GAHRYE 

The farewell was awkward, Gar somewhat reassured, but still entertaining passing thoughts of suspicion that made his eyes flash. Aaryn pale and quiet, clearly not understanding what was to come, but sensing that it was bad. And Gahrye trying to soothe both of them, doing everything in his power to hold himself together, emotionless, strong. Because he refused to break down in front of his son.

His son who stared at him, lips thin and tight, eyes snapping between Gahrye and his mother, his chest rising and falling far too quickly. He’d forgotten Gar and Aaryn were even in the room—he stood on the edge of panic, and Gahrye could feel it in him. He needed to get these males out of here.

“You guys must be tired. We have a room where you can rest before you cross again. Do you think you’ll go today, or would tomorrow—”

“We’ll go now,” Gar said pointedly, his brows up a little, like he wanted Gahrye to understand.

“Wait… what? Aaryn don’t you want to breathe for a little while? The first crossing—”

“He crossed without challenge,” Gar said, disbelief and awe warring in his hushed voice.

Gahrye blinked. It seemed every time he turned around today he was fending off shock. “Wait… are you serious?”

“Not a whisper. Not a voice. No temptation. No threat. Nothing. We walked across like it was a dark trail in the forest,” Gar said, shaking his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Gahrye turned to Aaryn, re-evaluating the young male. How could it be possible? The voices didn’t ignore anyone. Not a soul. Literally.

Gahrye opened his mouth, then closed it again when Aaryn looked embarrassed. “I just walked across,” he said with a shrug. And when he lifted his arms, Gahrye caught the sight of the seeping wound.

Kalle’s breath caught behind him and he imagined she was hurriedly wiping her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I meant to dress that for you. I got distracted.”

She didn’t meet anyone’s eyes as she hurried to the bathroom off their bedchamber. All the Anima ears caught her muttering, and the cupboard doors banging as she looked for the medical supplies, then returned quickly, her eyes still shining, but dry.

While he and Gar watched on, she sat Aaryn back down on the couch and wiped the wound with disinfectant, that made them all wince. But for Gahrye, it always brought back memories of the day he’d returned to Anima…

He shook his head. Those days were done. Those threats had been eliminated. He needed to focus on the here and now. On the pale skin of his wife whose hands were shaking as she powdered the wound to stop the bleeding completely, and wrapped it quickly in a pure cotton bandage.

She always dressed his wounds when he got back, and Gahrye couldn’t stand wearing any more of that stink than he had to.

Her eyes never met his. She let her hair fall over her face as she leaned over Aaryn’s arm, muttering about germs and cross-contamination in Anima and… whatever else came to her mind. Gahrye sighed. He recognized her stress response. She knew what they’d learned. She knew what it meant. And she was going to face it. But she didn’t want to, and she was fighting even harder than Gahrye to keep it together while they had guests, and while their son stood there, watching them, storm clouds in his beautiful eyes.

Gahrye’s chest ached watching her. He wanted nothing more than to shoo these males out the door—even Reece—and pull her into his arms. But they both knew, they’d been preparing, just in case… Losing hope was hard, though. And he suspected that, like him, she wanted some time apart from the others to accommodate that loss.

But she was strong. She finished winding the bandage around Aaryn’s arm, told him to use the other when he crossed back, and patted him on the shoulder, standing and turning to Gahrye, the smile still painted on her face, but her eyes… her eyes.

Gahrye felt that look like a dagger in his heart.

But their attention was on Gahrye now, so as Kalle returned to his side and he put his arm around her, he didn’t let himself think or feel.

He would help the males, then he would reassure their son. Then he would hold his mate. His wife. And he wouldn’t let her go until there was no other choice.

Aaryn looked down at the bandage, his nose wrinkling. Gahrye almost laughed.

“You passed the traverse untouched?” he prompted them.

Aaryn nodded.

Gar described the trip, but Gahrye’s head only spun further. In the end he just raised his hands. “Prepare yourselves,” he said. “I’ve never heard of anyone—Anima or human—crossing without challenge. Let’s… let’s pray there’s something special about Aaryn that allows him to defend so beautifully. But please don’t get cocky. Prepare for an assault when you return.”

Aaryn made all the right noises, and Gar’s face looked drawn—as if he were afraid it would be worse than usual on the return.

Gahrye walked them out of the Big House by the back door, and down the trail. Having Gar’s scent in his nose reminded him so deeply of his dearest friend, Elia—which set another dagger in his guts because he was going to have to tell her—

“Thank you,” Aaryn said as they walked the trail down to the portal, the male eyeing the manicured gardens and paths with unease, as if he disliked them, but was too polite to say so. Gahrye understood. Twenty years and he still wasn’t used to the human propensity for forcing creation to do the things it would never do on its own. But he was accustomed to it, at least.

“You’re welcome,” Gahrye said easily, patting Aaryn’s back. “Please give Elreth our congratulations and reassure her, you’ll see me within twenty-four hours—at least on this side.”

Aaryn nodded. “She’ll be happy to hear that. You don’t think you’ll need Kalle?”

Need Kalle. Hell, yes, he needed Kalle.

Gahrye turned to look at his mate and she gave him a watery smile.. “Not for this part,” he said as casually as he could.