AARYN

He should have known the first thing they'd want to know was where this all started. And the fact that Reth hadn't know about Elia's involvement… shit.

He'd dodged the question nicely, but he hadn't missed the spike of tension in Elreth's scent. She was not happy that he hadn't told them the full truth. But he also hadn't lied. If anyone found out, he would say he hadn't felt it was his story to tell, since Elia had such close ties with the Elders.

But what if they thought that was him being disloyal somehow?

Shit. Maybe he should have told them. But it was too late.

Now they were distracted by knowing that he was the most powerful Alpha in the WildWood—and they hadn't even had instruction over him.

He had to admit, there was a tiny kernel of smug, deep in his heart. He tried to keep it quiet, ignore it. But the number of times he'd been dismissed, or looked down on… The number of times those outside the disformed had joked at his expense, or thought he couldn't achieve… well, anything.

It felt good to see the dominant among the Elders sit up and measure him. It felt good to see the submissive shocked and changing their posture towards him.

It felt good.

So why did Elreth feel bad?

There was uncertainty in her scent, and a hint of what he'd only ever smelled on her after she felt like she'd failed.

What under the Creator's Sun did she think she'd failed in? If anything, he was proving himself more worthy of her than the elders had thought. Surely that was a good thing?

He wanted to stare at her, measure her body language. He knew her like he knew himself. But it was necessary that they both keep this as unemotional as possible. The elders knew they were true mates. This was about evaluating him as a male, and any potential threat he posed.

"…what would you have us do, Aaryn? We learned of your group and left you alone. You were watched. You were seen to be benign. And yet, now you are about the take the reins of power over all of us. Suddenly your path to Alpha of the disformed seems… ambitious."

Aaryn choked. "You cannot be serious? I'm certain you can't—you have all seen the ways my people are treated! You've seen the mocking, the dismissal. You've seen the ways it's assumed we cannot do certain things, and so we are overlooked in case another Anima gets uncomfortable—as if what we have might be contagious.

"Do you have any idea how desperately all of us just want to walk through a day without someone looking at us as if we either slugs in the dirt, or incapable?"

"Disformation is a form of incapable, on one level."

Aaryn was on his feet and snarling, but Elreth stepped between him and the male.

"Consider your words, sir!" she snapped.

Aaryn pointed at the man. "Just because I cannot take the form of a beast with fangs, does not mean I do not bite."

The male rolled his eyes. "I did not mean you are incapable, Aaryn. I meant, there is a single area of your life in which you cannot do as we do. And any role in which becoming beast is an asset, you are limited. For example, what protection can you offer the Queen?"

"My mother was human and weak and incapable of protecting my father, did that mean she should not rule?"

"Elreth," Lhern said quietly.

"Do not silence me, Lhern—this is my life, my rule, my mate! These questions are irrelevant. As Queen I do not even have to ask you. I could have mated him True yesterday and we would have come to this meeting already revealed to the people, and he already recognized. But I chose to bring you this because I trusted your judgment. Do not make me fear that I was wrong!"

"No one has said you were under our rule, Elreth," Huncer said. "And no one would ever argue that the True Mate of a dominant ruler has their position at the Creator's hand. We are not trying to rule out Aaryn. We seek to know the landscape we walk through so that we can best advise you."

"These are not questions to build advice, these are questions to undermine. So hear me: Aaryn is my mate, and we will walk the Flames and Smoke. I will bring the disformed to the Crown, and he will help me do so. He will be King in title, and ruler in truth—but submitted to me. Your advice is sought on how to share this with the people, how to prepare them. But no more of these questions that undermine Aaryn's integrity or intention. These are issues for me to determine as the Ruler of the Anima. Aaryn and I will walk the Flames and Smoke next week. We will meet with you again tomorrow, at which point you can offer your advice on how we should announce. But this is where this conversation ends."

Aaryn stared, shocked, at Elreth, along with the others.

"Am I understood?" she said, eyes blazing.

Lhern sighed. "Of course you are understood, Sire. We meant no offense."

She snapped her head to look at him so quickly her hair whipped back. "You had one elder who held prejudice, and another who walks the line. How many more here will fight the progress I seek to gain for the disformed? How many will try to undermine my mate? I will not stand for it, Lhern, and you should not either."

He sighed again and nodded. "We will not only discuss how to advise you, Sire, we will also determine if any of our members are… unsuited to the direction of your rule. And if there are, we will remove them."

Elreth nodded once, snorting the air from her nostrils in disgust. "We will return here tomorrow morning and I expect that meeting to go very differently. I do not come to you as a supplicant—are we clear?"

There was an uncomfortable murmur among these elders that Aaryn grieved, and knew Elreth would later, too. She was allowing her emotions to rule her, and she would regret it. But when she stalked from the building, he only bowed his head to the elders, then followed her.

The door had barely closed behind them when he reached for her hand. "Elreth, thank you, but—"

"Do not thank me," she hissed, pulling her hand from his. "It turns my stomach to cover for your lies—and to have walked in there ignorant of the size of your Kingdom! Was that your goal? Did you wish to make me look… smaller?"

"What? No! El, we—"

"You should have told me, Aaryn. I know I should have asked, but you should have told me. Do not leave me ignorant like that again," she whispered.

"I did not leave you ignorant! Everything in our lives has been turned around like a top the past couple of days. It didn't matter how many followed me, El, because I follow you!"

"It matters," she hissed, then looked over his shoulder toward the building they'd just left. "But we can't discuss it here. Go check your mom, then meet me at the cave. We're going to talk this through until I understand everything and can't be blindsided again…" She stared at him, shaking.

He reached for her. "Elreth, what—"

She stepped out of his grip and shook her head. "I just… I need to be certain you really aren't looking to take the throne yourself."

Aaryn's mouth dropped open. But Elreth just turned, leaped into beast form and began to run, leaving him to follow. Mind spinning.