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God.
Twelve
NIA’N’AN
I feltSloane wriggling around behind me for the better part of an hour.
I knew she hated being trapped, which was another reason she didn’t want to be with me, I suspected, on a metaphorical level.
But if she hated me, could she at least have the decency to stop smelling good?
Her scent was all over me already, and it was only growing ever-more pungent in these narrow halls.
“Stop, please, stop—I can’t take anymore!” she begged, just as we came to a flat space.
We seemed to be on old trails for some of the Nanuruck that still roamed the caves, but none of their scents were fresh, so it felt safe enough for now. I put the bag down, moved near a wall, and then cut her loose, so that she could slideoff of me.
After that, I could turn to face her—and I found her flushed, covered in a sheen of sweat, and her eyes were bright.
Was she ill?
“My love? Are you okay?” I asked, only she couldn’t understand me—and when I reached for her, she swatted my hands away.
“Leave me alone!” she demanded, and so I did, stepping back.
She held herself up against the wall with one hand and used the other to push her skirt down, and I saw that there was a sheen of moisture between her legs. I reached my hind most set of legs up at an extreme angle to touch myself where she’d been sitting, finding myself similarly damp.
The sensors in my feet went wild at the chemical composition of the fluid. It smell-tasted like heaven, but all I could worry about was that my mate was inexplicably leaking.
Was sheinjured?
I reached for her at once and she screamed, not in irritation, but in true fear. I made calming gestures, stepping back, repeatedly. My feet were still reporting in the sheer bliss of whatever she’d bathed me in, but it was clear she wanted no more interactions with me tonight. I made the circular mating gesture at her, though, because that did seem to soothe her—perhaps because it reminded her that I was a thinking creature, and not just whatever she assumed my spider half made me.
She spun a half-hearted circle back at me in return with one hand, like she was throwing a magical spell, but it wasenough for me to stand down slightly. Something was wrong with her, but she was okay.
In fact, there was a chance she was doing better than I was.
I’d been on high alert ever since I’d entered Threadstone, and now my energy reserves were running low, although I still had absolutely no appetite. And we were apparently on the outskirts of Nanuruck territory—I remembered all of my mother’s warnings about them, and her telling me of their bitter, bitter scent.
I would much rather be well rested before we traversed it.
So I set to making us a camp, creating a low fire for her comfort, and lining our perimeters with tripwire silk, so I would feel if anything moved.
We were low on safe water but I knew we would soon come across another source.
Our food rations were another thing. If she couldn’t handle the high-energy packets from my mission bag, I would have to hunt or forage to find her simpler things to eat.
Each detour would cost us more time, time I wouldn’t mind spending with her...but...would she suffer more, for spending it with me?
I didn’t know, and the thought that I was hurting her in any way killed me.
When I was done laying out tracks of silk to protect us, I returned to her side. I offered her water and food again, and she barely took either.
I contemplated taking her on a desperate rush to the surface, and damn the terrain, but worried if I did I’d burn through all my own resources before I managed to get her out—and seeing as I didn’t know who had kidnapped her yet, I couldn’t be certain the world above was any safer for her.
I truly did not know what the best course of action was.
The only thing I was certain of now was how cruel it felt that this entire tunnel was so strongly scented with what should have been her love for me, when she didn’t hold any in her heart.
