Page 95 of The Spider Queen
“To be tested,” I whispered. “To free him.”
“Yes.”
“What happens if I fail the test?”
“You won’t,” he assured me.
“Those before me failed, didn’t they?”
He paused and then nodded. “Some of them.”
“Some of them,” I repeated. “And the others?”
“They died before they could be tested.”
“Wait, what? Why?” I asked in frustration. “Spit it out, Hunter.”
“They were killed, Poppy.” His face morphed into determination. “By Thane’s enemies.”
A cold feeling trailed down my spine. “There are people who want to kill me,” I intoned intuitively. “That’s what you meant when you said I’d die in the hospital…the doctor?”
He nodded.
I placed a hand over my mouth and closed my eyes, forcing myself to breathe. When I felt myself under control, I asked, “So, if some of them died before they could be tested, then what happened to those that failed the test, Hunter? Tell me what happened to them.”
His silence was all the answer I needed.
I had two choices: take the risk of denying reality and live my life on the run with Hunter protecting me, always looking over my shoulder for death…
Or face my destiny head-on in Ireland.
Because despite what Hunter said about me not failing the test, I didn’t believe for one instant that I was special. That I was different.
And then I felt it, what Hunter described asthe pull. It was a low throbbing vibration underneath my skin.
There were things you could fight, things you could change.
Fate wasn’t one of them.
Hunter and I barely spoke. We checked out of the hotel and then were off to the airport. When we arrived, Hunter went straight to a small security booth on the outskirts of the airport where he flashed his ID. We were waved through the gate and then we drove to a short runway with a small plane.
We got out of the car after pulling up to the plane and Hunter tossed a man in a black suit his car keys.
“What is this?” I asked, peering at the aircraft.
“Private flight. No security, no waiting. Come on.”
Everything between us was different now.
And I hated it.
I cursed Thane, sending him my anger and vitriol through our mental link, wondering if he felt it, wondering if he cared. Hunter couldn’t explain why my connection to Thane had suddenly been muted, but at this point I didn’t care. I wanted nothing to do with Thane. I wanted no part in any of what was happening to me.
“You hungry?” Hunter asked after we climbed the stairs of the plane.
I shrugged even as my stomach growled, reminding me that I was human.
“I’ll ask the flight attendant to get us something to eat.”
