Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

READER SHOUT OUT: Anna Chomer (and all the lovely readers who commented yesterday) thank you for loving these characters so much you would cry. Now, Anna, don't do your make up before reading this chapter. Or read at the end of the day. Don't say I didn't warn you...

*****

ELIA

She gave over to the tears, but only for a moment. For one long embrace, to soak up his warmth and his strength. But then her head spun suddenly and her eyes wanted to close, and fear shot through her like a lightning bolt.

She pulled her head back from under his neck, swallowing back the tears, unwilling to waste a moment without having her eyes on him.

"I need you to promise me something," she croaked.

"Anything," he said simply, his own eyes red and shining as he stroked her hair. "Name it."

"No matter what, Reth… no matter how this ends… Love Elreth."

He blinked, shocked and a little confused. "Elia… of course. She's my daughter—"

"No, listen to me," she hurried on, afraid as her head began to spin in earnest. "Whatever comes today, whatever Aymora has to do, or how soon I'm… I'm gone… it's not her fault, Reth. She will need you from the moment she leaves my body. She loves you already—I feel her dance when you come back into the room when you've been gone. You speak and she… she knows you, Reth. And if you're grieving it will be easy to… to focus on me. And you can't do it. You have to focus on her."

Reth's lip twisted like he wanted to snarl, but he didn't look away, only nodded. "I will," he whispered. "I vow it."

"Raise her, Reth. Raise her to be the Queen I never got the chance to be. She's your daughter as well as mine. She's strong and beautiful, and she'll need you, so much. I've been telling her about you ever since we got to the human world—about how incredibly strong you are, and so trustworthy. Reth, I've never met a man I could rely on like you. Not just because you're strong physically, but because you do what you say you'll do. Always. Trust… you make me safe… and you make her safe, too, Reth. You have to. You have to give her every ounce of that strength and integrity that you give me."

"Love, I will. Please. I would never—"

"You can't blame her for me being… gone," she sobbed, feeling her eyes beginning to close and fighting it, fighting it tooth and nail. But her grip on his hand shoulder was weakening, and she could see alarm creeping into his face.

"I told her that you have mercy, Reth. That you can be trusted to see the good in others. That you are so wise—and so willing to walk in the face of anyone else that would defy you when you know what's right. I told her how I admire you, respect you, and that she has to, too."

His eyes spilled over then. "Elia—"

"Please, Reth… you can't let this change you. You have to be all of these things for her so she can feel safe in this world without me."

"Oh god, Elia—"

"Promise me, Reth."

"I promise," he croaked, his fingers fisted in her hair. "I promise."

Her eyes dragged closed and for a moment, in the sheer relief, she gave in. But then she forced them open again and saw the alarm in Reth's. So she cupped his face and forced herself to smile through her tears.

"I never stopped learning from you, do you know that?" she whispered. "Even today, just an hour ago… you taught me something. Do you want to know what it was?"

He nodded, his hand curling to cup her face again. "Tell me."

"When you stood up in the market, when the wolves were coming for my beast… the sheer power of you, Reth. I've never seen anything like it. And I saw it, then. That quality you have… what makes you so strong—how you dominate, and why your beast listens. It's because you are so sure of what's right, you don't let anything sway you. Ever. Reth… you're so good. I wish I had been more like you."

A strangled sob broke in his throat and he pulled her close, their lips touching, brushing as they spoke.

"You can't give up when I'm gone," she whispered against his mouth. "You have to fight and not despair."

He sobbed, but swallowed it back, nodding. "I will… Don't worry, Love. I will."

"Watch over her, Reth. Just like you have with me. Let her grow. Let her get stronger. But never stop watching over her."

"I won't," he rasped. Then, as he eyes began to drag down again, he shifted onto one elbow so she could lay on her back again.

He kissed her neck so softly the skin tingled. Then kissed down to the V between her breasts. Then, pushing himself down the bed, he so, so gently kissed his way down her massive stomach and rested his cheek next to it, his eyes on Elia, but his words for their daughter.

"I vowed to you before, and I will do it again. Because there is nothing more precious in this world to me than you," he rasped. Elia didn't know if he was speaking to her, or to Elreth, but as her vision blurred, the words sang in her head, in his deep rumble, vibrating against her. The most beautiful sound in any world.

*****

RETH

He could barely speak through the tears closing his throat, but hoarse though he might be, he locked eyes with his mate and spoke the same words he'd given Elia before he sent her to the human world. Now he gave them to his daughter.

"No matter where you are," he croaked, "no matter what lies before you, I will stand for you. My Kingdom, my body, my life… My last breath for yours."

"Oh, Reth—" Elia broke off, her eyelids fluttering as if she were trying to stop them closing, and Reth's tears spilled over to wet her stomach.

"The very last drop of my blood, so that yours might not be spilled."

A sob caught in her throat and she clung to him, her fingers digging into his shoulders.

He laid the softest kiss at her stomach and inhaled.. "And if ever I should… should leave you, if ever you should lose me… I will call down the Creator Himself to protect you and watch over you."