over at me, a cunning smile on his face. “How do you know that is where we are?”
“Because I’m standing right here? Pretty mortal, last time I checked.”
His smile widens, and he glides toward the second web, the Earth web. “As I have said before, the veil between worlds is thin in places. I can exist here without an anchor, but I cannot leave this tower, ever.”
“What happens if you do?”
“Why does that matter?”
I shrug. “Just curious. Do you and your brothers die?”
“Brothers?”
Now I’m confused. “Am I misremembering my crash course in the gods of this world? I thought there were three fates, past, present and future?”
“Yes.”
“But…you’re not brothers?”
“Is Aron brothers with his Aspects?”
Huh. I didn’t think of it that way. “So you’re an Aspect.”
“Did I say that? Or are you assuming that?”
“You said it earlier!”
“Did I?” His smile grows wider.
I huff out a breath. “Jesus, you’re frustrating.”
“I said I would give you answers,” he tells me, moving toward my direction once more. “I did not say how many answers, or to what.”
Right. Answers. “You haven’t given me any answers. You realize that, right?”
“Haven’t I? You can go home, or you can stay here. Aron dies either way, it is just a matter of when. The choice is yours.”
I clench my fists. “You know that’s no choice.”
“Is it not?” He arches an elegant brow at me. “This particular Aspect has a one in three chance of ascending back to the Aether in the correct order…provided he does not murder you first.”
“Murder me?” Now this guy’s just making me angry. “Aron would never hurt me—”
“Not willingly, no. Have you forgotten how you arrived here, lovely Faith?”
And that shuts me up, because he’s right. I have totally forgotten. Aron drew on his power to kill the damn lake snake, and in doing so, he nearly destroyed me. He wasn’t trying to, he just lost his temper and pulled on our bond too much.
“He is a war god,” the Spidae says again, his voice cool. “He cares for you, but he would not be the first or last god to destroy his anchor by accident.”
I think of Aron and how tenderly he held me as I fuzzed in and out of consciousness. The nosebleed I had at the farm when he made the rain stop. The crashing headache and the feeling of being sucked dry as he floated above the boat, wielding magic in a show of power I’d never seen before. Aron wouldn’t hurt me willingly.
But he still hurt me.
I could still go home to Earth. Abandon him here and forget he ever existed. He’ll still live on in a certain way. Just…not that Aron. He’ll wear the same face but he won’t be the same man.
I hug my arms close to my chest, feeling very small and alone. “I don’t know what to do.”
“That I do not have an answer for, I am afraid.” For the first time, the Spidae sounds sympathetic.
“Which one are you? Past, present or future?” I look over at him, an idea occurring to me. “Can’t we go ask future for the answer?”
The Spidae’s mouth turns up in a smile. “He is busy with Aron, because I wished to speak to you.”
You mean you wished to fill my head with questions and doubts, I mentally retort, but keep the words to myself. The Spidae is pretending to be benevolent, but I haven’t forgotten for a moment that he’s a god. An unbalanced one with no anchor, no less. All of this could be a ploy to manipulate me into doing something that he wants me to do. “Do I have to decide if I’m staying here or going home? Right now?”
“You have time,” he says, inclining his head. “Aron will acquiesce to your request.”
“Request?” I frown in his direction. “What request?”
“Your request to stay for a while longer. To relax here.” He gestures at the tower. “You are tired and want time before you must confront his next Aspect. I have seen it in the web.”
“I thought you said future was busy with Aron?”
He only smiles mysteriously.
“You suck.”
“But I am never wrong.” The Spidae nods at me and gestures at the open portal that leads to the long, winding hall. “You will find Aron at the base of the stairs, in the large chamber there.”
I can’t thank him for that tidbit. I feel…hollow. Like I’ve been dragged over a wringer for the last half hour. He’s given me hope and destroyed it all over again. There’s nothing