Blackfeather Woods She wears me down to bones in bed

She breaks from her stupor with the now-familiar lilting accent of Atli. She never thought that one of her flings — who were merely intended to be donors — would ever lay with her in her den. But Mephala had brought him to her for one reason or another, the purpose of which she would soon find out. Or perhaps not. Perhaps she was a step in Atli's story.

She turned to him, her breathing still ragged and laced with coughs and chokes. I'm fine, she eventually gasped out, but they both knew that was a lie. Eventually she staggered over to the pool and under the waterfall — despite the fact that her children were large enough to find dens of their own, she was still in the Spiderling's Cove. She would be staying there for much longer now, it seemed.