Page 45 of The Princesses of Ruin
My gaze drifts to the mouth of the massive corpse beside them. Two sharp fangs glisten in the fading light. I know the venom sacs are attached to her fangs but nestled deep in her face under her eyes because the book told us as much. I’ll have to cut her open to extract them.
Zane mumbles something and I snap from my stupor, moving closer. Iksah severs the bonds holding Zane to his back and slides him onto the floor. I drop to my knees beside him and touch his face. He’s sweating, cold, and shivering. I move to his pulse point and feel for his heartbeat. It’s weaker than I’d like, but stronger than it was.
“It’s wounded,”Ahnkeem says.
“It saved me from the sky beast. Both.”
Iksah gestures to me, reaching for the bundle in my arms.
I hold up the package and he takes it, using his pedipalps to pry open the silk. There are herbs inside, ones I’m sure Zane could identify if he was awake. Iksah pushes several of the leaves into his mouth and works them into a paste, then offers me the bundle.
“For vigor and strength,”he says.“Crush them into his mouth.”
Is it safe for a man?
“All creatures eat the medicine when they are weak.”
I take two of the leaves and put them in my mouth. They’re bitter, but the more I chew, the more awake I feel. The burning in my muscles slows to a mild throb, and my mind becomes alert.
I press my thumb against Zane’s mouth to open it, then push the chewed leaves inside with my tongue. He groans and swallows, then sighs. Within moments, Zane’s shivering slows and then abates. His pulse is stronger, but he’s still unconscious. If he doesn’t wake, I’llhave to carry him out. Would that even be possible? I don’t know the way, and the predators are many.
“You need it,”Iksah says, trying to put his mouth up against Ahnkeem’s.
The smaller spider pushes Iksah away gently.“I am nearly gone. This will prolong my suffering.”
“It will prolong your life.”
“Sheesahng is gone. You need another mate for the child. She is here,”Ahnkeem says, gesturing toward me.
“She is not of us. She is Other.”
“She has tools of man. With her, our child will live.”
“Hold on just a moment,” I say, my gut tensing.
Iksah looks at me, his fangs twitching as he continues to chew the herbs. I may be reinvigorated, but so is he. I don’t want this to turn to blows because I’d surely not walk away unscathed. And Zane…
“She can feed the child. She can feed you. Live on for us, Mate Iksah.”Ahnkeem lifts a pedipalp and caresses it along one of Iksah’s.
I don’t like where this conversation is going, but I don’t think Iksah will be amenable to me cutting open his deceased mate for her venom. Negotiation may be the only way I get out of this with everything I want—and my life.
Iksah pulls back from his mate and turns to me. I stand and push myself up on my spindles, getting the height advantage against him as I cover Zane’s body with my own. Iksah tenses and his movements slow.
“You are stuck here without my help.”
He’s not wrong.
“Our child willdie without yours.”
Why?
“Without our mate, we cannot eat,”Ahnkeem says, nudging the withered carapace of the female.“Her venom turns our kills into food.”
My eyes dart up to the massive fangs poking out from below her empty eyes.
I don’t have venom.
“No, but you have tools. The ingenuity of man is known. It is why we few remaining Archin have moved into the deep forest.”
