Wed to the Wild God (Aspect and Anchor)

Kassam grunts at the sight of it, then stares.

Just…stares.

"What do we do now?" I ask after several long minutes pass.

"I am thinking." He gets quiet all over again, just staring thoughtfully at that barrier.

"Well, don't strain yourself," I joke, poking him in the side with a finger. It's my job to get him out of his head, after all.

He grunts again, but this time his hand slides to cover mine where it rests on his stomach. "This is my fault."

"What, you're going to believe Seth?" I scoff. "Just because we didn't attack the moment we got here? It's not a crime to be kind, you know. You gave people a chance to leave. There's nothing wrong with that."

"And now we are blocked by magic." Kassam sighs, gazing at the barrier. "And our army is upon the ground, so this is yet another way she defeats us."

"How so?"

He gestures at the barrier. "Because she is willing to corrupt the rules to get what she wants. Can you smell the death on it? Likely three or four of her wizards have given their lives to erect this, just to please her. And now we are blockaded, and she will gloat upon her victory unless we figure out another way in."

I gaze at the barrier, my thoughts racing. Is this my fault? Because I asked Kassam to think of the innocent? At least it explains why no one left over the last day—they were probably reassured by the goddess that they would be safe. With a barrier in place—and something tells me that if anyone touches the barrier, it'll do more than give them a warning zap—Seth's army of fanatics is useless. So is the vast majority of Kassam's army. The wolves, the massive wildcats, the elk with the dangerous antlers and trampling hooves, all pointless. There are birds, of course, but most are small and can't do the damage that one of the tigers can. The griffins remain dangerous, but there's only a handful of them—a fact which has saddened Kassam, since he said there used to be many of them when he went to “sleep.”

We also have zero dragons, which disappointed Kassam as well. I know he's thinking about that lack of dragons as he gazes at the barrier. Just one good dragon and he could probably take out the entire city. Riekki would have known we'd have no dragons. She'd know that a barrier could fuck us over. I stare at the trees, the massive, massive trees…and an idea occurs to me. "How far up do you think this barrier goes?"

Kassam twists, trying to eye me. "Why?"

I gesture at the city high above our heads. "They're trees. You're the god of the wild. Can you make the branches curve? Give your army a pathway up to the city itself and go over the barrier?"

His hand clenches over mine. "I cannot use my magic, Carly."

"You have before—"

"And I hurt you," he growls, voice harsh. "I hurt you badly. I am not supposed to do that. I am supposed to realize that you are more important than using my magic, and I do. I vowed to keep you safe. That is not an option."

I ignore the decisiveness in his tone. "But it would work, right? You could build a path and go over the barrier? It doesn't go all the way up to the trees?"

"If I used that much magic, it would hurt you," he says again, firm. His hand clasps mine tightly.

I want to hug him. I want to hug him for how protective and sweet he is…but we didn't come this far to only come this far. "I'm dead, Kassam," I say in a gentle voice. "Seth killed me. The only reason I'm still here is because Lachesis is playing some game. You can't hurt me, all right? Just like I don't need to eat or drink or even feed your hedonism, I don't think it'll matter if you pull on me for magic. If you can make the bridges, you should do it."

His hand tightens on mine again. "Carly—"

"I know," I say. I know what he's going to say before he can say it. "But again, I'm dead. You can't hurt me more than Seth already did. And you need to win this. Fuck this magic barrier. You're the fucking god of the wild, and it's about time you showed her she's not safe in a forest, because that's your domain."

He grabs my hand and presses a fervent kiss to the palm. "I do not deserve you, my wife."

I chuckle. "Just kick her ass for me, baby."

47

Turns out, I'm a liar.

When Kassam pulls on his magic to twist the trees, it hurts. Dear god, it hurts. It hurts like I'm being roasted alive from the inside. It's like my head is a melon being squeezed in a vise. I sit atop my griffin, and when Kassam pauses and looks back at me, I somehow manage to give him an encouraging thumbs up. He turns back to the barrier and the trees, and I watch through a haze of pain as the trees warp and twist, a woodland bridge extending from the biggest of trees down toward our army.