo begs Tem to use the power of the crest to compel him to call off the wedding; she refuses but tells him that Evelyn left him for money. Leo is furious with both women and sends her away. Later, Caspen asks Tem to invite Leo to the basilisk caves so he can formally apologize for the attack on behalf of the human villagers. Tem agrees and Leo comes to the caves; by now, his relationship with Evelyn has ended. Violent and chaotic events break out as the Seneca basilisks attempt to seize power by force. Unexpectedly, Caspen tells Tem and Leo to have sex immediately.

Caspen explains that Tem is the only one strong enough to defeat Rowe (who has been siphoning power from Caspen after wounding him in the tournament) but that she needs her powers restored by consummating the crest. Tem worries about unleashing the curse of the blood bond, but Caspen promises that he has a plan. Tem and Leo have sex, consummating the crest. Her full powers are restored, and Leo is saved. Rowe arrives to kill Tem, and Caspen is now also compelled by the curse to kill her. Apollo intercepts Caspen while Tem fights Rowe, killing him. However, to Tem’s horror, Apollo reveals that, at Caspen’s request, he is going to kill his brother. Now that the curse is unleashed, Caspen will never stop trying to kill Tem and this was the only way to defeat Rowe. Caspen has also accepted that Leo is Tem’s true love.

Apollo delivers a fatal bite to Caspen’s neck. As Caspen dies in her arms, their blood bond breaks. Tem’s basilisk side dies with him, though a few of her magical powers remain. After a period of grieving, Tem leaves the caves as the basilisks, now led by Apollo, retreat to the sea. Tem reunites with Leo, and they remarry. Leo gives her the letters he wrote, which include a final letter from Caspen. Caspen reveals that Evelyn arranged for him to find the letters, but they made him understand the depth of Leo and Tem’s love. Caspen willingly sacrificed himself for Tem’s happiness.