Page 224 of The Spider Queen

My eyes widened. “Of course I still love you. I died for you. I’d die for you again.”

In two strides, Thane was in front of me, my face in his hands. His mouth covered mine, and then his tongue was in my mouth. I reached for him, and the blanket fell from my body.

“Wait,” he commanded, removing my arms from around his neck.

“Wait? Why?” I blinked, drunk with lust.

“I need to bathe. I’m caked in—”

“I don’t care. I need you,” I pleaded, reaching for him again.

Thane’s gaze darkened with unrequited hunger. He ripped at his clothes, the sword dropped to the ground, and then he was on me, dragging me down to the pallet.

His mouth swooped in to devour mine as his hands tried to be everywhere. My legs fell open, cradling him against me. I was hot and ready, mindless.

When he sank into me, I cried out in pleasure and disbelief—disbelief because I never thought I’d get to experience this again. I never thought I’d get to feel him against my skin.

“Poppy,” he gritted. He said my name over and over as he thrust hard and deep.

I reached for him, needing his mouth on mine, to absorb the pleasure he was giving me.

He gripped my hips, his touch bruised and demanded, and still I wanted more. Thane was relentless and he didn’t stop, not even when the wave of my release crashed over me. Even as I trembled from my aftermath, he pulled out and flipped me over, so I was on my hands and knees.

And then Thane was entering me.

I felt him deeper, and pleasure bloomed again. My nails tore into the silky fabric of the pallet, and I couldn’t hold back my screams.

He pumped a few more times, and then I felt him come inside me. We collapsed and Thane dragged me against him, still joined, our hearts and mental bond pulsing in sync.

Thane brushed his lips across my shoulder, and I shivered.

“There’s a bathing tub, just behind the tent.”

“Of course there is.”

“Not built by my own spiders.”

“What then?”

“Dragon magic.”

He slipped out of me and stood, and then reached down. I took his hand and let him lead me out the back of the tent. The bathing tub was a square pool on a raised wooden platform. Steam rose from the water. Thane helped me up the wooden steps and into the bath. I moved out of the way and sat down on a stone bench, enjoying the heat that sank into my bones.

Thane waded in, but instead of coming to sit next to me, he floated in the center, his dark eyes on me. “We have a lot of talk about, don’t we?”

I nodded.

“I have to know something before we get into it.”

“What?” I asked, instantly wary.

“What was it like?” His black eyes flashed gold. “What was it like to die?”

Chapter 46

I licked my suddenly dry lips, wishing for a glass of wine. I smiled when a heavy silver goblet appeared on the ledge of the tub. I grasped it and took a drink. Tart and sweet, a touch heady.

“Poppy?” he pressed.