ELRETH

Elreth woke the next morning, curled against Aaryn's side. He lay on his back, one arm folded up under his head, staring at the ceiling. She was about to ask him if he'd slept when she realized his blond lashes were closed and fluttering, and his breathing was slow and even.

She didn't want to move and wake him, so she took the time to watch him and… appreciate her mate.

His strong jaw cut a hard line, his skin wrinkled under it because of the angle of his head, but because he had his arm bent up, his collarbones and that tendon in his neck stood proud, the wide planes of his chest rising and falling slowly with his breath.

She was tempted to run her finger down the ladder of muscle on his side, but she didn't want to wake him, so instead she followed the lines with her eyes, drinking in his light brown skin, and the smattering of sun-bleached hair on his chest.. His bicep curled deliciously up behind his handsome face, and her heart beat a little faster.

It was incredible how the look and smell of him could make her feel. For a moment she let herself sink back into the years and years behind them when he'd always just been… Aaryn. She'd known he was handsome and strong, but it never affected her. She'd never felt attraction when she looked at him. Let along this hot longing.

She closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled the gorgeous, warm scent of him. He'd been so tense last night, so scared—and right on the heels of that disaster with Tarkyn. If she wasn't being careful not to move she would have shaken her head.

She could sit back and see the difference between Aaryn's heart, his intention, his goals, and what he'd actually done. It was, she realized, a measure of her father's excellent example that she'd seen the risk of this right from the beginning.

Many wouldn't have, she knew. But it was these subtle, nuanced interactions and dynamics that could so easily pull a Kingdom off its feet.

She had learned from her father's lengthy and varied stories, all the ways he would have done things differently—all the lessons he learned the hard way.

Aaryn was about to learn one that hard way right in front of her.

She needed to remember to be grateful that, even though she'd have her tough lessons too, there would be fewer of them because of her parent's example and openness.

Until recently, she'd thought her mother was just as open and expressive as her father.

Now, she wasn't so sure.

She sighed as all the issues, questions, and problems for the day tumbled into her head. Too many to count. Too many to solve. And slowed today by Aaryn's need to find his mother.

She prayed when they got up Delarys would already be home. That Aaryn could spend a little time with her to soothe his conscience, then return to Elreth herself.

But she also knew if it was her mother, she wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything until she was found safe.

So, she would let her mate disappear for as long as he needed to find and comfort his mother—and himself.

But that still left a decision to make about Marryk and Hannah—which couldn't truly be made until she knew what she was doing with the disformed. Which she couldn't know until the defined how Aaryn's role was going to work and how he would give up the disformed. Which he couldn't do until they'd found Hholdyn and he'd disciplined the male and put them all under submission to the hierarchy so they could learn anything the male knew about this unnamed human. Which they probably wouldn't really understand until they'd figured out how they'd gotten in and out of Anima without being scented or discovered. Which meant she needed to talk to Marryk and Hannah about how they'd planned to travel, what instructions they'd been given—where and how…

Everything was linked. Every decision hinged on another that hadn't been made, and Elreth felt a genuine surge of nervous dread.

It was entirely possible that she would not be adequate to meet this day—especially if Aaryn wasn't there to Advise.

And Aaryn! Poor Aaryn was going to eat multiple pieces of humble pie that day—over Hholdyn, over the disformed loyalties, he was going to start towards releasing the Alpha role to someone else…

He, too, faced endless decisions that all affected each other.

How had her parents done this every day?

How the hell was she going to do it?

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her body, and clear her mind.

First things first.

First, they needed to know about Delarys, because that was going to affect everything else on this particular day.

Then they needed to find out if Hholdyn was back.

Then they had to either find him, or figure out how they were going to control him—and the other disformed.

She needed to get another message to Marryk and Hannah and make sure they didn't leave the cave. The last thing she needed right now was a City full of people losing their minds about a human loose among them.

"Oh, Aaryn, how are we going to do this," she whispered thoughtlessly.

"One step at a time," he mumbled, his voice rough and hoarse with sleep. She heard it rumble in his chest and the sound made her smile.

She stretched an arm over his chest, then to his back when he rolled to pull her head under his chin and hold her.

And she knew he was right. And they would get onto that first step in just a minute. Right after they held each other tightly and reminded themselves that no matter what was happening, they were in this together. Forever.

She squeezed him so hard he grunted, but he seemed to like it. So she did it again.

*****

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