Chapter 260: The Home Front
RETH - Anima
Movement in the cave woke him suddenly from a dream in which he'd been able to reach Elia, but only briefly, and he'd had to tell her about Candace. She had been horrified. He'd pleaded with her to understand why he'd had to leave her body, but Elia had sobbed uncontrollably, hitting out at him when he tried to embrace her.
He'd been terrified—trying to explain to her that their time was short, that they could only speak for these few minutes. To please, let him hold her and comfort her while he could, but she was inconsolable.
Then a rustle of movement nearby snapped him back to reality and as he sat up, blinking, the dream faded, along with the thrill in his heart at seeing her.
He rubbed his face and raked back his hair that had fallen from its leather while he'd been asleep in Aymora's bed—she'd insisted that he rest there rather than on the cot.
While Aymora continued mixing herbs over in the kitchen, and one of her assistants brought her items, Reth sat there watching them and tried to accommodate the bone-deep ache in his chest that had begun as soon as he'd remembered Elia was back in her human world.
He had to believe she'd made the traverse safely. He couldn't allow himself to consider anything else.
But now he had to do… something. The right thing. He had to figure out what that was. Because it all relied on him. He had to get her back. Get both of them back. Safely. And quickly. Dropping his face into his hands he took a deep breath, then shook his head to clear it.
"You're exhausted. You're going to start losing yourself, Reth, if you aren't careful," Aymora said through her teeth. "Your body is at its limit. If you continue to push, you will, literally lose your mind, and we will be forced to face this without you. None of us will be safe then."
"I just did as you asked. I ate. I slept. Now… where are the elders?"
"They'll be here in twenty minutes. You've slept for forty-five minutes, Reth. That's nothing."
"It will have to be enough. I cannot… I won't sleep again. I need something to focus on," he rasped.
Aymora tsked, shaking her head. But she didn't turn around to face him, and she didn't argue. "Eat more. Give your body something to draw on."
A moment later, one of the assistants hurried to him with a small plate of fruit and flatbread. He thanked her and she bowed her head, then went back to gathering ingredients for Aymora.
While he chewed grapes and apples, and flatbread without tasting them, he scanned back over the past twenty-four hours…
The Bird.
He almost choked on the bread, throwing the covers back and leaping out of the bed. "I can't believe I forgot. We have spies. One of the scouts—"
"Behryn's already taken care of it, and there's… work going on to sniff out any others. Sit down, Reth. You don't have to do everything. If you try, you will kill yourself."
He stopped halfway across the room, his hands empty and just stared at the floor. His chest pinched. His throat wanted to close. He turned, sheepish, and picked up the plate of food from the bed, taking it to the table where he dropped it, then dropped himself into a chair and stared at Aymora's back while he spoke.
Her long golden-turning-gray hair bounced and waved as she ground herbs with the mortar and pestle, the muscles in her arm standing proud as she ground again and again into the stone bowl.
"What happened here, while we were gone?" he asked her quietly.
Aymora didn't turn. "All was quiet for a few hours. Then… then there was an attack on the eastern side—when they realized you weren't going that way, I think. Just a couple of fists, but it shook us. The guards took care of it. But they called in those living outside the City lines. They're all staying with family and friends, or at the market. The rest of the day was just… hearing the horns every time they came at us. Never in great numbers. Just—"
"Testing us," Reth said through his teeth.
Aymora nodded.
"The fact that they have the number to even do that much…" Reth muttered. "How did I miss this?"
"I spoke with Charyn," Aymora said. She scraped the paste she'd made in the mortar into another bowl, then began to add liquids.
Reth went still. "And? Do you trust him?"
"I do. I think he truly believed Elia would make life different for his son. But he kept one foot with the wolves because… well, that's what wolves do, right?"
"What did you learn?"
"Nothing significant except that their ranks have increased in the past two months. With the resources thinner, and the resentments around the disformed, he was pushed to the outside, but never rejected. He said he was not the only wolf who wanted to stay with the City. But he believes the accusations against you and Elia tipped many that had been wavering over the line."
"No doubt," Reth snarled. "Cowards and weaklings every one."
"No, Reth. Tired people. People who had had promises whispered to them. Who believed that both options available to them were imperfect, and who followed what they knew when the time came to choose."
"I'm too tired to wade through subtlies, Aymora. What are you saying? What have I done poorly?"
"Nothing! I'm saying that the wolves have been working towards this in the shadows. Whispering things, fanning resentments… creating questions where questions wouldn't have existed. The people have been manipulated. You couldn't have known. The wolves have… what I'm saying is that from this day forward you cannot be so merciful."
"What?" Reth's jaw dropped.
Aymora finally turned and he saw, at last, the tension on her face. "Reth, you are the best King the Anima have ever had. But you are not perfect. No ruler is. And one of your blindspots is, and always has been, your belief that deep down everyone is good. Everyone is not good, Reth. Not like you. Not like Elia. Everyone does not have that capacity to love within them. Some people… some people care only about themselves. Or what they can gain. If you win this—when you win this—you must be ruthless. There must be no room in anyone's mind that they will pay with their lives if they betray you."
"Who thought they wouldn't? I have never given mercy to traitors—not real ones."
"Are you certain, Reth? Think very carefully. Are you truly certain of that?"
Reth frowned at her as she turned her back again. "I thought I was. What do you see?"
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