Servant to the Spidae (Aspect and Anchor, #4)

by Ruby Dixon

“Do you want to continue on Aron’s quest or do you want to serve us? You cannot have both, female. Make your choice.” Something shrivels inside me at his rage. Already I’ve made him furious. “I want to serve you. I do. I’m sorry.” The blue-eyed one pushes his brother away. “Do not be jealous over her human lover, brother. That one has no future.”

I swallow back my tears, because there’s no point in crying. I’m used to slavery and servitude. This is no different than any other master, except now I serve the gods. There is honor in that, and I need to embrace it. So I push away my emotions, calm myself, and slip off my dress to go bathe.

“Unlike a lot of women, I have lived in servitude all my life. My body has been traded many times and I have no shame of nudity. There is nothing I have that belongs to me, even now.”

“You do not belong to yourself?” “I am your anchor,” I reply. “Yes. But it is not slavery.” “Isn’t it?” I offer him a smile to take the sting out of my words, drawing my knees up and hugging them. “I am yours now, to serve you in all ways. You’ll forgive me if I don’t see how that is all that different from slavery.”

He hasn’t moved from his spot, watching me with a fixed, burning gaze. “Do women ever come to this place?” I ask him. “Rarely.” He continues to stare at my leg. “Most of the supplicants we receive are of the male persuasion.”

He frowns at me. “I don’t like you shivering with fear.” “I shall try to be braver,” I say eagerly. “I would like for you to be yourself, I should think. I do not know how mortals act and I wish to observe you for a time.” He continues to frown down at me. “Why are you on the floor?” “I…wondered if I might suck your cock.” I give him my brightest smile. The Spidae blinks. “Why?” Why? He honestly doesn’t know why? Or is he toying with me? He’s Fate, all-knowing and all-seeing. Surely he knows what sexual pleasure is. “Because it feels good?” “Ah.”

Aron is a god of war, and his anchor must die so he can ascend. Even at Faith’s side, it wouldn’t be safe. “I think I made a choice because I had to, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be afraid of what the choice means. It doesn’t mean that it’s a bad choice, just a little intimidating. It’s just going to take some time to settle in. That’s all.”

“Thank you, my lord Fate,” I murmur. “Why are you thanking me?” His softening cock leaves my body and then his weight is gone. “For honoring me,” I reply automatically. “Are you honored, then?” There’s a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Am I? In a way, I suppose I am. A god had sex with me. I’ve had two gods inside my body now—Aron and now this Spidae. It amuses me that I probably have the holiest cunt this side of Aventine.

When I pull my hand back out and examine it, I see spiderwebs. I can’t decide if I’m revolted or amused.

“My soft, sweet-smelling Yulenna.” His gaze goes distant. “You always know how to make me smile. Even after centuries.”

“No touching,” he says quickly, still not looking at me. “I cannot watch you wither. It hurts me too much.” The god shudders violently, his hands covering his eyes. “Cannot watch the one I love age and die before me…” Oh.

“Were my duties to your liking, my Lord Fate?” He reaches for me, touching my cheek, and his thumb skims over my mouth. “That was the best thing that has ever happened to me,” he says in a low voice. “And I have lived a very, very long time.” I’m happy that he also sounds more…coherent than before. I press a kiss to his hand. “I’m glad I’ve pleased you.” “Very much.” He strokes my face again. “I like touching you. I’ve never liked being touched before.”

“If the sight of me affects your enjoyment, simply do not look.” “A simple but elegant solution.” That makes me smile, and I nudge my mouth against his hand so he feels it. “Mortals are very good at coming up with simple solutions, if not elegant ones.”

“I’ve watched you,” he admits. “So lovely. So sensual.” Interesting. “What did I call you?” “Zaroun,” he says in a dreamy voice. “You called me Zaroun.” I did? Oh, I like that. “It means ‘dusk’ in my mother’s language,” I tell him, pleased at my own cleverness. “I know.” “Zaroun,” I purr, working his cock. “Do you want me to make you come again?”

“I know it’s not the same. But you’re not acting the same as he did, and so you get a different response.” That catches his attention. He circles around me as I get to my feet, and his gaze is intense as he watches me, so intense it feels like it’s burning a hole into my clothing. “Yes. That’s what I’m trying to say. Why is it that you are different with him than with me? Explain this to me so I might understand it.”

It is the gray-eyed one, the one I’ve taken to calling “Neska” in my head. Zaroun is “dusk” in my homeland’s language, because he sees all as it ends. I call the blue-eyed aspect Ossev, which is “dawn,” or beginnings. But Neska? Neska is what we call a troublemaker. Someone that is far too clever for their own good.

I wake up the next morning to find Ossev leaning over my bed, his blue eyes vivid. “Will you bathe me?” And I bite back a chuckle.

Ossev gazes down at me as if nothing else exists in the world. “Can I hold you while you sleep? Just to watch over you?”

It’s like everywhere I turn, I have a Spider god waiting to suck my clit until I scream. It’s exhausting. I…love it.

Neska especially frets when I have my period. He doesn’t like it because it causes me pain and makes me tired. He tends to me carefully and even cuts up fruit for me when I don’t want to get out of bed. The next month, my period doesn’t come and I’m worried I’m pregnant. “Not pregnant. I’ve stopped the cycle for you,” is what Neska says when I ask. “I didn’t like that it harmed you.” It didn’t harm me, but I can’t say I miss it. I’ve no desire to be a mother and being rid of a week of cramps and bloody discharge? It might be the greatest gift they’ve given me yet.

Where are the men that take away periods ??! I need me one of these asap

Oh. I don’t want Zaroun to feel left out of anything because he’s not as demanding as the other fates, so I lean over him and kiss him passionately, showing him how much I adore him with my mouth, and how he’s just as important to me as the others. “I know,” he whispers, nipping at my swollen lips. “Always know.”

“You are the only person in the universe that sees us as three separate faces instead of one with three facets.”

We share this moment of pure unadulterated joy. It will be the first of many, I suspect, because time is long…and we have as much of it as we want.