Page 43 of The Princesses of Ruin
I reach for her with my good hand, smearing blood across her face. “I love you.”
“Shut up,” she says, her tear-stained eyes focused on my wound. “You’re not dying, so shut up.”
The world is getting darker. I worry that more monsters will come, attracted by the scent of my fresh blood. “Night is falling.” The words tumble out of my mouth in a slur. “Leave me.”
“You promised me forever, Zane, and I want it. I will steal it from Nol’Ther’s grasp if I must.”
She looks at the spider and it moves as if in response to some unseen command. It crawls above me on a shimmering white web I didn’t even notice it making. The spider lifts my damaged arm and a twinge of pain scratches at the back of my mind like a ravenous army pounding on a stronghold’s door. It’s muffled, but I know the severity of the agony.
The spider works quickly as it wraps the wound in white silk, weaving and binding. Scarlett continues to pour her magic into my flesh until she has only one spindle remaining to hold her up.
The blood has nearly stopped. Whether that’s because I’m out or because the clotting potion is going to work, I’m not sure I’ll ever know. Darkness permeates my vision until it’s only her red hair and a glowing teal eye.
“I love you,” I try again, desperate to hear it from her just one more time.
She whimpers in frustration. “Stop saying goodbye.”
“Please.”
She leans in and kisses my lips, but I can’t feel it. The fucking pain dampener.
“I love you, and you are going to live.”
There were so many things I wanted. So many. Her belly swollen with my child. Little spiderlings running between our feet. I would put them on my shoulders and climb across the kingdom, showing them all the best places to ambush their enemies.
My head droops and the Nest calls out to me.
“You may yet see the day.”
Chapter sixteen
Scarlett
Ifollow Iksah, the Hollow Spider, deeper into the forest. Zane shifts from side to side on Iksah’s carapace, the silky binds holding him loosely in place. Keeping my mind vacant is the only way to escape the pain, so I let the spider lead me—possibly to our deaths.
“Medicine needed for both,”Iksah thinks. The language comes in disjointed images and concepts that somehow my mind translates into meaning. Alyse’s magic is more powerful than I could’ve imagined.
What medicine?
I’m not sure if when I speak directly back to him if he fully understands, or if it sounds like child-speak, so I try to keep my sentences simple.
“You carry it.”
I look down at the bundle of silk. It’s not heavy, but Iksah asked that I carry it. Perhaps it was a show of trust. An exchange. Or maybe I’m a fucking idiot and he’s going to eat both of us when we get back to his lair.
No, that doesn’t feel right. I can’t explain it, but this is the path that leads us to victory.
The forest grows darker with every passing moment. I can’t tell if night is falling, or if the thick of trees is so oppressive the sun can’t penetrate here. My remaining eye is nearly blinded by the black, seeing only the soft glow of Zane’s magic against my skin and the occasional glowing fauna.
My missing eye, however, perceives much more. The forest is alive with so much essence it’s overwhelming. Plants, animals, insects, and fungi shimmer in different shades of magic. Fallen trees are black, devoid of life, but they writhe with little green ants that march along the logs, collecting food for their colony.
“You are not like Iksah, but you are. Explain. What are you?”
How much will this creature be able to understand?
I’m a woman.
“I have heard of woman and man. Sheesahng spoke of them long ago. You are not woman. You are like Iksah, like Sheesahng.”
