The Spider Queen

by Emma Slate

  “Thane,” he interrupted.

  “Thane is a spider.”

  “God, I’m making a mess of this,” he muttered. “My family serves him, Poppy. We are bound to him. I am a first-born Hunter, and I’ve been given the task of finding you—to free Thane.”

  “Thane is a spider,” I repeated. “So how the hell do you serve him?”

  “He chose you,” Hunter said. “The night at the bar in the back, in the junk store. You still believe you were the one to find him, but you didn’t find him. He found you. With the same force he used to escape the lake you threw him in, he traveled to you. It was my job put you two in each other’s paths. It was a test. You were able to communicate with Thane and break him out of his cube.”

  I chugged the rest of the tequila.

  Complete system overload.

  A grimace flashed across Hunter’s face and then he went slack.

  “Poppy.” It wasn’t Hunter’s voice I heard. But another…

  It was a dark, sinful caress—and I felt shivers from underneath my skin. My whole body sensed his voice deep inside.

  “Thane?” I whispered, speaking to Hunter, but not speaking to Hunter.

  “Yes.”

  “How can you—”

  “I don’t have a lot of time,” Thane said through Hunter’s mouth. “It takes tremendous resources to do this. So listen closely,” he paused, Hunter’s blue eyes looking brighter than I’d ever seen them, like they were glowing. “Go with Hunter. Stay with Hunter. Trust Hunter.”

  “But—”

  “I need you, Poppy. Only you can save me.”

  Chapter 34

  With those final words, Hunter’s body collapsed onto the bed, flailed for a moment, and then stilled. A moment later, Hunter spoke again. This time it was Hunter’s voice coming from Hunter’s mouth.

  “Fuck. I hate when he does that.” He struggled to sit up, and when he found he couldn’t, just stayed where he was.

  “You guys do that often?” I asked. Somehow I was able to speak despite the shock.

  “Not often. It hurts me. It hurts him.”

  Everything I thought I knew to be true from the past month was a damn dirty lie.

  “I don’t get any of this,” I muttered. “What the fuck is all this?”

  “The easy explanation? Thane is trapped—in spider form. Once a generation, a woman comes along with the potential to be able to free him.”

  Blood pounded in my ears. “And this generation…”

  Hunter nodded. “This generation, you’re the one.” He closed his eyes. “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you. You weren’t supposed to fall in love with me. This is…there are rules.”

  “I don’t know any of the rules!” I shouted, flying off the bed. I grabbed a mini bottle—I didn’t stop to look and see what it was—I just opened it and chugged. Vodka burned its way down my throat.

  “Hunters serve Thane. They have for generations. Our goal—our single goal—find and protect the woman that will one day free him from his prison.”

  “Protect?” I interrupted. “You left me. And then I was committed. How was that protecting me?”

  “I had to leave.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Thane’s orders.”

  “Swell,” I sneered. “That’s it? That’s the only explanation I get?”

  “Yes! I didn’t even get an explanation from Thane, all right? I just had to go!”

  “So you take orders from an entity that is trapped in the body of a spider in a centuries-old glass cube. Is it a real prison for him?”

  He sighed. “The box isn’t a prison. Well, it is. But it’s nothing more than the first test. You shattered the box, freeing him to move. So you passed.”

  “I was the one that did that? How?”

  He shrugged.

  “That’s not an answer.” I gripped the mini bottle, wanting it to break. Because I needed something that would make all of this feel real. Would glass in my hand and blood on the carpet do that?

  Hunter attempted to sit up again and succeeded this time, though he put a hand to his head and closed his eyes.

  I was pissed—pissed at Hunter for keeping all of this from me for so long, pissed at Thane, who wasn’t a fucking spider…or was he? It was too much! Not to mention that voice. Thane’s voice coming out of Hunter’s mouth had confused the hell out of me.

  I loved Hunter. But I wasn’t supposed to?

  I sifted through all the information Hunter had thrown at me, latching onto a single word. “Test? You said freeing Thane from the cube was the first test.”

  “There’s another test,” Hunter drawled.

  “Well? Don’t keep me in the dark!” I snapped when it was clear Hunter didn’t want to keep talking.

  He sighed. “There’s no way to prepare. You just have to…be tested. Which is why we have to go to Ireland.”

  “Ireland? You’re shitting me.”

  Hunter’s mouth formed a line, and he shook his head. “No, I’m not.”

  “Why Ireland?”

  “Because the mists, the Veil, the whatever you want to call it—between our world and the—”

  “Oh God, just stop. Stop, I can’t take anymore!” I clutched my head and closed my eyes.

  Hunter fell silent.

  I crawled onto the bed, curled up into a ball, and tried to shut out everything I’d just learned.

  “It would’ve been so much easier if I had just been crazy,” I muttered.

  At some point, I fell asleep. When I woke up, I realized I was no longer wearing the robe, and I was naked underneath the silkiest sheets I’d ever felt. The room was dark, and it took me a moment to realize I wasn’t in my slanted apartment back in Charleston, but in a hotel in Nashville.

  Next to Hunter.

  Who wasn’t at all whom he’d claimed to be.

  And me? Who was I?

  The woman of this generation with the potential to free Thane from his prison? What sort of prison? An actual prison? A magical prison? And what was he? A powerful being of some sort. Whatever that meant.

  There was still so much I didn’t know.

  I heard Hunter’s breathing next to me and realized he wasn’t asleep.

  “What happened?” I whispered. “To Marigold, Violet, Amaryllis…and the others? Why couldn’t they free Thane from his prison?”

  “They failed the final test.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they weren’t the one.”

  “And you think I’m the one?”

  “I don’t know, we’ll have to see.”

  I rolled over to face him even though I couldn’t see him. He must’ve gotten up at some point to close the curtains. There was nothing but darkness.

  “Why can’t I hear Thane? I could hear him before the hospital… Did that mess with everything?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe when we get to Ireland you’ll be able to hear him again. The Veil between—”

  “Got it,” I said, even though I didn’t. Every question led to more.

  An unwelcome thought burst into my head. “The times we were together, was I really with you? Or was I with him?”

  “Me. It was me, I swear.”

  I let out a breath of relief, but it was short-lived.

  “We can’t be romantically involved, Poppy,” he breathed, heartbreak in his voice.

  “Why not?”

  “Because,” I heard him swallow, “you were never meant to be mine.”

  “Whose was I meant to be?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Thane’s. You were always meant to be Thane’s.”

  Chapter 35

  “I’m not going,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

  Hunter sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “You have to. We have to.”

  After a terrible night of sleep, I was now sitting on the bed in a pair of brand new jeans and a white muslin blouse, courtesy of Hunter’s black Amex.

  “No, Hunter. I’
m not going to Ireland. I’m not going to be tested to see if I’m the one who can free a man—spider, or what the fuck ever Thane is—from his prison.”

  “Poppy—”

  “I’m in love with you, and you’re in love with me.”

  Hunter’s jaw hardened. “As if I could forget. But we can’t be together.”

  “Why? Because I’m meant to be Thane’s? Do you know how—I’m not a piece of property. I can’t just be traded like a baseball card.”

  My words had him pausing. “Baseball? Really?”

  I grinned. “You’re an athlete. I thought I was speaking your language.”

  “You can’t joke your way out of this.”

  “Sure I can. Because I’m a scientist.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “And scientists are known for their senses of humor?”

  “No. We’re known for reason and logic.”

  “Love isn’t logical.”

  “Exactly.”

  Hunter shook his head. “Am I still drunk? You’re running circles around me.”

  “Science is all about logic and reason. You have to give me a sound reason why I’m supposed to be with Thane.”

  “I—” he closed his mouth.

  “Ah ha! You don’t have a good reason why I’m supposed be with Thane except for the fact that I’m—” I raised my fingers and used air quotes, “—supposed to.”

  “You’re right. Okay? You’re right. You think I want to let you go? You think I like knowing that you’re supposed to be with Thane because of some predestined shit? No! I hate the idea. But what can I do? Tell me, and I’ll do it. Find a way to get us out of this and tell me!”

  I got up from bed and walked over to stare out the window, done with the conversation. I was done with Thane and the whole freaking mess. “I’m not going to Ireland. Simple as that.”

  “You don’t have a choice.”

  My head whipped around. “What? Are you going to force me into the airport and on a plane? I can cause a scene you know. The TSA will have a field day.”

  Hunter hesitated a moment and then reached into the back pocket of his jeans. He held something in his hand. “Here.”

  I reached for it. The poppy necklace dropped into my palm. It felt warm, alive. “Where did you get this?” I asked, my throat constricting.

  “Found it in the doctor’s office before I got you out.” He sat down on the corner of the bed and leaned over, letting his elbows rest on his thighs.

  “When I said you don’t have a choice about going to Ireland, I meant it. You’ll feel it, Poppy.”

  “Feel what?” I asked, clasping the necklace around my neck. It settled against my skin with a comforting weight. It felt like it belonged around my neck, and I never wanted to take it off again.

  “The pull.”

  A shiver raced down my spine.

  He cocked his head to one side. “Don’t you feel it? Like, you’re fighting yourself.”

  “No, I don’t think—”

  “Well, you will,” he interrupted. “Nothing can stop it. You can fight it all you want, but eventually you’ll wind up in Ireland because that’s where you have to be.”

  “To be tested,” I whispered. “To free him.”

  “Yes.”

  “What happens if I fail the test?”

  “You won’t,” he assured me.

  “Those before me failed, didn’t they?”

  He paused and then nodded. “Some of them.”

  “Some of them,” I repeated. “And the others?”

  “They died before they could be tested.”

  “Wait, what? Why?” I asked in frustration. “Spit it out, Hunter.”

  “They were killed, Poppy.” His face morphed into determination. “By Thane’s enemies.”

  A cold feeling trailed down my spine. “There are people who want to kill me,” I intoned intuitively. “That’s what you meant when you said I’d die in the hospital…the doctor?”

  He nodded.

  I placed a hand over my mouth and closed my eyes, forcing myself to breathe. When I felt myself under control, I asked, “So, if some of them died before they could be tested, then what happened to those that failed the test, Hunter? Tell me what happened to them.”

  His silence was all the answer I needed.

  I had two choices: take the risk of denying reality and live my life on the run with Hunter protecting me, always looking over my shoulder for death…

  Or face my destiny head-on in Ireland.

  Because despite what Hunter said about me not failing the test, I didn’t believe for one instant that I was special. That I was different.

  And then I felt it, what Hunter described as the pull. It was a low throbbing vibration underneath my skin.

  There were things you could fight, things you could change.

  Fate wasn’t one of them.

  Hunter and I barely spoke. We checked out of the hotel and then were off to the airport. When we arrived, Hunter went straight to a small security booth on the outskirts of the airport where he flashed his ID. We were waved through the gate and then we drove to a short runway with a small plane.

  We got out of the car after pulling up to the plane and Hunter tossed a man in a black suit his car keys.

  “What is this?” I asked, peering at the aircraft.

  “Private flight. No security, no waiting. Come on.”

  Everything between us was different now.

  And I hated it.

  I cursed Thane, sending him my anger and vitriol through our mental link, wondering if he felt it, wondering if he cared. Hunter couldn’t explain why my connection to Thane had suddenly been muted, but at this point I didn’t care. I wanted nothing to do with Thane. I wanted no part in any of what was happening to me.

  “You hungry?” Hunter asked after we climbed the stairs of the plane.

  I shrugged even as my stomach growled, reminding me that I was human.

  “I’ll ask the flight attendant to get us something to eat.”

  Hunter gestured for me to take the window seat and then sat down next to me before asking the flight attendant for two breakfast sandwiches and coffee. A few moments later, she returned with our meals.

  I unwrapped a breakfast sandwich even though I was suddenly no longer hungry. “You were saying goodbye to me last night, weren’t you?”

  He turned his head toward me. “Yes.”

  “What happens to you,” I asked. “If I pass the test and Thane is freed?”

  “You will pass the test,” he assured me.

  “Fine.” I rolled my eyes. “Assuming I pass the test… What about you, Hunter? What happens to you?”

  He took a sip of his steaming coffee and then winced when he realized it was too hot to drink. “Gruesome punishment, I imagine.” His tone was surprisingly blasé.

  My breath hitched.

  “Thane is…unhappy, to say the least. I was intimate with you.” A faint rose blush stained his high cheekbones. “He’ll want retribution for that.”

  “I’m not his,” I retorted.

  “But you are.”

  “I won’t let him hurt you,” I assured him. “I promise.”

  He smiled faintly. “How can you promise me that?”

  “I’ll beg Thane if I have to. I’ll do whatever it takes for you, Hunter. I love you.”

  “Stop saying that,” he insisted. “It only makes it worse.”

  “For Thane? Fuck Thane,” I seethed.

  Hunter shot me a cold look. “Don’t, Poppy. Don’t say that. You have no idea what he’s capable of. You have no idea what it’s been like since he was imprisoned. You don’t know what that can do to a man, how it can change him.” He closed his mouth, unwilling to say more about it.

  “And you know? Because he’s shared that with you?” Hunter stilled, barely breathing and I went on, “Stop, Hunter. No matter what you say to plead his case, I won’t cave. He is not the one for me. You are.”

  “Poppy—”

&nb
sp; “Yeah, I know. Okay? You can’t explain. I get that. But Thane isn’t here. And I can’t communicate with him anymore. I’m in the dark, and I’m just supposed to, do what? Blindly accept my fate? Fuck fate. Fuck that. I want you.”

  “You have me,” he whispered, broken. “And that’s the problem. He even tried—”

  “Tried? Tried what?”

  “To keep us apart.”

  I paused and suddenly I understood. “When you went home? To deal with a family emergency.”

  He nodded. “Thane summoned me. I was in Charleston the entire time, but I was…by the time I…surfaced…”

  “Oh.”

  I thought back to the conversations I’d had with Thane as a spider. He’d been arrogant, jealous, possessive. But funny, sweet, and there. In my head. We shared a connection, a silky link between our minds.

  I wanted the story, from beginning to end, about how Thane became imprisoned, how he could manifest himself as a spider, how we shared a bond. About what the hell he was.

  Curiosity overpowered my fear—fear that I was headed for my death.

  Chapter 36

  “First time on a private flight?” Hunter asked, reaching for my hand and then stopping himself.

  I watched his struggle, felt it too—I warred with the pull— toward Thane.

  “If I weren’t already impressed by you, buying a private flight for us definitely would’ve done it.”

  Hunter gave me a watery smile, but his heart wasn’t in it.

  We buckled our seatbelts as the engines of the plane came to life and the propellers began to spin.

  Raising the slat over my window, I glanced out at the runway. “Are you allowed to explain what happened to me—the trance state I was in, I mean?”

  “Thane has enemies.”

  “Right,” I said. “But you refuse to expand on that.”

  Hunter ignored my statement and moved on. “You were engaged in a battle, Poppy. The golden wasps are servants of Thane’s enemies.”

  “They already know who I am then,” I stated. “They were trying to kill me…only I didn’t know it.” I sat up straighter. “The spiders? If the wasps are servants of Thane’s enemies, then the spiders are—”