Page 213 of The Spider Queen
The nearly dead mage wasn’t just held captive by the blue beams of energy around his wrists and ankles. I could now faintly detect the outline of a force field, a bubble that surrounded him and had kept me out.
I’d need powerful magic to set him free.
I called to my army asking for their aid. I opened my mouth, and they sprang forth. Hundreds of spiders landed on the clear, spherical shield. The protective globe tried to dislodge my warriors, but they were clever beasts. They rammed their steel-armored legs into the force field. One spider might not have done much, but with the aid of hundreds and their armored legs, the force field rippled, clearly on the fritz, and then shattered like glass.
The neon blue beams which held the mage flickered and then snuffed out. The mage collapsed to the ground. I watched his nearly translucent skin flush to rose, his gaunt frame transform into a lean build, taut with muscle, and his bald head sprout a thick crown of dark curls.
He placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. He lifted his head.
I trembled at his power, but I did nothing to shield myself from it, not even when I felt tendrils of magic snake out to curl around me. They tasted and tested me, and apparently whatever they learned deemed me fit, because the mage retracted his magical sensors.
“Um, maybe you should put on a robe?” I suggested, lifting my eyebrow.
He cocked his head to one side, his mouth quivering with amusement. “My nudity causes you discomfort, lady?”
“Lady? Why are you calling me lady?”
“You are Thane’s lady, are you not?”
“I’m Poppy. And I belong to myself.”
His mouth widened into a smile. “We all belong to someone.”
“Who do you belong to?” I demanded.
His smile remained.
“Poppy?” Hunter croaked.
I instantly turned and gasped. When he’d fallen unconscious, he’d been fit and robust. Now, his skin was losing its silver glow, and his chest looked like it was caving in. His tail was dry and cracked, his eyes bleak with pain.
“What did you do to him?” I demanded of the mage, rushing to Hunter’s side.
“I need energy to restore myself.” The mage shrugged. “So I’m taking it from a nearby, available source. Besides, why do you care?”
“Why do I care?” I asked in confusion. “For the same reason I care about what happens to the world if Lucifer and Xan succeed.”
“So this merrow means nothing to you?” He cocked his head to the side to study me. “Ah, he means something to you still. Even with half your heart? The nonhuman part of your heart?”
How did he know?
“Stop using his energy. You’re restored enough.”
“Do you know how many years I’ve been down here? Used as a magic conduit for my warding powers? I’ve been here longer than Thane was imprisoned. Left with just enough magic not to die.”
I gritted my teeth as I felt Hunter’s hand go limp in my grasp. “Enough.”
“I still need energy.”
“Then take it from me,” I said.
“Poppy, no,” Hunter gasped.
I looked down at him. “I couldn’t save you on the beach. I couldn’t choose you. Let me do this. I’m immortal. I’ll regenerate.”
“You don’t know that.”
I didn’t, but I couldn’t let Hunter suffer. He had been a friend, a partner, a true confidant. Just when I thought I had mourned the loss of him, dormant emotion welled up, surprising me yet again.
