ELRETH

Later that day, Elreth was back at the cave.

Aaryn had taken one of the wise-women to see his mother and Elreth thought they needed privacy. Then he was going to meet with the disformed to decide who would join him for the formal meeting with her. She wasn't going to see him for hours and it was pathetic how much she ached about that.

So she sat at the dining table, busying herself making notes about the questions she'd want to ask them when they were all together.

At least it was an excuse to think about him..

Groaning at herself, she tried to turn her attention back to the papers in front of her, but just then the door to the cave opened, and her heart leapt. Hoping it was Aaryn, she pushed out of the chair to her feet—then tried not to look disappointed when it was her mother who walked in the door.

"There you are," Mom said, smiling. "Are you busy? Should I come back another time?"

"No! No, it's good. It's fine. I'm having trouble concentrating anyway."

Her mother's smile turned knowing. "Oh really? Why's that?"

Elreth gave her a look and motioned at one of the chairs at the table for her to take. "There's kind of a lot going on."

"Not to mention, you know, your Mate."

Her mother's blond hair was pulled back in a thick braid a little shorter than Elreth's and Elreth blinked to realize she was developing gray at her temples. But she didn't mention it, just sat back down where she'd been and started gathering the papers together so they were out of the way.

"So, what's up, Mom? I'm sure this isn't a casual visit."

"Well, ha ha, I mean, it kind of is, I'm just.. I was at a loose end, so I thought I'd come see you and see how you were doing and how things were going with Aaryn—and what did the elders say?" She smiled at Elreth brightly, but there was something on edge about her.

Elreth frowned. Her mother never babbled. And why was she acting.. nervous?

"Mom, what's going on?"

Her mother scratched her arm and gave another nervous smile, but when she spoke her eyes were on the table. "I needed to get out of the house," she said quietly. "And I had been meaning to talk to you one-on-one about what happened the other night, so it seemed like a good chance to do that."

Elreth groaned. "I think everyone said plenty at the time."

Her mother chuckled softly. "Ignore the males. You know they don't care about being naked in front of people. And they're a lot less worried about the sex stuff, too. I wanted to make sure you were okay. It seems like things moved pretty fast, and I figured that was probably making things a little pressured now.. so.. how are you doing with it all?"

"Honestly," Elreth said, her cheeks pinking, "I am struggling to stop. And so's Aaryn. We haven't given in yet, but.."

Her mind flashed on the look on his face when he'd leaned her back on the rock, his eyes bright and fixed on her, and all the ways he'd stroked and his tongue—

She swallowed and blinked, tried to focus on her mother—who was staring at her, eyebrows up. "Oh, so it's like that."

"Like what?"

Her mother smiled. "You aren't scared."

"Pfffffft. No. I've never been scared of Aaryn."

"That's a big deal, El. You're like me with the naked thing. If you're comfortable with him like that, intimately.. that makes me really happy for you."

"Well, thanks. But I'm a lot more comfortable with him than I am with everyone in the family asking me about being naked and stuff. Can't you guys just leave us to it? I think we'll figure it all out without you."

Her mother burst out laughing. "Oh, sweetheart, I have no doubt that you will. I just wanted to make sure you were okay and didn't have any questions. I mean, this is a big change for you after almost twenty years."

Elreth snorted. "You're telling me. So far the only hard part has been keeping our hands off each other—and dealing with everyone else's opinions about it. I wish he'd told me sooner, before I took dominance. I wish we'd gone through this when I didn't have all these responsibilities and people watching me. It would have been nice to kind of relax together some."

Her mother nodded. "You need to find ways to do that, regardless. Your Kingdom is always going to be there, El. But your mate.. if you don't keep them close, the rest won't be worth it."

Elreth watched, concerned, as her mother's face dragged for the floor.

"Mom, what is going on with you guys?" she asked, whining like she was a cub again. "I hate seeing you both so unhappy."

Her mother sighed and looked at her for a long moment, then dropped her eyes back to the tabletop again. "The truth is, El, that this thing about the disformed.. I've known about it all along. But I didn't share it with your father—for his own protection. I had good reason not to. But he doesn't see it. I'm upset that he doesn't trust my judgment to measure something like that. He knows I've never kept anything else from him! But he sees it as me not trusting him, which seems so ironic, but.. anyway, we're both hurt and kind of shocked. I know I failed him. I should have found a better way around this than just hiding it from him altogether. I know that. He's more hurt than angry, I think. But it's made him pull away from me and he's never done that before. It's something.. something we both swore we'd never do. And honestly, it's breaking my heart." Then she looked up, tears in her eyes, and reached for El's hand.

Elreth swallowed hard.

This was worse than she'd thought.

*** STOP!!! ***

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