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Adelina was so shocked she could barely do more than pull away. The shadows chilled her skin and she shivered. That pull towards him worried her and she had to at least warn him. “Father and Raena are not going to grant your request,” she whispered, preparing for another change in his moods. Adelina hated having to tell him. “You will have a week before you must leave; they were going to tell you tonight afterdinner.”
His sharp intake of breath was his only reaction, and then Nash let out a long, slow breath. “They are?” heasked.
The hot summer air choked her as she nodded. Adelina kept a firm grasp on her control and kept the tears from her eyes. “I do not agree with their choice, but I am nothing more than apawn.”
His eyes sparkled as he studied her. Adelina’s cheeks flushed with heat and she knew they were red under his scrutiny. “Why are you telling me this?” hedemanded.
The trees provided much needed shade and the crescent of the mother moon shone her purple form over the ocean. Adelina studied her birthright and finally met the prince’s eyes. “I will not lie after everything they are going to do to you. The chance is high you will not survive on the run no matter the tech you possess.” Her voice dropped so low he had to bend forward to hear her. “I do not want you todie.”
Only the goddess knew why she felt such a strong connection with him. Perhaps it was that she saw so many similarities between her and Nash. Without her family, she would be lost as well, but at least the prince had training as awarrior.
He traced her lips with his rough fingers, barely there and teasing. “I do not deserve someone like you. I will only bring you harm as I did with my ownfamily.”
Adelina grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Think about my words, Prince Nash. I can help you if you let me. We can try to find a way for you to stay, but in the meantime, I can help you get what you need. Just think on it for now.” She tugged him towards the huge cavern under the mountain and then dropped hishand.
The farmhands gave her a nod of respect, glanced at the prince and turned back to their work. Adelina pointed out the massive webs covering the caverns and the fat little bodies against the glittering white threads, changing the subject before she said too much. “Here the spiders are cared for and kept for theirwebs.”
Prince Nash looked up and jerked back as a web directly over them housed a particularly large queen spider about the size of Adelina’s hand. He practically dragged her back before she could extricate her arm fromhis.
She tapped the invisible force-field and it sparked against her nail. “We can’t disturb them, and they won’t disturb us,” she promised. Adelina smiled to know such a large warrior was afraid of harmlessspiders.
“I thought you wanted to see the spiders?” she teased. Adelina led him slowly into the cavern, careful of hisinstincts.
Nash gave her a side-long glance. “I did not expect them to be so large and so close,” he said, keeping close to her. “Are theypoisonous?”
Adelina enjoyed his nearness. His arm hovered around her waist, but didn’t actually touch her. Every inch of him was a warrior on edge, ready to remove her from the danger. His protective instincts were triggered by her presence. She was intrigued and glad they weren’t so different from each other afterall.
“The queens are,” she told him. “You can tell which ones are queens by their size and the purple color of their abdomens.” Adelina pointed at the round body of the queen above them. It was a rich aubergine that reminded her of Raena’s eyes. “The rest are not, but they all have beautiful webs. The farmhands swear the queens weave the strongest threads and reserve them for us to choose from.” She ran her hands over her skirts, knowing how much work went into each of herdresses.
“How are the webs harvested?” Nash asked as they walked slowly through the winding caverns, lit by dim purplelights.
“The spiders are moved into an empty cavern to start again. We leave the nursery alone though, and the farmhands wear special gear to protect them and the spiders.” Adelina stopped in front of a smaller cavern connected to the underground tunnels. It was naturally warmed by the hot springs below and the hanging sacs looked peaceful in the dimlight.
Nash pressed to her side as a spider crawled sedately over the force-field directly in front of them. “How are they moved?” He shuddered as he considered theprospect.
“A non-toxic mist of mint and a slight sedative are used to make them sleepy. They do not like the smell of mint and move away from the area to a new one, leaving the webs free for us to harvest.” Adelina continued on the main path and the light turned to orange. Thousands of farmhands harvested caverns empty of spiders and she turned down a smallerpath.
The path took them through occupied caverns and then out into the spidersilk factory. “The spiders need the cool darkness of the mountain so once the webs are harvested we take them here to clean them, spin them into silk, dye them, and then weave them into bolts offabric.”
The main floor of the factory dyed the fabrics and she walked straight through with Nash by her side. None of the workers looked up. Adelina made her way to the floor manager at the other side of the factory. The woman bowed and checked her work shreve. “Princess, how may I helpyou?”
Adelina clasped her hands before her and turned to survey the massive floor that went on for acres. “I would like to see the quarterly reports if you don’tmind?”
The manager raised an eyebrow at her, but Adelina’s visits weren’t unexpected. The spider farms were one of her favorite tasks. “Would you like to go through my shreve?” She handed the metal and plas-glass device over to the princess and left the floor for her connectingoffice.
Adelina scrolled through the accounting documents and the standard contracts. Nash was a constant, silent presence she ignored for the time being. She sent the documents to herself to look over in more detail at a later time then went into the manager’s office with a tiny bow. “Thank you, mistress,” she said in deference to the woman’s dominance. “I appreciate you accommodatingme.”
“Would you like to see some of the newest creations, your highness?” the manager asked, swirling a cup of tea before taking asip.
Adelina brightened at the idea and then glanced at Nash. She doubted it was something he would enjoy. “Perhaps another time, mistress, but I appreciate theoffer.”
Nash nudged her. “Go, we have nothing pressing toattend.”
She shook her head. “I can’t leave you,” Adelina said with a small shrug ofapology.
He gave her a rueful smile. “It will not kill me to look through fabrics. It will be enlightening after that rather terrifyingtour.”
She couldn’t help the laugh that spilled out. A warrior who openly admitted his fear of something so much smaller than him was rare indeed. “All right, let’s take a look prince, perhaps you will see something I might miss on myown.”
