Page 156 of The Spider Queen
Cass smiled. “Your spiders. They spun it for you. It’s woven with magic to protect you from the elements.”
My mouth dropped open in surprise. I sent a shot of gratitude through the mental thread—not to Thane—but to the other one. Thousands of gentle pulses greeted me on the other end.
My spiders.
“Am I Queen of the Spiders, or something?” I asked Cass, looking around for a mirror so I could see the suit.
She laughed. “Queen of the Spiders. That’s funny.”
There was no mirror, so I asked the room for one. The wall rippled, and a full-length piece of glass appeared.
“Damn,” I murmured. The black body suit seemed toshimmer. “Can I ask you a question? About magic?”
She nodded.
“Mine seems to have a theme. This suit shimmers. My silk that I’d used to climb the side of the mountain to get to Thane shimmered.”
“Those that possess magic have certain traits—tells, you could say. Like a calling card. No two magic sources are the same. Thane’s silk is black, for one. And his doesn’t shimmer like yours. His—ah—twinkles.”
“Twinkles.” I frowned and then it cleared. “Oh, like the twinkles I saw in the floor last night. To light the way.”
“Exactly.”
“Where is he?” I asked, realizing I could just ask him through our bond. But I was still unsettled from the night before. Not to mention the dreams of desire I’d had for him and the wanting his taste on my tongue.
“Preparing for the journey.”
I looked away from my reflection to stare at her. “Is that what’s going to happen to me?”
“What?” she asked in confusion.
“If I’m here long enough, will I start being cryptic?”
Cass smiled but said nothing.
“Who are you, Cass?”
“I serve Thane.”
“So you’ve said. Buthowdid you come by that—ah—position?”
“I was the first,” she explained. “The first woman to attempt to free Thane.”
I inhaled a sharp breath. “But your name is Cass—”
“My first name is Amartha. Derived from the Greek floweramaranth.Cassandra is my middle name.”
“Are there—are any more of Thane’s women here?” I snapped, hating that I sounded jealous. Because I was. Jealous and possessive.
“No. Just me.” She smiled in understanding.
“Why just you?”
Her smile fell. “I’m bound to serve Thane. It was my…punishment.”
“For failing to free him?”
“For refusing to.”
