"Yippee! Make way for the Prince of Mariposa Haven!"
Wèi zipped through the iridescent capital, his wings shimmering like liquid gold under the amber sun. He was a streak of light, laughing a high, bright trill as he teased a humming dragonfly. Every flutter of his wings left a trail of glittering scales—a spark of joy far too large for his tiny frame.
"Don't fly so high, little prince," the dragonfly warned, its wings buzzing a low, worried bass. "The Eight-Legged Shadows are hungry today. One wrong turn and you're a snack."
"Psh! Spiders can't fly," Wèi chirped, executing a dizzying barrel roll. "If they try to catch me, I'll just dance through the breeze. A Prince fears nobody!" He gave a playful wink, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief.
He didn't notice the eyes watching from the deep shade of a golden-blue canopy. Sharp. Dark. Unblinking.
"Good luck then, Your Highness," the dragonfly muttered, peeling away into the reeds. "You'll need it."
In the shadows, Wàng crouched. His legs were coiled like obsidian springs, and his heart hammered a rhythm he hadn't felt in years. Fears nobody? he thought, tilting his head. All four pairs of his golden eyes tracked the shimmering insect. "Then I shall show you what a spider is made of."
"Ooh! Look at that!" Wèi gasped, hovering near a cluster of shimmering silk. "A blue and gold web? It's gorgeous! I have to see it closer!"
Curiosity—Wèi's greatest enemy—pulled him in. A single, delicate brush of his wing against the glimmering thread, and the world stopped.
Twang.
"W-what?! I can't move!" Wèi thrashed, but the silk was like iron. The more he struggled, the tighter the sticky threads wrapped around his delicate limbs.
Wàng leaned forward, a low vibration humming through his thorax. He brushed a single strand, feeling the frantic heartbeat of the butterfly prince vibrating through the line. "Don't move too much," he whispered. His voice was a velvety rasp, laced with both a warning and a strange, dark longing. His gaze burned into Wèi—possessive, heavy, and impossible to ignore.
Wèi's heart skipped. Something thrilling and terrifying licked at his chest. He looked at the spider spirit, and his bravado vanished. This spider was small, but his legs were thick and powerful; his eight golden eyes reflected Wèi's own terrified face eight times over.
"H-hey... Mr. Spidie..." Wèi stammered, offering a shaky, nervous smile. "I wasn't trying to wreck your... lovely home. It's just so pretty! Hehe..." He gave one more desperate tug, and a section of the beautiful web tore with a sickening rip.
Wàng's eyes flashed with a predatory heat.
"You broke it," Wàng hissed, his voice rising in a dangerous growl. "You broke my home! Do you have any idea how long it takes to weave a sanctuary?" He lunged forward, his shadow engulfing the butterfly.
"Now... I think I'll have the finest lunch I've had in years. Perhaps then you wing-types will learn respect." Wàng placed a heavy leg atop Wèi's head, deliberately mussing the soft, dark hair before bringing his claw near his mouth as if tasting the air.
"MOM! SAVE MEEEE!" Wèi wailed, flapping so violently he felt the tip of a wing-fin snap.
"STOP FLAPPING," Wàng yelled, gripping the ruined silk to keep them from plummeting. "Stop, or I'll tear them off myself, and you'll forget what the sky even looks like!" He stepped fully onto Wèi's body, pinning him down and leaning close to his ear. "Since you've ruined everything—my web, my peace—perhaps I should ruin you, too."
"NOOO! UNHAND ME, YOU DIRTY-LEGGED BEAST!" Wèi cried, fat tears welling in his doe eyes. "I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE! I HAVEN'T EVEN MATED WITH A LADYBUG YET!"
Wàng's expression darkened. A playboy butterfly? The thought sent a spike of inexplicable jealousy through him. "A flirt, too? Then the world is better off without you." He leaned in and nipped Wèi's shoulder—not enough to kill, but enough to mark him.
"AHHHH! HE'S EATING ME! MY NECK IS BREAKING!"
"Too late, little butterfly," Wàng murmured in a dominant, low tone.
"Let my brother go!" A sharp voice cut through the tension. Wèi's older brother stood on a nearby leaf, a rose-needle arrow notched in his bow.
Wàng's eyes snapped toward the newcomer. He looked genuinely livid now. "No," Wàng murmured, his voice soft but sharp as a blade. "This one... is mine. To play with. To keep."
"BROTHER, HELP! HE'S CRAZY!" Wèi screamed, providing just enough distraction for Wàng to have to readjust his grip on the collapsing web.
"Wàng, let him go!" other spider spirits shouted from the lower branches. "Don't start a war with the Haven! It won't end well for us!"
The elder prince fired. Wàng dodged the arrow effortlessly, his long legs moving with supernatural speed, but the movement caused his remaining silk to snap.
In the chaos, Wèi felt the tension slacken. He tore himself free, leaving a few golden scales behind, and scrambled into the air. He dived toward his brother, and the two of them sped away into the safety of the bright canopy.
"Brother! I love you! I missed you! Give me a hug!" Wèi sobbed as they flew.
Slap! A light wing-flick caught Wèi on the cheek. He pouted, holding his face with teary eyes. "You're so cruel! I hate you!"
"Then go back and be his dessert," his brother snapped. "How many times were you warned? Spiders aren't just 'scary'—they're predators!"
"I didn't know they were that scary," Wèi mumbled, his voice trembling. "Eight eyes... and I was in all of them..."
"You didn't like the books, you wanted 'practice,'" his brother scoffed. "Next time, I'm just going to hand you over with a ribbon and say, 'Please, Mr. Spider, take him with honor.'"
"NEVER!"
Back at the ruined web, Wàng stood in a deathly silence. He pulled the rose-needle arrow from the wood and looked toward the horizon where the gold streak had vanished.
"You broke my house," he whispered. He picked up a jagged piece of Wèi's wing that had been left behind, inhaling the sweet, floral scent of the prince.
"Wàng, where are you going?" a friend called out as Wàng began to descend the tree.
"Somewhere I can build a web that no one can break," Wàng replied.
He looked at the golden fragment in his hand. You ruined my home... and my mating season. For the first time in his life, the spider stepped out of the shadows and into the blinding light of the butterfly kingdom.
"I'm coming for you, Wèi. And this time, I won't let go."