WANNA SNEAK PEEK? Are you reading QUEEN OF BEASTS but have never read FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE KING OF BEASTS? I’m looking for a couple volunteers to read a scene and make sure it gives enough information for those who don’t have the background of KING. If you’re one of those, and would like to read a minor spoiler scene ahead of publication, let me know! (You can just click comment at the bottom of this chapter.) 

*****

AARYN

Aaryn stood alongside the disformed lining the walls, seeing their shock and hope and fear—as they realized that the very purpose they’d just been informed they had among the tribes might be taken from them as soon as it was achieved.

Anger curled in his chest. Elreth needed to stop plowing into these conversations without thought, out of anger or frustration! She needed to warn people.

She was just like Reth, always so certain of her path that sometimes she forgot to lead others to the trailhead with her.

But once again, with hands balled at his sides, he swallowed the anger back.

She was Queen. She was under immense pressure. And she was doing the best she could. He knew.

It took a moment of wrestling with himself to get his feelings under control, but when he managed it and lifted his head to turn to the disformed and reassure them, it was Reth whose gaze he ran into, the older male clearly marking Aaryn’s tension.

He’d stayed off to the side after they entered, but he shifted closer to Aaryn while the murmur of voices through the room rose to a hum as they all discussed Elreth’s plan.

She stood at the head of the room, arms folded, and glaring, waiting for the challenges, and prepared to face them.

He loved her courage. He loved her conviction. He loved her.

He just wished she would carry people along in the current of her certainty, rather than shoving them in the water and expecting them not to drown.

“She’s right,” Reth murmured to him when he had come alongside.

Aaryn nodded. “I know.”

“But you fight it within yourself?”

“I dislike the delivery, not the message,” Aaryn admitted, praying no one was paying attention to him. He didn’t want anyone to think he wanted to undermine his mate in any way. He just wished…

Creator’s fang, he wished things were easier. His shoulders wanted to slump under the weight of it all. The muscles in his neck were rigid with tension as he fought his mate’s obstinance, and in the same breath, looked for enemies that might try to work against her, so he could fight them.

His heart was confused, and his mind… mixed.

“You’re very insightful sometimes, Aaryn,” Reth said, squeezing his shoulder. Aaryn looked at him darkly, expecting a joke. That Reth was teasing somehow. But he saw nothing but respect in the male’s eyes.

“Sometimes it takes a mate to see inside a complex mind,” Elia murmured, smiling, at his side.

Aaryn locked eyes with her then, and the grin he gave her wasn’t faked. She was nodding. She’d been in his shoes. She understood.

Reth and Elreth were cut from the same cloth. Reth benefitted by being older, stronger, more expected as a leader. When he’d put his foot down, most of the time the people had been happy to follow his lead.

Elreth fought any number of prejudices, or locked spines purely because she was female.

Tradition was a difficult enemy.

“El,” Reth raised his voice to make sure everyone in the room heard over the hubbub of voices, “When you say close the portals—”

“I can’t see another way. After learning that the humans know of both entrances—knowing that means there might be others none of us have discovered yet—we have no choice.”

“But the Anima have always maintained our connection to the humans. Not all of them are our enemies. The Guardians alone—”

“I know!” Elreth growled, turning to face her father. Aaryn felt terrible. She was fighting tears, he could tell. She hid it well. Likely only he and her parents would recognize it. She didn’t like what she was saying. And she was afraid. “But I cannot risk any chance of their forces reaching us. It’s the only way.”

“You’re willing to isolate our people?”

“Yes,” she said simply. “I’ll tell Gahrye to inform those who are in the human world that this is their final chance to return. It will be all or nothing. Otherwise there will be no Anima left to save.”

Aaryn saw it then, that that was the moment it came home to all of them gathered there. The moment they saw that she was right. He could feel the sudden shift in the room.

Otherwise there will be no Anima left.

She was right. It was the only way.

If only she’d said so with grief, rather than anger.

His sadness must have shown, because her fingers flashed. ‘Why the sad face?’

As Reth addressed the elders, placing his support behind Elreth’s proposal and encouraging them to see it—his gentle but firm tone the one Elreth should have used—Aaryn took a deep breath and resolved to support his mate, rather than chastise her.

‘I hate the biting among us,’ Aaryn signed back. ‘I hate that you have to be the target of their suspicions and doubt.’

‘It’s the role of the dominant,’ she returned.

Aaryn nodded. ‘And they’ll get used to the idea,’ he signed. ‘They hate change. Any change. But you have already shown them, woken them up.’

‘I shouldn’t have had to. These of all people should have seen this for themselves.’

‘Change is a powerful enemy,’ Aaryn signed back. ‘Don’t doubt yourself, El. But do bring them with you. Growling will only put their hackles up.’

Elreth started to roll her eyes, but she caught herself. ‘Good advice,’ she signed reluctantly.

Aaryn smiled. ‘You can do this.’

And in the utter arrogance that had always run in her blood, Elreth only nodded. She didn’t even smile. She wasn’t cocky, but she’d always believed in her own ability to lead and see ahead. And in this moment, Aaryn realized, that was what they all needed.

The Anima were stuck. Their leaders holding to the past. Their people too comfortable, pushing away the shift to the future.

Elreth was exactly what they needed, whether they wanted her or not.

She would lead the Anima to safety. He was certain of it.

‘Trust your instincts,’ he signed, smiling genuinely now as the voices in the room rose, though with less aggression and more urgency. ‘The Creator gave them to you for a reason.’

Elreth nodded again. ‘Grateful He gave me you, as well,’ she signed.

Their eyes locked and Aaryn nodded, giving her the sign for a single word, though neither of them looked down to their hands.

‘Same.’