Page 18 of The Princesses of Ruin (The Princesses of Ruin #5)

He chitters and looks at Ahnkeem. They communicate faster than I can understand.

The concepts are so detailed and complex it makes my head throb to even try, but I can tell they’re debating violating Sheesahng’s corpse.

Ahnkeem is devoted to the babe, and Iksah.

He knows Sheesahng would want them to live, and he does, too.

It would be too easy to get them to let me cut out her venom with the promise that I would save Iksah and his…child. Could Zane replicate the venom, though? He and Adrik have done wonders with blood, but it was all a known quantity, and there was plenty to experiment with.

Iksah’s earlier sentiment comes back to me: “Deceit is for gods, and men.”

In exchange for feeding you and the child, we would need a portion of the venom for ourselves. I project the thoughts toward them and they cease their discussion. The quiet is eerie, their stares penetrating .

Iksah clicks menacingly as he rises to his full height, placing himself between me and his mate. A shiver zips down my spine and I almost regret saying it, but I know this creature could kill us both, and I don’t want to give him a reason.

“Why?”

You said I’m Other, Origin-touched, and it’s true. The one who touched me is the dark goddess Ashai. She’s trying to scorch Gaien, destroy all that exists. There’s a spell that will make her vulnerable to us, and Sheesahng’s venom is required. This is why we were in the forest, seeking you.

Iksah surges forward, stabbing his forelimbs into the nest. White magic pours out of the little hooks on his legs and a network of gossamer silk appears around me and Zane. My heart thunders in my ears and my palms grow sweaty.

“You would’ve killed our mate?” Iksah demands.

Does this spider understand that the whole world is at stake? Perhaps his world is small, and I should speak to him in a way that he’ll best understand.

Just as you, I would’ve done whatever was necessary to save the ones I love.

Iksah lurches forward and I draw Spell-Breaker, cutting the threads encircling us. I pull Zane out of the way of the spider’s charge and roll away. My side sticks to the nest and I rip myself free with my spindles just in time to avoid another leaping jab.

I didn’t want it to be like this…but so be it.

I pull a vial of Olga the Wolf from my satchel and drink it down.

The runes on my arms activate, churning her power through my body like a cyclone.

Ravenous fury surges down my spine and explodes out of my arms. My body contorts, growing taller, longer, and more muscular.

I scream as my mouth elongates and fangs rip through my gums. I taste blood, and I love it.

This all happens in a painful flash, but it surprises the spider into stillness for just long enough. He charges again and I meet him head on. I grasp his forelegs in my wolfish hands and hold it back from sinking fangs into my chest. I know nothing but this fight, nothing but my survival over his.

I’m tossed to the side, leaving Zane exposed. I move to pull him out of the way again, but the spider isn’t interested in easy prey. It wants me. I dodge a sharp hooked leg, but when he pulls back, he catches my arm. My flesh rips and white fur explodes into the air.

He comes at me again and I snatch his leg in my powerful grip. With a twist, I snap the end of his left forelimb. The spider chitters and rears back, attempting to spear me with his second leg. I use my upper spindles to capture those limbs and pull them out to the side.

My feet stick to the nest as I push against the monster, giving me the leverage I need to shove him onto his back.

The spider flips and I tear myself out of the web, jumping on top of him.

He squirms as I pull his legs out farther and farther.

The connective tissue at his thorax strains and I hear a pop.

“Mercy, woman!” The voice of Ahnkeem rattles me to the core, and my bestial rage fades. The absence of Olga’s power feels like the worst illness, but I try not to show the agony in my face or my movements as my body shrinks.

Iksah kicks and wiggles softly, not trying to escape me, but expressing his pain. I loosen my tight hold, and Iksah lets out a breath through the lung openings near my feet.

“Ik-saaaaah.” Ahnkeem whooshes, clicks, and hisses the word out loud, unlike the communications we’ve been sharing. The scrawny spider hobbles on four weak legs, dragging himself toward us .

“She is strong. She is a good mate.” Ahnkeem resumes his mental dialogue. “Take our child, take Sheesahng’s fangs, and live. Please.”

Iksah trembles, his body shaking the entire nest. They go on to speak quickly again, my comprehension failing me as the come-down effects from Olga’s blood intensify.

I release Iksah and step back, hovering over Zane’s unconscious form. I won’t argue that Zane is my only mate and I’ll never take another—man or beast—because I do need Iksah’s help getting him home.

Olga’s power is slow to transform me unless I activate the dark runes to amplify it, but once amplified, she burns out of me quickly.

It’s a last-ditch effort to survive an impossible situation.

As long as I’m still breathing, I have options.

But my options get significantly shittier after using Olga’s power.

As if on cue, a wave of nausea punches me in the gut. There’s nothing in there for me to vomit, so I dry-heave, painting the back of my mouth with sour bile.

“You are being stubborn.” Ahnkeem slows his speech, letting me in on the conversation. “ The woman told us her truth and you attacked her. She bested you. She is a good mate. You will go with her and take our child, or I will end my life this very moment.”

Iksah chitters and rubs his mouth against the top of Ahnkeen’s thorax. His thoughts are fast and pained, pleading even. My throat tightens as he begs his love not to make him choose.

“There is no future for you here. You and the child will die.”

“I do not want a future without you.” Iksah moans, rubbing himself against Ahnkeem harder. The smaller spider nuzzles into him, smearing liquid from his mouth onto Iksah’s pedipalp.

With the two preoccupied, I snatch another pair of leaves from the medicine bundle with my spindles and shove them in my mouth. Relief from physical agony is instant. This herb is most certainly getting its own greenhouse. I stuff several more of the leaves into my pouch for later analysis.

Ahnkeem pushes the bundle of softly pulsing silk in the cradle of his legs to Iksah. “Find a way to live, please.”

“As long as the child lives, I will.” Iksah accepts the bundle and the two embrace over it.

Finally, Iksah turns to me and reaches out with a forelimb. “I will carry the man, and you will carry the child. It must stay warm. I will give you Sheesahng’s fangs, and you will feed the child. You will care for the child if I expire. If you betray me, your mate will die.”

White magic encircles his leg and rests on the hook of his foot. Even in my shit state, I recognize it for what it is.

A god-bond.

Only beings of powerful magic can make them, and deviation from the pact swiftly enacts the consequences.

If we can’t replicate the venom, Zane will die.

If we don’t get the venom, everyone will die.

Iksah pushes closer. “Agreed?”

My heart grows heavy. I didn’t want to condemn him to my fate…I didn’t want anyone else to suffer, but this is the only way.

I grasp his leg in my bloody hand.

“Agreed.”