Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

GAHRYE – Human World

His chest felt like his ribs were being cracked and pulled apart. The sheer injustice of what he'd found since arriving his stole his breath. But Elia, ignorant of it all, continued to stare at him until he realized he would have to either submit, or defy her outright. And given the way her lip was curling back from her teeth, he didn't like to think where that would take them.

"You want to know what's burning in my gut?" he muttered. There was no way he could tell her the truth—he knew her. She'd immediately try to find a way to solve the problem. And there wasn't time or energy for her to waste trying to fix his life when her own was so deeply under threat.

"Yes!" she cried.

"This. World. Stinks!" He bit the words off. "No matter what I do, I cannot clear the stench of it from my nostrils. And these people… these are the people that we must rely on? That… man down there is just… off, I don't even know what it is because his scents are wrong. But something isn't right with him."

Elia folded her arms, looking like his mother used to when he was being annoying. "Gahrye, that's hardly—"

"I'm not finished," he snapped. "You're with cub and we have no idea how that's going to affect you. The people here are… strange. And their customs stranger. We lost—we don't have Candace." They both broke eye-contact for a moment then. "There's no other Anima here," Gahrye said, true grief in his voice over his friend. "The wolves have the portal territory—which if they know how, likely means they're the only ones who can get through. So, no communications with the King unless they take the territory back—but they're fighting a war. You think they can afford to split the troops out so many miles from the City?"

"Reth will want—"

"Behryn won't let him and you and I both know that's good and right and true and… this is impossible, Elia! And that's just the beginning.

"Now that we're here, I can't leave you, but I can't find what we need without leaving you. I can't take you home, but I must be prepared to do so at any second!" His voice hardened on that last sentence, and Elia looked a question at him. But he turned away, shaking his head again. "Everything is risk. Everything. Every moment, every decision—nothing comes without life-threatening risk to you. Leaving you is risk. Not leaving you is risk. I just… I never imagined coming here would… I never thought… I never thought I would fail here, also. But I cannot see how I could possibly succeed."

Elia's mouth fell open. "Oh," she said softly, her anger falling away as quickly as it had come. She dropped into the chair. "Oh, Gahrye, I'm so sorry."

He frowned staring at her, confused. "What? What are you sorry for?"

"When I spoke to you about coming here, about the women, about how you'd be viewed here… I'm sorry. I didn't imagine it this way either. I never meant to get your hopes up. I'm sure we can find ways for you to get out and meet people—you'll see that I wasn't lying—"

"Don't be ridiculous," he growled and started pacing. "That isn't what's bothering me."

"Then, what—?"

"Please, just leave it, Elia. Please. I just… I've suffered a blow. Can we leave it at that? A realization that I do not like, about the Creator and His ways and it has left me… floundering. But that isn't my focus now. My focus is you and your safety. You don't need to worry about that. Even if I'm… a little off, I won't ever lose sight of that."

Elia sighed. "One thing you're going to learn about this world, Gahrye, is that there's a lot less happening when you aren't sitting next to a King. In fact, it can get quite bland. You're probably going to end up bored here, with nothing to do but sit around and study and watch me eat pickles and tuna."

"Pickles? What the hell are pickles? And tuna?"

She flapped a hand. "Nevermind, it's not important. My point is, I'm not saying there's no risk of the wolves coming through, but surely we can tell Shaw and the others? Surely they serve Reth?"

"How can we know they'll believe us—or that the wolves haven't meddled with them already? We can't even be certain they aren't in on this somehow!"

Elia bit her lip and dropped back into her chair. At first she leaned on the table, but then she sat back, letting her hands drop into her lap. "The only ones we can truly trust are each other," she said quietly.

He nodded. "And… I met Shaw's assistant. His niece. I read the winds around her. She is a good heart. I believe we can at least trust her motives, though only time will tell for certain. We do not know what lies they may have been fed before, even if they're innocent. Shaw said she's able to guide me to the histories. There are records here at the house, and somewhere else in a town nearby, Shaw mentioned. Kalle could lead me to the others—"

Elia nodded. "Good. You see. Progress already. We can both work on this. We can't afford to not use every hour. So, first thing tomorrow let's have her show me the records here and I'll get to work, then you go with her to whatever else they have.

"Maybe you'll still get to see some of this world Gahrye. It's going to blow your mind. I know it's hard. I'm sorry about the smell—honestly, I never noticed it before, but now… I know it must be so much worse for you. But between us, we'll find something."

"Elia, you make this sound like we're on an adventure. This isn't an adventure. It's your life. It's your cub's life. And it's the Kingdom's future."

Elia's throat bobbed, but she nodded. "I'm well aware. And I'm saying we can't do anything but work with the hand we've been dealt. We can't focus on how things haven't worked out the way we wanted them to. We have to focus on… on what we can do. Right?"

He stared at her, skeptical. Unwilling to argue because everything within him yearned to be near Kalle, to be closer to her, to know her, to hear her speak his name. But he knew—he knew to his bones—that wasn't his purpose here. And his concerns must have shown, because Elia's expression hardened.

"I am Queen, Gahrye. It's my choice."

"That's the second time you've reminded me of that," he said darkly. "Do you believe I need the caution? You're starting to remind me of Reth."

She blinked like he'd slapped her. She turned away and his stomach dropped. "I'm sorry, Elia, I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine," she said through her teeth. "We aren't focusing on the things we can't change, remember?" Then she stared at challenge at him, so stark, he blinked.

"Of course," he said softly.

Elia nodded. "Now… let me show you how the shower works."

"No need," he said with a wry smile. "I already found out."

*****

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