Lindsay Straube’s debut novel, Kiss of the Basilisk (2025), is a fantasy romance, or “romantasy,” and the inaugural installment of the Split or Swallow series. The novel centers on Temperance “Tem” Verus, a young woman who is chosen to participate in an annual competition for the prince’s hand in marriage. The competition requires her to learn the art of seduction from a basilisk—a powerful, shapeshifting creature that can assume the form of a man or a serpent. Tem is paired with Caspen and as their relationship intensifies, she also develops a complicated relationship with the human prince, Leo, forcing her to navigate a dangerous love triangle while uncovering secrets that threaten the fragile peace between their two worlds. The book explores themes such as The Corrupting Influence of Absolute Power, Self-Acceptance Resulting from the Embrace of Duality and Navigating the Conflict Between Personal Desire and Societal Duty.

Straube first gained a following on social media before self-publishing Kiss of the Basilisk online, where it became a viral sensation on platforms like TikTok and a Kindle Unlimited bestseller. The novel was then acquired for traditional publication by Bloom Books, an imprint of Sourcebooks known for championing popular online romance and fantasy titles. Upon its wider release, the book became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, solidifying its place within the popular romantasy subgenre. The sequel, Between Two Kings (2025), is the next book in the series, and follows Tem’s ongoing adventures.

This guide refers to the 2025 Bloom Books edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of graphic violence, sexual content, sexual assault, bullying, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and cursing.

Plot Summary

Temperance “Tem” Verus is a 20-year-old woman who lives in a fantastical land populated by both humans and basilisks (shape-shifting creatures who can appear as humans and giant snakes). Prior to Tem’s lifetime, humans and basilisks warred with one another, but they now live under a fragile truce. The basilisks are confined to a network of caves outside of human habitation. Periodically, when a human prince is ready to take a bride, the women who are the same age as him participate in a competition. As the first step toward competing for the prince’s favor, the young women undergo training with the basilisks. The basilisks are hyper-sexual and prepare the young women by initiating them into sexuality.

At the start of the novel, Leo (the prince of the human realm) is ready to take a wife, and since she is the right age, Tem is part of the cohort who will compete to be selected. Tem has been raised by a single mother and lives on a modest chicken farm. No one expects her to impress the prince, since she comes from such a low social and economic position within the village. When Tem begins her training, she is paired with Caspen, a strikingly handsome basilisk. Caspen can communicate telepathically with Tem, and as their relationship progresses and intimacy increases, she can speak with him through her mind as well.

As the competition unfolds, Tem is ambivalent about Leo, who is handsome and charismatic but also arrogant and entitled. Leo’s interest is piqued by Tem’s forthright nature and refusal to be intimidated by him. As women are eliminated from the competition, Leo increasingly makes it clear that he desires her. However, Leo’s interest in Tem is opposed by his father, King Maximus, who believes that Tem’s low social standing makes her unworthy of becoming a royal bride. Whenever Tem visits the palace for events associated with the competition, she hears a strange voice communicating with her telepathically, pleading for help and warning her of danger.

After Tem is sexually assaulted by two boys from the village, she tells Caspen what happened and he kills them in revenge. Caspen also reveals that the royal family has been abducting basilisks and imprisoning them in the castle, where they are tortured with painful bloodletting rituals so that their blood can be alchemized into gold. As time passes, Tem finds herself experiencing love and attraction to both Leo and Caspen, leaving her confused about how to reconcile these feelings. Caspen explains that he has chosen her to be his mate, but his clan is unwilling to accept her, since humans and basilisks do not usually marry. To prove her worth as his bride, Tem undergoes a ritual in which she sexually satisfies both Caspen and his father, the ruling king of the basilisks. Tem is accepted as Caspen’s mate, and the future queen of the basilisks.

After the ritual, Caspen reveals to Tem that she is a “hybreed”: half-human and half-basilisk. Her mother, Daphne, conceived Tem while training with Kronos, a powerful basilisk from the Seneca clan. Kronos has been abducted and is one of the basilisks held captive at the castle (Tem has been hearing his voice whenever she visits the castle). Tem’s hybreed nature makes her exceptionally powerful. Bastian, Caspen’s ruthless and power-hungry father, learned of Tem’s true nature during the ritual and now wants her to play a role in his plan to restore basilisk power over humans.

“Cresting” refers to a ritualistic exchange of power in which a basilisk or hybreed can draw strength and vitality from either another basilisk or a human. When a human is crested, he or she becomes permanently and inexorably bound to the basilisk who crested them: They must obey their basilisk and lose all free will. Tem’s exceptional power as a hybreed means that she can crest the royal family, making it easy for the basilisks to assume power. Since everyone expects Tem will be selected as Leo’s bride, Bastian wants her to carry out the crest at the wedding. Tem is hesitant but Bastian threatens to engage in open war with the humans. Tem agrees, securing a promise that Leo and his family will be protected. This plan means that Tem must continue to participate in the competition and secure her position as Leo’s bride.

Bastian is particularly invested in this plan because there has been feuding and power struggles between two basilisk clans (the Drakons and the Senecas). Rowe Seneca, a powerful basilisk, carries a deep hatred toward Caspen, and by extension, Tem. He tries to crest Tem, but his attempt is foiled since Caspen has inoculated her with his venom (preventing her from being crested by any other basilisk). Furious, Caspen mutilates Rowe, who retaliates with a violent attack and nearly kills Caspen. Fearing that Caspen might die, Tem asks him to crest her, which he reluctantly does. The infusion of strength from the cresting allows Caspen to recover, but it is not immediately clear what the impact was on Tem (since hybreeds are so rare, no one knows how they react to cresting).

Tem moves into the castle for the final stage of the competition; her attraction to Leo continues to deepen. She also visits her father in the cells where the basilisks are held captive. Noticing strange symptoms in the days after the cresting, Tem consults Adelaide, a beautiful female basilisk from the Seneca clan. Adelaide suspects that cresting caused Tem’s basilisk nature to begin dying (if a basilisk crests another, the latter dies).

Tem decides to be honest and vulnerable with Leo: She reveals her hybreed nature and explains how the human royals have been torturing basilisks via bloodletting. Tem also reveals one other secret, which she has gleaned from Leo’s father: Months earlier, Leo was in love with a working-class girl named Evelyn, who mysteriously disappeared after Maximus objected to the relationship. Tem explains that Maximus got rid of Evelyn to ensure Leo couldn’t marry her. Leo accepts Tem’s hybreed identity and vows that as soon as he becomes king, he will outlaw bloodletting. The two of them cement their new bond by having sex and Tem feels as much pleasure with him as she does with Caspen.

Leo, Caspen, and Tem meet to discuss plans for the future; Leo promises to usher in a new era of peace and agrees to accept that, while living as his wife, Tem will continue to spend time with Caspen. Since Caspen and Tem will live much longer due to their basilisk natures, Leo only wants to claim time with Tem for his lifespan. Leo then ends the competition, announcing Tem as his chosen bride. The wedding is held the following evening, with both humans and basilisks in attendance.

Just before the wedding ceremony, Tem realizes that Bastian’s plan for her to crest the royals is a trap. Bastian wants to crest her himself immediately afterward, so that he can reabsorb the power she will have gained. Tem is caught in a terrible dilemma: Bastian threatens to kill Leo if she refuses to perform the crest. However, if she carries out the crest, Bastian will crest her in turn and this will kill her basilisk side (which will prompt Caspen’s death, since their blood bond means that if either of them dies, the other will as well). Finally, Tem realizes she can crest herself and draw the power from her human side to heal her basilisk side and strengthen her ability to resist Bastian. Before she can do so, the wedding ceremony begins. Tem and Leo are married, and Leo is crowned king. Then, the basilisks abruptly attack.

Amid the carnage, Tem and Caspen send Leo away to protect him. Caspen is injured in the fighting but Tem crests herself, utilizing her dual nature to restore their strength. When Bastian violently attacks her, Caspen fights with his father and eventually defeats him. He kills Bastian, claiming his place as the new king of the basilisks. The battle ends with heavy losses on both sides and Tem is severely wounded. Caspen suggests she crest Leo so that she can draw strength from the resulting energy transfer and heal. Leo readily consents, desperate to save Tem, although he does not know what a crest entails. Reluctantly, Tem crests Leo, leaving him bound to obey her for eternity. Not wanting to hurt him, Tem uses her newfound power to command Leo to find and reunite with Evelyn (his first love).

Tem and Caspen return to the basilisk world to begin ruling as king and queen. Leo orders his father (who fled from the battle) to be imprisoned, and liberates the basilisks, outlawing bloodletting. Tem’s parents reunite. Leo questions Maximus and learns that his father bribed Evelyn to abandon him. He locates her, and the novel ends with the two of them reuniting.