Page 151 of The Spider Queen
“Thane.” His name came out a moan, needy and demanding.
“I won’t tell you again.”
I somehow managed to let go of the table. With one final look into Thane’s dark, ancient eyes, I turned and fled, the winking flashes of light in the floor illuminating the way.
Chapter 6
The doors to the bedroom slid open, revealing privacy and opulence. I threw myself across the massive bed. It was too large for one person. I wanted Thane next to me, crowding my space, throwing his leg over mine while we slept naked.
I gritted my teeth and tried to shake the thoughts loose so they came out and stopped plaguing me. But whatever was going on with me, here in this place, with Thane, I couldn’t purge him from my thoughts. I was doomed to remember forever how he felt inside me.
It had never felt that way with Hunter.
Crushing guilt, something I’d never felt before, swamped me. Not only had I betrayed Hunter, I’d abandoned him. I had no idea if he was safe. I just had taken Thane’s word as truth.
Did I feel things deeper now that I was tied to Thane?
I rolled over onto my back and gently tapped the invisible silken thread that linked Thane’s mind with mine.
Poppy.
I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. I heard the sensual caress in his voice.
What is it?
Where are you?
Why?
I tried to log off our mental connection, but it was like Thane had reached into my head and held me there. Held me, imprisoned by my desire.
Don’t run. Ask what you want.
What happened to Hunter?
The tendril between us pulsed with anger. I tried to back away, but Thane’s mental grip on me was unrelenting.
Give me a moment to calm down. I can’t hear his name without wanting to—just give me a moment.
So I did. I stared at the ceiling of the bedroom. It looked like I was peering through a skylight to see bright, glittering stars as well as red, blue, and purple galaxies. I had no idea if I was seeing a magic illusion, or if this was how the sky looked in Purgatory.
Do you remember when you were climbing the ladder to the tunnel to get to me? And the wasps came to sting you, but you called your spider army?
Yes.
And they all fell into the ocean? Lira, Queen of the Merrow, was most displeased that her realm had been violated. Lira’s daughter, Theia, is…gifted. More so than a normal merrow. She nearly depleted her magic to clean up the mess. A mess that came from my realm. Hunter was payment.
You told me he was safe! That he wouldn’t be hurt!
He is safe, Poppy. But he is…altered.
Altered? Altered how?
He became one of them. A merrow. He is Theia’s betrothed.
No…
Hunter no longer possesses his human memories. When Lira changed him, when she gave him a tail in exchange of legs, she took his memories too. He knows not of what he lost.
