AARYN

"You'll have to ask your mom for the details. Honestly, I never really paid attention. But during the War of the Wolves, the disformed… had issues." He swallowed, trying to imagine how hard it must have been for the disformed in his parent's generation, where there were so many fewer of them. And the prejudice was worse. "Things were already bad for them, but when Gahrye became a Cohort, it helped. Except, Gahrye had to leave with your mom, and the others… I guess it was just kind of a mess."

He said the words sadly. He'd listened to the stories of the older disformed who lived through the war, and he'd thanked the Creator he wasn't old enough to remember those days.

"So?" Elreth asked.

"So, when it was all done, the Outsiders decided to organize themselves. To make sure they always had access to resources and they could connect young disformed with older ones to help them. They trained together. Kind of like a tribe within the tribes, but made up of Anima from all the tribes. Because they were all disformed."

Elreth pulled her head back. "A tribe within the tribes?"

Aaryn nodded, waiting.

She blinked. "And my father didn't know about it?"

"No. At least, not back then. He's apparently learned about it at some point, because he confronted me about it tonight."

"So, then, why's he mad at Mom?"

"Because your Mom and Gahrye set it all up. She's been helping us ever since. Secretly."

Elreth's mouth dropped open. "She never told him?"

"I guess not. At least, not her own involvement."

"Oh, shit. Dad is going to have kittens," she said, frowning at the ground, her brows pinched together. Aaryn took a breath, about to tell her about his own role in it all. But before he spoke, she went on. "That's like the worst thing she could ever have done. What a betrayal."

Aaryn's breath stopped. "It wasn't a betrayal, El. The disformed were never organizing to fight the crown. It was always only a way for them to find support if the people ever turned on them—or if the crown did."

"Yeah, but that's the thing. Dad's worked to help the disformed his whole life."

Aaryn snorted. "I'm not sure I'd say he was helping as much as… kindly overlooking?"

"Come on, Aaryn. You know he's never treated you any differently because you're disformed. For goodness sake—he wanted us to mate!"

"I know. But that's on a personal level. He knows me. The whole reason you challenged him was because he stood up in front of the tribes and said he was going to banish us all!"

"He didn't mean it. I mean, I thought he did, but he was just baiting me. Asshole," she grumbled.

Aaryn's head snapped back. "I can't believe you're just brushing that off. Do you have any clue how many people will feel like he agrees with them after that? You think that doesn't have power over people? He's the most powerful ruler we've ever had."

"And now you have me. You think I'm not going to help the disformed?"

"I know you will. But you realize you have a bigger hill to climb now that he's put that idea in people's minds?"

"Then they'll feel the sharp side of my teeth. Don't worry, Aaryn. The Outsiders don't need their own tribe. They need to fully become part of the others—"

"El, that's completely unrealistic. It's literally never happened. We can't do what everyone else can do so we can't fulfill the normal roles in the tribe. Even if people are nice to us, it doesn't stop us being different. Our job is—" He caught himself, swallowing the words down hurriedly before he said another thing in haste that he'd regret.

Elreth frowned at him. "Your job is what?"

Aaryn's heart was pounding. Shit. Did she really think that the disformed didn't need any kind of support? That they'd just be… embraced suddenly?

"Aaryn, what?" she said, her voice a little harder this time. "What are you thinking about? I get that you're protective of them—I am too. But we can't have factions within the tribes. Look what happened when the wolves did that!"

"The Outsiders aren't organizing against the crown, I told you," Aaryn said through his teeth. "We're there to help each other if anyone within the tribes tries to harm us."

Elreth tipped her head. "How long have you known about the disformed organizing?"

"My whole life! This started when I was… what… five?"

Elreth's mouth fell open. "And you never told me?"

"I couldn't! It wasn't my secret to tell!"

"You're telling me now!"

"Because your father knows. I didn't tell him. And he said you needed to know too. At one point he threatened to tell you himself if I didn't!"

"So, you're only telling me this because my dad told you to?"

"No!" Aaryn raked a hand through his hair. "I was always going to tell you when you took dominance. It was just… you had so much on your plate and so many moving parts. I was waiting for things to settle down and for us to figure out… I mean… there's been a lot going on, El."

"Tell me about it. You think this wasn't more important than most of that?"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because it was totally under control. It was never going to be a problem for you. You had other things to worry about that were real threats—"

She sat forward, turning slightly to face him. "Aaryn, how can you say that? You can't know what they'd do—especially after what Dad said."

"Yes, I can!"

"How?" Elreth spluttered. "Didn't you learn anything from the wolves? The enemy inside your own gates is so much harder to beat than—"

"El, the disformed are not your enemy!"

"I know, I know. I just mean… Aaryn people who are organized have power. If they're hiding themselves from the King, there's a reason for that." She was trying to stay patient, trying not to raise her voice, but he could see her frustration and anger rising.

"No, El, they wanted you in power. I was never going to let them do anything that would hurt you. They'll be an asset to you."

"I'm really glad you're confident of that, Aaryn. But how would you stop the disformed from rising up against me?

He didn't even think about it, it just came, because it was the truth. "Because I'm the Alpha."

She froze, blinking. Then she leaned back, away from him, her eyes narrowed. "You're what?"

*****

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