AARYN

It was hard to say goodbye to Elreth knowing that he likely wouldn't see her again until the next day, but he'd promised her he'd try talking Gar into coming. And he wondered if inviting the male to be a part of that night's discussion might help.

So after too many kisses, and too many groans about not wanting to leave, he finally unbarred the door and walked out, straight across the meadow, past Reth and Elia's tree, to Gar's front door.

It was eerie, seeing the lights on in the royal's tree, but knowing that the silence was ominous.

Why had this come between them so deeply? Aaryn feared that he'd thrown a cat into a henhouse he hadn't even known existed, and Elia was having to pick up the resulting shit.

Damn.

But there was nothing he could do about it at that moment. Instead, he strode up to Gar's door, knocked twice, then pushed inside. "You here, Gar?"

"Yeah, just a sec."

Despite his friend's consistent anger against his father, he was rarely short with Aaryn. He treated Aaryn as the Alpha of the disformed… mostly. He didn't take orders, exactly—since technically Aaryn wasn't over him. But since their dominance was pretty evenly matched, but Gar didn't use his, when they were together, usually Gar toed the line.

As he thought about it, the only dominants Gar challenged were his father and sister.

Why was that?

Gar trotted down the stairs a second later, a book in his hand. "Hey, whatsup, Brother of Mine."

Aaryn snorted. "Not yet."

"Only a matter of time."

"Not if the Elders have their way," he muttered.

Gar's eyebrows shot up. "What are they saying?"

Aaryn explained about the delay, the concerns about the people. "…we're hoping it will only be a few days, but I don't know. There's a lot of uneasiness in that room."

Gar snorted. "Tell them to start the flames, or you'll just take her anyway and they can tell the people why it wasn't traditional, lol. I mean, seriously, who waits until they're vowed in this age, anyway?"

"The first dominant Queen who wants to take the first disformed King to rule Anima."

Gar stopped in his tracks. "Yeah… when you put it that way…" Then he shrugged. "Sucks to be you, brother."

"Enough of the brother thing. Do you want to come to the meeting tonight—just the disformed, at the cave. You'll have a unique view, and I might need your muscle if things get out of hand."

"Why would they get out of hand? Everyone wants Elreth to take them, right?"

Aaryn tipped his head back and forth. "When I told them I was calling the meeting, filled them in on what was going on, there was a lot of resentment and back biting. I think we got it settled down, but it would be good to have you there if any of the males starts getting itchy. They know you can shift, so they're scared of you." Aaryn grinned, but the truth was, he was jealous of his soon-to-be brother-in-law.

Gar stared at him. "When?"

"In an hour. I'm going to grab some dinner, then go. You can come with me if you want."

"I'm not doing dinner, but I'll come over later. You aren't roping me into Elreth's meeting, though. I'm not touching that. I'll come help you. It'll be an interesting conversation. Plus, then I can make sure no one's talking about me when they shouldn't," he grinned and tossed the book onto the couch, then strode past Aaryn to the kitchen. "Sure you didn't want to eat something here? I'm sick of market food, I'm learning to cook."

"No, thanks. It's on my way anyway and I need to see my mom first."

"Suit yourself. I guess I'll see you in an hour."

Aaryn sighed. "Yep, see you then."

*****

He was barely out of Gar's door and onto the grass when the door opened to Reth and Elia's tree and Reth strode out, making straight for Aaryn, like he'd been waiting. Aaryn eyed him warily. Reth was clearly tense and angry—and acting in ways Aaryn had never seen him before.

"You okay?" he asked when Reth got close. Reth swung into step next to him, shaking his head.

"I need you to tell me why you thought the disformed needed to be hidden from me."

Aaryn tensed. Reth was trying to get more information from him that he thought Elia should have given him. At least that meant he could be confident she was still keeping their secrets.

He swallowed. "Haven't you ever kept people's secrets for their own safety, not because it was convenient to you?"

"Of course."

"So have I."

Reth eyed him from the side. "Safe from me, though? Is there something to know about the disformed that would have made me hurt them?"

"No!"

"Then why would you think they needed to be protected from me?!"

"I didn't, they did."

"But you knew better?"

Aaryn sighed as they crossed the meadow towards the trail into the trees. "Reth, if I was going to have any chance of keeping them together and bringing them to the crown formally—which was always the plan—they had to feel confident that I would keep their secrets. They had to believe I prioritized their privacy and safety over my own relationships."

"Over the King, you mean," Reth growled.

"No. Because I always led them to follow you. Always. Keeping the information away from you was about the people feel safe. Not about working against you."

"And yet, here we are, how many years down the line, and you and my mate and my son have all apparently been in on this little circle of knowledge, and kept me out of it!" Reth growled.

They had entered the trees where the shadows were growing deeper in the early evening light. Aaryn stopped walking, looking up and down the trail to make sure they were truly alone. "You have to look at it this way," he said quietly. "You banished my father, killed wolves, and tortured prisoners of war—one of whom was disformed. You were a true ruler, Reth, I get it. I'm sure if I'd been in your shoes I would have made the same decisions. But that's not how normal Anima view these things. They see you not as a male, but as a power in their lives. And if they give up certain things, they are in danger. Or at least, they feel like they are.

"The disformed didn't believe that you'd have their backs if you felt threatened—and Elia and I knew they weren't a threat to you. You know one of us would have told you if there was a problem. The first hint of a problem. But there never was. Because they aren't revolutionaries, Reth. They're just hurting. But since they didn't trust you—but they did trust Elia and they did trust me—we managed it for you. We did what we knew you'd want, and we kept them in line. Now, because they trust me, they're going to follow me to your daughter. Isn't that worth it?"

Reth opened his mouth, a growl already starting in his throat, but then both of them were startled by a feminine voice, high and snappish, from behind him.