AARYN

Aaryn wasn't sure what had shifted the night before, but something was different between them.

They were both still tense. Aaryn still felt the weight of grief weighing on his shoulders. He still felt the creep of dread at the thought of staring at the ceiling that night while she slept. But when she'd given herself to him so freely, some chain had broken within him. Something had been freed.

And Elreth… she was still Queen. She marched through that day barking orders and standing her ground with the elders and Alphas that sought her out to question her plan. And yet… something in her had been freed, as well. She was softer, somehow—at least with him. He'd caught her eyes on him more than once through the day and each time, their gazes held and she'd been biting back a smile.

One of those times she'd even flashed him the sign for flames, and her cheeks had pinked. But then she'd turned back to Huncer to discuss how to structure the amphitheater address without missing a beat.

He was certain their scents were different too. Tarkyn had given him an odd look when he'd approached them at breakfast. And Reth had squeezed Aaryn's shoulder and winked at him when they passed on the way out of the market.

It was a strange mix of heedy love, and abject fear that twisted in his chest. But he wouldn't give it up.

Elreth was touching him, even when others were close. They were subtle, small touches. But it was as if she couldn't resist—brushing against him as they walked, her hand at the small of his back when she had to turn from him in a gathering, taking his hand under the table at the market.

Something had changed, and he loved it.

He also prayed he could keep himself in check. He'd almost tugged her into a storage tree when they were walking to the market from the security building. He had the distinct impression she wanted him to. But he also feared distracting her too much. The things she was doing—in the middle of craze between them—she was changing history. Changing the face of Anima. And he loved her even more for it.

He couldn't afford to be a distraction. No one would hurt more than him and his people—his tribe, he realized, in awe. His tribe.

He might not be Alpha anymore, but he was still disformed, Protector or not. This people would be his people. For the first time in his life he would… belong.

He shook his head in disbelief and looked for Elreth again—to find her staring at him. Huncer had turned to ask Lhern something, so Elreth signed in her lap. 'Something wrong?'

He smiled and shook his head. 'You're making my people a people,' he signed, interchanging the sign for disformed and Anima in a way that he'd never done before, he realized. 'Hard to take in.'

Elreth's smile pulled up on one side, but now Lhern and Huncer were both consulting her, Lhern somewhat sternly. She turned her attention back to them, but the smile remained.

Aaryn found himself smiling too and wiped it off his face. If they both went around grinning like loons, someone was going to say something and she might shut down. He didn't want her to stop being so open, touching him around others. He thought he might need that more than he'd realized and it was perhaps why he was feeling so lighthearted today compared to the other recent days.

Regardless, he didn't want to shake any trees, so he made himself turn away from watching her and approached Gar, who'd been asked to make himself available for the morning with the elders.

Gar stood slightly apart from the elders and Elreth, watching his sister. Although this morning was far less formal—elders coming and going, bringing questions, gaining answers, leaving to deliver them or to help with preparations for the address that night—everyone was tense, Gar most of all, Aaryn thought.

The male stood, jaw tight and flexing, arms crossed over his broad chest, brows heavy as he watched Elreth and the elders. He'd answered questions and made suggestions for who to approach within the people to embrace the disformed. But Aaryn knew his mind was on the Rite of Veneration. It hadn't been held for generations, that Aaryn was aware of. Not since the goats and sheep separated—which no one really fought, if the histories were accurate. So it had gone smoothly and with little challenge. But this? The disformed? Despite the ideas some of the Anima expressed—wishing the disformed would simply disappear—he doubted any of them would be eager to see the disformed collected and empowered. After all, they outnumbered the Pride almost half again. And the serpents by more than two to one.

The disformed were set to become the most powerful tribe below the Pride, simply by virtue of their numbers. Add to that Elreth's clear desire to empower them further… Few other tribes were going to easily concede a level of power that disadvantaged their own, he thought.

The Rite of Veneration was a test. Elreth as ruler could call it and would ultimately judge their response. But in the end, they had to meet the challenges put before them by the other tribes. And there was no telling what those might be. And Elreth couldn't simply hand them the victory. It had to be seen by all that they had

Each tribe had the opportunity to align and stand for the establishment of the new tribe, or to place a challenge before them—of the established tribe's choosing. Without showing themselves strong enough to meet it, the veneration would be denied and the tribe return to their roots. Or, in the case of the disformed… nothing would change except that they had been publicly humiliated.

He knew Elreth would rule in their favor in any case where a judgment had to be made. But if one of the tribes came up with a way to defeat them utterly?

Aaryn's heart skittered.

"Why do you suddenly stink of fear,

" Gar muttered, keeping his voice below the murmur in the room.

"Nothing,

" Aaryn sighed.

"Just… seeing all the ways this could go desperately wrong.

"

Gar grunted, but he didn't argue. And that just made Aaryn more nervous.