Page 199 of The Spider Queen
So I’d been left to my own thoughts. And they were terrifying. I pictured beasts, demons and angels, winged monsters, cloven animals, all fighting and clashing. Who knew if it was my imagination, or if it was a vision of the future? Or maybe it was a vision of the present.
“This place,” I muttered, placing a hand to my forehead.
“What do you see?” Thane asked. He looked up from tying his boot and removed his glasses.
His eyes were dark with shadows creeping across black ebony.
Shiny marbles full of mysteries.
I hesitated and then told him. I didn’t want to keep secrets from Thane, even though he was concealing things from me, things he didn’t think I could handle.
“We should keep moving,” Thane said, gesturing to the scorpion.
I nodded.
Thane helped me get settled on the scorpion, and then made a move to swing up behind me, but he suddenly stopped. His head swiveled, his eyes behind his aviators taking in the expansive landscape.
“Thane?”
He craned his neck to look up at me. “Nothing.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” He swung up. Taking the reins, he got himself sorted. He gently clipped the scorpion with his ankles.
The scorpion hissed, but damn if it didn’t start trekking forward.
“Have you tried talking to it?” I asked, attempting to steer the conversation in a lighter direction.
“Have you?”
“Valid point. I have stretched my mind toward it, but it—well—seemed rather primitive.”
The scorpion reared up and bucked us off its back. We hit the sand hard, and the angry beast scurried away, faster than it had ever moved while carrying us.
Thane shot me a look, his dark brows rising over his sunglasses.
“Should we call it back?” I asked in dry amusement.
“No. Let it go.”
The purplish-black arachnid was now a dot in the distance. How it had managed to get away so fast, I’d never know.
Now we are on our own. Again.
“We were always on our own, Poppy,” Thane said softly. “Virbius, the scorpion, they’re just illusions of aid. But it will always be you and me. Together.”
I wasn’t prepared for Thane’s intensity, but when he stalked toward me, took me into his arms, and kissed the breath out of me, I held on. I took it, welcomed it, gave it back to him.
We clawed at one another, desperation coating every kiss, every touch.
It would never be enough. Even if we managed to save the world, and we had time to grow with each other, it would never be enough.
Aching sadness permeated my heart. Coldness seeped into me, like when I’d fallen into the ice swamp.
“I want you,” I breathed.
“I want you too. But we have no shelter, no blanket, nothing.”
