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*****

~ ELRETH ~

Elreth trembled and stared at Sasha in shock as the woman faced her mate down publicly. Hope, impossible hope rose to war with despair.

Her mate… her poor, desperate mate, was caged. Even seeing him there behind those bars, behind the bodies of the males that had been set to transport him, to watch over and make sure he didn’t escape… her heart despaired, and her head rang.

She had to focus, had to listen. But how?

Her mate was in a cage!

For one, shining second, Elreth had a moment of crystal-clear clarity on how Sasha must have felt when Zev woke up in that prison, bound.

.....

Elreth’s entire world felt like the foundations were shaking when she saw her mate under threat like this. She was scrambling, unable to think about anything else. And yet she had to. She must! She had to get him free!

Then Sasha turned to walk towards her, and again Elreth’s body tensed at the trust the woman showed—turning her back on an Alpha male when he trembled with rage, even her own mate, took balls of solid rock.

Elreth made herself focus as the woman strode up to stand just feet from her, her eyes fierce and pleading.

“We want peace,” Sasha said firmly, raising her voice so it would echo around the valley and everyone would hear. “We want peace and… whatever it takes, none of us wants to fight anymore. Ever,” she said.

Elreth’s hope rose to choke her. Her hands were shaking, but she closed her fingers so they wouldn’t show.

As Sasha’s hands clenched to tense fists, Elreth had the distinct impression that the woman fought not to look over her shoulder at her mate who snarled and turned on his heel, storming away through the crowd of startled Chimera.

But despite the sudden wash of grief that rocked through her scent, Sasha didn’t waver. “We acknowledge the risk—for us, and for you. And… I want to ask you to negotiate terms that will give us some… some autonomy here. A truce. A time in which we both live our normal lives and… get to know each other. Find out if we really are allies.”

Elreth sucked in a breath. Truce was a start. A very positive start. But it wasn’t a solution. Truce was enforced peace between enemies. Having two separate peoples in Anima would never work in the long run.

How to bring them together?

She glanced at her brother, then looked for Tarkyn in the crowd of Chimera, but she couldn’t find him. Harth was there, her eyes red and shining like she despaired, but when Elreth caught her eyes she raised her chin and stepped forward.

“I am… grateful for your decision,” she told Sasha carefully. “And I agree we should negotiate a way to… let our people live in peace. I only want to step forward in wisdom and… without adversaries…”

She cut a look at her mate in the cage and her stomach twisted so it stole her breath. She had to stay strong.

Sasha followed her gaze, nodding. “I’m listening,” she said carefully.

“Mates,” Harth burst out—which was a betrayal of every line of the hierarchy and rank.

Elreth bristled, but Sasha frowned. “What did you say, Harth?”

“Mates—what if there are more mates between the people? I found mine in the Anima, and so did Skhal. Let the people mix—maybe there’s more. The more links we have, the more everyone is going to feel comfortable that we’re allies. The Creator wouldn’t put us together unless were supposed to be—”

Elreth and Sasha looked at each other.

She was right.

But how to get the people to trust each other enough to actually mingle? How would anyone find ease, let alone a matebond, among an unknown people?

“Free my mate, and I’ll give you complete access to our healers and… and anything you need for Zan,” Elreth said quickly. “No restrictions. They’ll be under orders to aid you exactly as they would any Anima. We have a wealth of experience and knowledge here, Sasha. Let us help you.”

Sasha’s brow furrowed and she looked aside, at Aaryn in the cage. Elreth glanced at him too, her chest burning, her hands tightening with rage when Aaryn snarled and snapped at the bars. But she couldn’t break. She couldn’t—

“No more guard patrols. At all,” Sasha said, licking her lips. “No more monitoring where we go or… restricting our movements.”

El balked. She should just let these people circle the Tree City, or position themselves anywhere? With the right placement, even their smaller numbers could lead to a siege of the Tree City—

Then, for a bare second, Aaryn shifted to his human form. Crouched in the cage and eyes wild, every muscle trembling, he still managed to lift his hands to sign.

‘Trust. Demonstrate trust to earn trust.’

Elreth almost sobbed. He was quoting her father—a lesson he’d taught when they’d discussed how to deal with the bears.

But her father’s confidence had always been borderline ignorant. He had trusted himself so fully to meet any challenge, to eradicate any enemy, he’d walked laughing and careless into the presence of anyone or anything—because he’d been so sure he would win.

Elreth… Elreth didn’t have his confidence. Not in this moment.

But then her brother blew out a breath. “You should do it, El. I think… I think she means it. They don’t want war.”

Behryn cleared his throat behind her. Despite Sasha’s much weaker physical presence, it still made Elreth’s skin crawl to turn her back on the woman, but she did it.

Demonstrate trust to earn trust.

Meeting her uncle’s eyes was like looking into the past—her heart half-expected to see her father, hovering over his shoulder, eyes twinkling with pride, or jaw set with determination.

He’d trusted Behryn implicitly and always joked that if anything should happen to him, Elreth should keep the male nearby as a surrogate.

“What do you read in the winds?” she asked him carefully.

Behryn, taller than all of them except Gar, let his gray eyes scan the valley. He inhaled deeply and his shoulders slumped.

“I won’t say there isn’t risk,” he said quietly. “There are defensive hearts here, and defensive hearts are always at risk of lashing out. But it’s true that the core of people want peace. They yearn for it, just like we do.”

Elreth nodded, that was reassuring. Mostly.

But Behryn wasn’t done. He locked eyes with her then, his face somber. “None of us can get there, El, unless someone is willing to take the risk first. And you’re strong enough to do it, I think.”

Elreth sighed as everyone turned to look at her, eyes hopeful and expectant.

No pressure.