Page 146 of The Spider Queen
“Neither of us had a choice, Poppy. But we’re in this. Together.”
I let him pull me to his broad chest. Even though I hated the circumstances, I still couldn’t stop the shiver of desire that rolled down my spine. Thane shifted his stance, and his erection pressed against me. I’d had him inside of me not long ago. There shouldn’t have been an ache deep in my belly, but there was.
“Why do I feel this way?” I whispered. “Why do I want you? I don’twantto want you.”
“I know.” His tone was cold. I questioned if it was because I told him I didn’t want him, or because he felt the same way I did.
He mirrored my thoughts as he said, “I want you, though. And I’m glad I do.”
His words were like a sinful caress.
“There’s a reason there’s a link between us,” he stated slowly. “Why we feel what we feel for each other.”
“Oh, yeah? Tell me.” It hurt to talk since I was craning my neck to stare up at him.
Thane swallowed, like he was nervous, but he kept his eyes on me when he said, “We’re together—we’re connected—because of the prophecy.”
“Prophecy? What prophecy?”
“The prophecy about saving the world from ending.”
The breath fled from my lungs at his dramatic pronouncement. “You’re kidding, right?” I put my hand to his chest, trying to push away from him. He seemed reluctant to release me, but he gave in anyway. I twirled to leave, even though there was nowhere to go. I didn’t even know where I was. Ever since I’d run through the tunnel, come for Thane and the unknown, I had no ability to discern time or space.
“No, I’m not kidding. You and I are a glimmer of hope in the darkness.”
“I don’t want to be a glimmer of hope.” I trembled. “I don’t want this to be my life.”
“But it is,” Thane said, far more gently than I’d ever heard him speak before. It made me pause. Thane didn’t strike me as the type that knew how to be gentle.
“Where am I? How am I…not a spider?”
He smiled faintly. “Will you sit and eat with me? I’ll explain everything.”
“Everything?”
“Everything,” he repeated.
“You think I’m ready for that? You’ve been holding off telling me…”
He gestured to the ornately carved chair next to the head of the table. It was huge and too heavy for me to move, but Thane easily slid it back. “If I’d told you all of this, back when you were in Charleston and I was in spider form, how do you think you would’ve reacted?”
“I would’ve squashed you.”
A crack of laughter escaped his beautiful mouth. I looked at him. His face had softened, and for a moment, he looked completely unguarded. “I’m unsquashable.”
I sat down, and Thane scooted the chair closer to the table. My feet didn’t even reach the ground, and I felt like Alice in Wonderland where everything was too big or too small. Thane took his seat, a matching ornate chair, at the head of the long wood table. “Why is everything dark?”
“What do you mean?”
“The decor.”
He smiled. “I like it dark.”
A tremble of awareness skated through my body. I sat up straighter.
He waved his hand, and in a cloud of black smoke, a plate of food appeared in front of me. A salad sprinkled with bright red seeds and crumbled cheese. Maybe cheese.
“Underworld goat cheese salad?”
