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Luckily, he seemed to need no further encouragement, and he finished the rest of the monster brains off.
He looked down the tunnel he’d fought in, and then back at our surroundings, and me, seemingly torn about whether or not we should move on. I finally had a full stomach and wasn’t thirsty.
“I feel safe here now if you do?” I said—and he gave me an imperious look.
It was pretty easy, because even sitting with his abdomen resting against the ground now like he was, he was still several feet higher than I was.
“Also I promise to behave. Just let me go pee, all right?” I scooted off to do so, and tore a bit of the silk he’d stretched along the ground earlier to wipe, then scooted back. “We can rest for a bit, if you need to.”
He crooned at me again—that was the only word for it—and then rose up once more on all his legs. My head craned back, wondering if he was going to pick me and the bag up again, when he arranged himself over me almost perfectly—and then lightly lashed me to the ground.
“What? Hey!” I protested, as he tilted back and forth, his hindlegs lacing over me quickly, while he looked down. From here I could see the action of his spinny-bits—they looked like living versions of the gyroscopes in my father’s lab. “Oh,come on, spider-dude,” I complained, and then decided to try a different tact. “Nyyyyynnnnnnen,” I said, but it didn’t matter. I was quickly covered in a blanket of soft white fuzz. It didn’t stick to me—but every edge of itwas pinned down by one of his spider feet, which meant I was not to be trusted, and there was to be no escaping.
I supposed I couldn’t blame him, after having recently been captured. And when he leaned forward again, I saw the marks from where our dinner monster had cut him.
I’d almost forgotten I’d gotten him hurt.
Of course I had.
That was what happened to people who knew me.
I turned on my side and tucked one arm up beneath my head for a pillow. “Okay, okay. I’ll be good,” I said, and tried to go back to sleep.
Fifteen
NIA’N’AN
My mate wasa complicated little creature.
She’d fallen asleep earlier, but when she’d crawled off to relieve herself, she’d almost gotten captured by a Nanuruck—the ferocious, mindless, lizard-like creatures that roamed Threadstone’s tunnels. Luckily, him dragging her off to be his meal had scraped over several of my tripwires,andI’d woken up in time.
It was dangerous to rest—but it was also dangerous not to rest—and fighting the Nanuruck had taken more of my strength than I’d cared to admit.
It was good that they were tasty, though, and safe for both Arachnaea and human.
But she wouldn’t be convinced of it, until she saw me eat first.
So I did, because I had to, for her sake—and then seeing her comforted by the sight of my eating, I continued. Fooddidn’t appetize me, but my stomach still worked, and I could no longer pretend I had enough resources to get us out of here alone. Eating wouldn’t stave off my final death were I not adequately mated in time, but I would do anything if it would help me save her.
I would fight death itself, for her sake.
And then she’d tried to learn my name.
She was closer than most humans too, to saying it right.
She said it like she wasn’t in a rush.
She said it like she might someday care for me.
I shook my head and closed my eyes, leaning back. Those thoughts were foolish, and I knew it. I didn’t even know how her anatomy worked; I had no idea how I could even lock her, or if she would enjoy it besides—and I knew I could not do one single thing that this human did not wish.
Yes, I would force survival on her, food and water; those were non-negotiable.
But anything past that would require her avid consent.
Should I gain it, though...perhaps it was the strength of the food rushing through me, providing nourishment to the far corners of my body beneath my shell, but it was all too easy to imagine a moment in which she could accept both pieces of my last pair, and for us to swing in conjugal bliss, locked at last, mated forevermore.
Sixteen
