ELRETH

Aaryn held her hand as they walked the final mile towards the Hallowed Grounds, the Anima’s sacred site.

Elreth had been so busy, so focused on trying to make sure she didn’t miss anything, she hadn’t really thought about entering the grounds.

The Hallowed Grounds were an ancient site, used by the Anima for millennia. The earth around it opened, the trees giving way to dirt and grass for the final half-mile before the sides of the great bowl reared out of the forest floor, rising half the height of the foothills, yet within it, the earth hollowed. As if the Creator Himself had burst from the earth, leaving only a great crater behind. 

Despite the virulent land around it, the dirt within the Hallowed Grounds was dead and dry. Trees and bushes sprouted from between cracks in its walls and reached for the sky, yet only the driest desert grasses grew from the rocky soil itself.

The bottom of the bowl was rise from the forest floor, its base a wide circle for a rite, or gatherings, while those watching could spread up its tall sides and be able to see what happened at its center from every angle.

As they approached and the yawning maw of the bowl’s high sides spilled into the grassy clearing around it, the weight and magnitude of this place hit Elreth right in the chest. She took a deep breath to loosen the sudden sense of thick arms, s queezing and stealing her air.

Elreth had never walked the Hallowed Grounds for a Rite. Her father had brought her there when she was fourteen, telling her the stories his father had passed to him—adding the three times that he’d entered, twice to face challengers for his throne, and once to save his people from the threat of the wolf-tribe’s defection.

Elreth always remembered the place with a prickling sense of thrill—and dread. The Anima had come here for millennia, walking before the Creator in this arena open to the sky. As she and Aaryn reached the sides of the bowl and began to remove their clothing, she reminded herself that it wasn’t only she who put herself to the Creator’s scrutiny today.

This was a good reason to enter the Hallowed Grounds. This was a worthy reason to bare herself before her people.

The Rite of Veneration was a test of the heart and mettle of a people. It hadn’t been walked in centuries. Perhaps millennia. And yet, here she was to bring these people—these valuable, powerful people to their rightful place, before the Creator, and before the rest of Anima.

Her heart squeezed with pride as well as fear.

Aaryn brushed her arm with a finger and she turned from examining the bowl of earth to find his eyes on her, worried.

‘Are you okay?’ he signed.

Elreth blinked. All around them the people stopped to remove their clothing, leaving them in tidy folded piles by family group and tribe, then walked, naked and bare, weaponless, into the Hallowed Grounds.

It was a measure of the Rite. Everyone came only as they were. Only as they had been created. There were no weapons allowed, no cover of clothing.

“El?” Aaryn breathed, his hand closing on her forearm.

Elreth blew out a breath. “Yes, yes. I’m fine,” she said, though her voice was a touch shaky. She had her blouse unbuttoned, but hadn’t let it slip off her shoulders. “It has to be done, right?”

Aaryn nodded. He was already bare and she let herself take a moment to look at him, like a silver god in the moonlight, the hard lines of muscle and bone casting shadows that made him look carved from rock.

‘You’re beautiful,’ she signed, her stomach thrumming. If only they could come here alone. If only they could be together like this without an audience.

‘I told you before, that’s my line,’ he signed back with a wry grin.

Elreth shrugged and looked down at her clothes. She needed to just do this. People would begin to notice if she balked. So, with a whispered prayer for strength, she pushed her shirt off her shoulders and let it fall down her arms, catching it in one hand, folding it quickly, then shucking off her leathers.

Aaryn had moved to stand close, blocking her from the view of those around them as much as he was able while she kept her eyes down and folded the trousers.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she straightened, forcing herself to keep her hands at her sides and not cover herself.

Instead of answering, Aaryn pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her, dropping his chin to her ear. “All hail my brave, beautiful Queen,” he whispered.

Elreth blinked back tears. Unwilling to let herself get emotional, she let one hand trail up to the outside of his thigh, her fingers drifting to the front of it before she reached his hip. She felt him tense and grinned against his shoulder.

Aaryn’s voice was gruff and disapproving. “You better stop that or your King will enter the Hallowed Grounds raising the flag of your presence,” he muttered.

“At least there’d be no question of your dominance,” Elreth snorted.

Aaryn pulled his head back, mock-glaring at her, but still holding her at the waist to keep her close to him and blocked from the view of others. “I’ll remember that when we get home,” he purred.

Elreth’s belly tingled and she cursed herself for calling this Rite now, tonight, when there were so many other wonderful things they could be doing. “I’ll meet you at the Weeping Tree when this is done,” she whispered.

Aaryn’s eyes flared and he nodded, letting her read the heat and promises in his gaze before he blinked and sighed.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Elreth just snorted again and patted his chest.. “Thank you for distracting me,” she sighed, then stepped out of his arms and, keeping her chin high, strode into the Hallowed Grounds, her mate at her shoulder, their hands brushing with every stride.