Page 227 of The Spider Queen
Thane and I finished our drinks, and then we took time to bathe. I soaped his body and washed his hair. My hands lingered on his skin.
When it was my turn, I sat on his lap while the water gently swirled around us. His fingers grazed my stomach where I’d been sliced. “It’s hard to believe,” he murmured.
“I know.”
His hands strayed lower to slip between my legs. Before I knew it, I was caught up in the heat of us. Thane took my lips in a ravenous kiss as his fingers pushed inside me. Grasping his shoulders, I let out a gasp.
My release shot through me like a thousand sparklers. I collapsed against him and buried my face in the crook of his neck. I breathed in the smell of him. His skin was hot and damp, and I touched my tongue to the column of his throat.
“Poppy.” He grasped my head to pull me back so he could kiss me.
My bloodlust hadn’t been assuaged. If anything, Thane’s touches had only inflamed me more. I wondered if I’d be satisfied ever again or if I was doomed to insanity. Insanity for wanting him every hour of every day.
He lifted me up and gripped the back of my thighs, spreading me. I sank down onto him, and we both moaned. We nipped and kissed. We stroked and caressed. I rode him hard until we both came.
“Is this what life is going to be like now?” I wondered aloud, letting my eyes close as I nestled against the wall of his muscular chest. “Lust and guilt?”
His hand stroked down my back. “There are things that need our attention.”
“What things?”
Thane drew circles on my back. “The Titans are free.”
“Are they? I didn’t see them on the battlefield.”
“They didn’t join in the fight. They’re headed for Olympus… Zeus is about to have his hands full. Not to mention the Kingdom of Heaven will need to be rebuilt. There are a lot of souls there that don’t belong. I’ll have to spend a lot of time cleaning that up. Lucifer is licking his wounds, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try something again—and if I were him, I’d try it sooner rather than later.”
“Take advantage of all the commotion, you mean?”
“Exactly. He’s wily. That’s the way he thinks.” His hold on me tightened. “Poppy. I have to tell you something.”
I leaned back so I could peer into his eyes. They were still ringed with gold, and they flashed like mini solar flares. “What?”
His hands stroked up and down my sides to settle on the curve of my hips. “I begged you to come back to me. But I also”—he swallowed—“made a deal. I begged any deity that would listen, that had the power to spare your life to do it. And it turned out to be Lucifer who answered my plea.”
My eyes widened, and my mouth fell open.
“I asked him to keep you alive.”
“Thane,” I whispered. “Why? Why would you do that?” My hands scraped against the stubble on his cheeks.
“Because I waited so long for you. Now that we’ve found each other…”
I gently pressed my lips to his, but after a moment, Thane wrenched his mouth from mine.
“Lucifer can demand any payment at the moment of his choosing.”
Dread filled me, weighing me down like a cement anchor. “He can demand whatever he wants, when he wants?”
He nodded.
“Could he demand your life? For mine?”
“He could,” Thane said slowly. “Though that’s not his usual way.”
“Whatishis usual way?”
“Extracting the most pain from the most people.”
