Seth looks over at us, and his smile becomes a little more predatory as he approaches. "It is the final hours. Are you not pleased with how today has gone?" He gestures at the tree. "When we take this, we will have completely broken her under our heels."
Screams erupt from inside the house, and I bury my face against Kassam's chest. "Can't you make them stop?"
"Make them stop? Why would I want to do that?" Seth laughs, and the sound is cruel. "We have her exactly where we want her. Our armies have won. Is this not what we fought for? Is this not what we came to do?"
I look up and glare at him. "You could be kinder about it."
"Kinder?" He sneers at me. "There is no 'kinder' in war, you idiot." He gestures at the tree. "How shall we politely wrest power from her? Shall we curtsy and shake hands before slaughtering her people? Shall we—"
"We shouldn't slaughter at all," I snap back at him. "We're better than that."
"Are we? I thought we were here for vengeance." Seth turns to Kassam. "Is this not what you wanted? What you planned for? To seek your revenge on this betraying, selfish goddess? Here it is." He spreads his hands and gestures at the burning, destroyed city around us. "Your vengeance. Is it not sweet? Is it not what you dreamed of?"
I look up at Kassam, and his expression is…odd. He gazes at the burning platforms around us, at the bodies massacred, at Seth's gleeful men swarming over the fortress built into the tree itself. "I do not know what I imagined when I sought to avenge myself on Riekki," he says, his words slow and thoughtful. "Perhaps I dreamed of this once, but no longer. I am different. I see this, and it does not fill me with joy. It fills me with sorrow, instead." He shakes his head. "I wanted to avenge myself on Riekki, not all of these people."
"These people sheltered under her wing," Seth snarls. "They are her creatures. They would kill your woman just to get rid of you."
"As you did?" Kassam's voice hardens. His arms tighten around me, and I can feel the tension brimming in his body.
Seth's mouth flattens as he flicks a glance at me. "That was different. It was to benefit both of us. We could have won this war quickly with you at your full strength."
Kassam gestures at the trees, their twisted branches that he manipulated to create bridges. At the flames and smoke and dead bodies everywhere. "This was not quick enough for you? There was no siege, no long, pitched battle. We came in here and we slaughtered." He shakes his head again, his silver eyes full of sadness. "And I am filled with regret."
Oh. I take his hand in mine and squeeze it.
"Regret?" Seth spits. His face is contorted with fury, no longer handsome. "Over what?"
My husband sighs heavily, gazing at the carnage around us. His focus moves from the trees, warped and scarred, to the dead scattered on the platforms. "I am supposed to be the god of life. This is not what I am. I have let my need for vengeance turn my focus away from what really matters, and that is what I regret." He looks over at me, his expression soft. "Luckily, my anchor has been steadfast. She shows me the true way of things. She supports me even when I am being selfish."
Seth just rolls his eyes. "You are a god. These people, this place, they're nothing to you."
"You are right," Kassam says, never taking his gaze off of me. "And perhaps that is part of the problem. Perhaps this is the lesson I am yet learning. That I must care about all if I am to do my job properly." He straightens his shoulders, his tired expression turning to one of focus as he looks squarely at Seth. "I have scattered the wild army. They will aid us no longer. The city is now yours. Carly and I will be taking our leave as soon as she is rested and ready."
That catches Seth by surprise. Me too, if I'm being honest. "You're not going to wait to meet Riekki? You don't want to rub it in her face that she has lost?"
Kassam's brows furrow. "Why?"
"Because you have won, you fool," Seth snaps. "At the very least, do you not want to show her who it was that defeated her?"
I watch as Kassam's lip curls with distaste. "You think I am proud of this? You think this pleases me?" He gestures at the burning city. "I am ashamed of what we have done here today. I will take it as a lesson and learn from it." He gives Seth a contemptuous look. "You should do the same."