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"Lachesis visited her in a dream, yes? The goddess will watch out for her."
Which reminds me. "Are we sure Lachesis wasn't showing up just to lie to my mom and make her feel better about me going with you?"
Kassam snorts at that. "Why would she feel the need to lie? Your mother is a mortal. She is nothing to the goddess."
"An excellent point, and ouch, dude. Just ouch." I guess there's nothing more to do than to hope for the best. I look over at Kassam, at his utterly calm face. He's not worried about tonight in the slightest. In his eyes, I am completely safe despite the fact we're teaming up with a trickster god to switch worlds. It seems like a big deal to me, but what do I know? I'm just mortal. I have to have faith that Kassam (and Seth) know what they're up to. "Just promise me that you're telling the truth, Kassam?"
His brows furrow. "Truth about what?"
"All of this." I release his hand and get up to start packing more shit into my bag, because that at least helps me feel somewhat in control of an increasingly bizarre situation. I shove my hairbrush into a tight corner of the bag, shrugging as I do. "I just need to know that you're not lying to me. That you really are going to protect me. That I'm not going over to your world just to get axed. That Lachesis is going to look out for Mom. That you and I are"—I break off, because I'm not sure what answer I want to hear from him. It's not love. It's not devotion—"committed," I finally manage. "That you and I are a team. I need to know this is the truth."
Kassam leans back on the bed, watching me try to shove a belt into my bag, next to the hairbrush. A belt just seems like something pretty handy to have in a medieval world, and I want to bring it. He regards me for a few, and when I pause to look over at him, he shrugs. "I'm not sure what answer you wish from me, Carly."
Well that makes me nervous. "How about a 'Yes, you can a hundred percent trust me, Carly. Pinky swear.'"
But Kassam doesn't raise his pinky to meet mine. He only gazes up at me thoughtfully. "I will never betray you. I gave you my vow, and I meant it. I cannot control others, though. If Seth means to betray, he will betray us both. But if you are asking if I am using you, the answer is both yes and no. I do not deny that I have used people in the past. Every god does. I have used every anchor I have had in the past, just as I am using you now for my needs. I have ensnared others to do my bidding. Ask the conmac, who do my bidding on this plane because I demanded it, when they would rather run free. I told them they were needed to serve me through the Anticipation. That if they wished to live in the Great Endless Forest and keep their wolf-skins, they must obey the rules of the domain. That they must obey me. They were bound to me and they resented me greatly, but they still served."
"I don't know who the conmac are," I point out. "And this really isn't helping me feel any better about the situation."
"They are fae," he says. "Immortal, wild fae who wanted power and freedom. I gave them wolf-skins and the ability to shift into wolf form, but I made them promise to be my army if it was needed. They are my wild hunt. And when I have need, I call upon them. Because they are wild, they have no wish to help me, so I must force them to do so. I threaten to withhold their skins if they will not answer the call. And they do so, grudgingly. They would tear my throat out if they could." Kassam's smile is faint. "But I am answered at least."
I say nothing. I try to reconcile the laughing, teasing god in front of me who just waved my vibrator to make me laugh with the one he is telling me about, the one who withholds magical wolf-skins if people don't do his bidding.
"I am telling you this, Carly," Kassam says softly, "because I could force you. I could lay you down on this bed and use everything in my power to coax you to stay at my side. I could use my tongue and my cock to make you beg for anything and everything. But I will not. I welcome your refusals, and your challenges, and your questions, because you are my wife and my partner. We are friends. I am sharing the foul things I have done as a god, because I have forced others to my will, but I am not forcing you, and I want you to know the difference."
