"Wife?" That makes Death stop his circling around me. He studies me closely, peering at my face. "You are not from our world, are you? You are from the other web, like my Max."
"Who's Max?"
He brushes aside my question as if it's unimportant. "You are from another world?" he prompts again. "Do you serve here?"
"I'm Kassam's anchor, if that's what you're asking." I touch the skin between my breasts. Even here, in this dreamscape, the stitches are still there. Damn it. "Are you taking me from him?"
"If you like." He tilts his head, gazing down a too-long nose at me. "How is Kassam? Is he returning?"
"Sort of?" I launch into a quick run-down of what we're doing, the army we've gathered, Seth joining us in this world, all so we can head after Riekki and take her down for what she did to Kassam. He asks more questions about how we traveled over from the other world, which is when I bring up Lachesis and her comment about not pulling my thread.
The god of death nods, as if this makes sense. "The dead drift into my realm when they pass, like stones sinking to the bottom of a pond. You, however, have not. I can feel it at the edge of my senses." His hand drifts up to his thick, tumbled black hair. "You are caught in the mortal realm."
"So what do we do? How do we fix that?"
Death rubs his chin. "Kassam is a friend. I can approach the Fates and ask them to tug your thread back into your realm. If I do it now, though, you will die immediately." He gestures at the stitches between my breasts, and I scratch at them absently. "So that will not do. Instead, I can ask them to tug your thread earlier, separating you from Kassam before you ever cross over into this world."
"Before? What happens to Kassam? His army?"
Those green eyes focus on me. "Does it matter?"
"It matters to me."
He shrugs, the movement seeming to ripple the darkness around him. "Kassam will return to his rightful place amongst the gods. He will cross over without an anchor, and return to his immortal life. You will return to your mortal one and recall nothing of meeting him."
Oh. The thought makes me ache. No Kassam…at all? "Will he remember me?"
Death nods.
"And what about Riekki? Will he be able to go after her?"
The smile he gives me is faint. "Not unless he wishes to risk the High Father's wrath. When we are amongst the mortals, we are expected to participate in their petty squabbles and wars. When we are in the higher realms, we are expected to be better. He will be forced to put aside his quest and hope that the High Father will somehow punish her."
"And do you think that's going to happen?"
"He spent a thousand years inside that glacier, mortal. You tell me."
I flinch. Of course it's not going to happen. If the gods turned a blind eye for a thousand years to the fact that Kassam was missing, they're not going to do squat when it comes to punishing Riekki. Kassam only has one chance for vengeance, and it's if he gets it before he returns to being a god. I can go home, but if I go home, I screw over all of Kassam's plans and a revenge he's probably waited a thousand years for. "I can't go right now," I confess to the death god. "Kassam needs me. He needs to take out Riekki or she could do this again."
The thought's a terrifying one, and something that I just realized. There's no guarantee of Kassam's safety if I turn my back. Riekki sidelined him before, what's to stop her from doing so again? The moment she returns to her full goddess-hood, what's to stop the evil bitch from sending him right back to that glacier and hiding the information for another thousand years once more?
I can't let that happen. I can't.
"Mortal, you do not understand. If you do not go back now, I cannot send you back later." He gives me a look that practically screams “you're being stupid.” "I do not normally see the threads of the dying as they are culled from the webs, but I can see yours. It is pulled taut, with so many forces pulling on it from all sides. Soon it will start to fray, and if it snaps, there is no returning you. Do you understand?"
I swallow hard. "I get it." If I don't go now, I don't go ever. I have to choose between Kassam and my own security. There's no guarantee that the Fates will help me, either. We could get to the end of this and they could decide that I need to stay dead. Or this could go on for years and years, and what happens to me then? Do I stay trapped inside my body? Do I rot? Shuddering at the thought, I try to weigh both sides equally…but I can't.