I fight back a shudder. Is this how Aron would be if he had no anchor? “Yeah, well, when Aron’s himself again, maybe we’ll see if we can send someone back from Yshrem to come stay here with you. You need an anchor, you really do.”

“Because we cannot keep behaving as we are?” the one asks, while the other tilts his head.

God, they are so creepy.

“Perhaps we should just pull a human from the other web. The web that sweet Faithful came from,” the first Spidae says, and the look in his eyes grows sly. “They seem eager to serve the gods in all ways.”

The breath explodes out of me. If they’re baiting me, they found the right way to do it. “You fucking bastard, you wouldn’t dare—”

“Faith.” Yulenna’s soft voice makes me go quiet. Her hands tug at my dress, like a child wanting attention. “Don’t. Okay? There’s no need to be upset. I’ll do it.”

At first, I don’t understand what she means. “Do what?”

The two Spidae go completely still, and their attention focuses on Yulenna, not me. “An interesting thread,” one murmurs.

“I see it now,” says the other. “Very interesting.”

Yulenna swallows hard, then lifts her chin. Her thick hair is pulled in a thick braid, and she’s wearing a pale gown with a square fur collar that shows her cleavage and clings to her body in all the right ways. She’s gorgeous, as usual. Her eyes are wide and frightened, but she smiles at me. “I will serve the gods.”

I shake my head, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her away. “Wait, Yulenna, no. You don’t have to do this.”

“I know.”

“You…you really want to serve them? An anchor has to go willingly.” Who would willingly tie themselves to these two? As I look back at them, a third joins, identical to his brothers, this one with eyes so black they look like coals in his pale face. Did I think one was creepy? Three is a nightmare. “You want to stay here?” I hiss at her. “Really?”

She swallows hard. “Not really. I’m kind of scared, actually.” But she gives me a brave smile. “But if you can learn a new world, so can I.”

“Yulenna, no, this is different—”

One of the Spidae glides forward and touches Yulenna’s fat black braid. He practically hovers over her, studying her with fascination. “You would serve us in all ways? The three of us?”

She nods.

“Time out,” I call out, making a T with my hands. “No. Absolutely not. Yulenna, you’re not a whore any longer, okay? You don’t have to do anything like this.”

Yulenna shakes her head, her eyes earnest even as the Spidae hovering over her toys with her braid. “I want to do this, Faith. Here, I have a purpose. I can serve the gods. Once we leave this tower, I’m just an unnecessary whore for a god who is in love with his anchor. I cannot fight in Aron’s army. How long do you think he will keep me around?”

My throat goes dry. I take her hand in mine. “You’re my friend. Aron would keep you as long as I want. You’ve been good to me, and to him.”

She squeezes my hand, and I feel like crying, because I can tell her mind is already made up. “You have been my friend, too. Thank you for making me feel like your equal in all ways.” Yulenna gives me a smile. “But now I must find my own path.”

I swallow hard.

“I can see the guilt on your face,” Yulenna teases. “Don’t. I’m choosing this, just as you choose to be with Aron.”

“If you’re sure,” I begin, but Yulenna pulls her hand from mine and turns to look at the Spidae. One extends his hand to her even as the other plays with her braid.

“I’m sure,” she says, and I hate the tremble in her voice. But she’s brave and strong as she takes the hand extended to her and walks away with the gods.

I watch her go, feeling helpless. Did I just give my friend up…?

I’m surprised when one of the Spidae – the one with blue eyes – turns back and approaches me. I back up a step as he heads in my direction, and there’s a look on his face I can’t decipher. He pauses in front of me, thinks, and then leans in.

“They won’t check your pockets, you know.”

“O-kay…thanks?” I pat my pockets, but they’re empty. And before I can ask him what the hell he’s talking about, he’s gone.

OceanofPDF.com

69

This horrible day seems to last forever. Aron is distant and vague, gazing out at nothing and speaking to no one. He answers when I ask him questions, but his answers are always along the lines of “I don’t care” or “It doesn’t matter” so I stop asking. I just have to wait this out, I tell myself a hundred times as I try to stay busy.

Yulenna is gone as if she was never with us. I go to her room and her things have been removed, and sometimes I catch a hint of her voice, but she never materializes. I suspect that the Spidae are keeping her from us so she won’t change her mind. They’re hiding their new toy.

It falls to me to talk to Markos, Kerren and Solat. I tell them about Aron’s apathy, and they listen with solemn expressions.

“So we no longer have the advantage,” Markos says. “Now, each Aspect of Aron has killed another.”

“Was that an advantage we had?” I joke lightly. “It doesn’t feel like one.”

“An advantage is an advantage.” Markos shrugs. “But when Aron is himself, we will discuss plans.”

I bite my lip and nod.

“What of Yulenna?” Solat asks. “Where has she gone this day?” He paces behind Markos and Kerren, his expression tense.

“That’s problem number two,” I say hesitantly. “She’s decided to anchor for the Spidae. They’ve taken her away.”

Solat goes pale. “She what?”

“It was her decision,” I say quickly. “She spoke with them and decided. It has to be given freely—”

Solat slams out of the room. “Yulenna!” he bellows, storming down the hall.

I wince. I knew that would go badly, especially given that they were clearly friends-with-benefits or more. “It was her choice. I have to honor it.”

Markos rubs his mouth, shocked. “This has been a day of surprises, none of them good.”

“We need time,” Kerren says, then corrects himself. “Solat will need time to understand.”

“Aron’s going to be out of it for the next few days if it’s anything like when he took on Liar Aron’s Aspect,” I say, twisting my hands in my lap. For once, I’m not hungry. I just want to close my eyes and go to sleep. Maybe Aron’s apathy is affecting me, too. “But once he’s back to himself…”

“We should leave,” Markos agrees. “To Yshrem.”

“To our destiny,” Kerren adds, and I flinch.

Funny how that word “destiny” keeps popping up and it sounds more awful every time I hear it.

It takes two full days before Aron snaps out of his “apathy.” Two days of wandering around the somehow lonelier tower, now that both Aron and Yulenna are gone. Well, the Aron I know is gone, and in his place is a stranger who stares at the walls and gives a shit about nothing.

I ignore him. I have to, or I’ll snap. I pretend like he isn’t there, and when he wanders from room to room in that listless way of his, I make sure to leave. I can’t stand to see him like this. I know it’s not him. I know it isn’t. I just…can’t have him look at me with that same bored, uncaring look that he gives the others.

It’s quiet with Yulenna gone, too. There’s no one to talk to, really. The men are busy. I see Markos packing up the men’s supplies or sparring with Solat, who’s turned into an angry, silent man and not the laughing tease he was before. I see Kerren praying over the marker for Vitar’s grave, and I’m a terrible person because all I can think is that I’m glad there was no body, since the dead aren’t staying dead right now.