Page 23 of Pleasured By the Panther
“Come, lovely one. It is time to see the Dark Side and meet my friend.”
Miranda let him lead her, her heart still racing from the ride… and from the heat that refused to leave her body.
14
MIRANDA
Miranda had thought the Light Side of the Mother Ship was strange enough, with its luminous vines and corridors that seemed to breathe, but nothing prepared her for the Dark Side.
It was like stepping into another world.
The corridor opened into a vast jungle where towering trees reached so high their tops disappeared into shadow. But instead of being swallowed by darkness, the place glowed—everywhere she looked, neon blossoms flared in impossible colors—electric blue…Brilliant orange…soft pink…vivid green. Some flowers pulsed slowly, like heartbeats. Others glimmered in clusters, as if entire galaxies had bloomed beneath their leaves.
The air was thick with fragrance—sweet and spicy at once, intoxicating as perfume but sharper…wilder. She took a deep breath and it made her feel slightly lightheaded. Beneath her bare feet, the ground was carpeted with soft, springy moss, blue as a twilight sky. It was cool against her soles and gave slightly with every step, like she was walking on memory foam.
From somewhere nearby came the rush of water. She frowned, listening.
“I hear running water.”
“That’s the river that runs through the middle of the Mother Ship” Korrath explained. “It winds from one end to the other, watering her plants, feeding her heart. If you follow it long enough, you can see every corner of her body.”
“A river… inside a spaceship,” Miranda murmured, still trying to process.
He only smiled faintly. “The Mother Ship is alive. Do not think of her as steel and bolts—think of her as a world that chose to fold itself into a vessel.”
She shivered, hugging the leaf-dress closer around herself. Between the neon blossoms, the living moss, and the river whispering in the shadows, she almost felt like she had wandered into some alien fairytale.
Korrath’s warm hand curled around her elbow, steadying her as he guided her off the mossy path. Ahead, draped in gauzy white curtains that fluttered in an unseen breeze, stood a structure that looked like an enormous cocoon. It shimmered faintly, as though spun from threads of silk.
Miranda hesitated.
“What’s that?”
“The workshop,” Korrath said. But instead of pulling the curtains back, he reached for a small bronze bell hanging from the branch of a nearby tree. The bell had a vine for a clapper, and when he rang it, the sound was soft and strangely musical—like crystal chimes struck underwater.
“Why not just go in?” Miranda asked, frowning.
“Because my friend prefers to greet his guests himself.” Korrath gave her a steady look, his green eyes glowing faintly in the jungle’s neon light. “Don’t be afraid of him, Miranda. He is…unusual in form. But he is honorable—and an artist beyond compare.”
Her stomach flipped uneasily. Unusual? That could mean anything on this ship.
But something had heard the chime of the bell and it was coming towards them. The gauzy curtains stirred. Then, slowly, they parted.
Miranda gasped.
A figure stepped forward, tall—easily as tall as Korrath—but nothing like him. At first her brain screamed spider, because eight long, jointed legs carried the new Monstrum out of the cocoon-like workshop. His lower body was fully arachnid, glossy black and iridescent where the light hit it. But above the waist…
He was a man—or near enough. Her eyes took in a bare torso, broad shoulders, and arms corded with muscle. His skin was pale and his hair was black and shining. As for his face…his face was handsome.
Well, except for the eyes.
Four of them glowed red across his brow, sharp as garnets, and a fifth burned in the center of his forehead. All of them blinked in eerie sequence, first two, then three, then the single one, as if each had a mind of its own.
“Why, Korrath,” the spider-man said, his voice a deep, hissing purr. “It isss so good to ssssee you again, my friend.” His multiple eyes flicked toward Miranda, and though she tried not to flinch, her stomach dropped at the weight of his gaze. “But who isss this lovely female you’ve brought to meet me? I cannot wait to make her acquaintance.”
And the spider Monstrum came towards her.
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