WANNA SNEAK PEEK? Are you reading QUEEN OF BEASTS but have never read FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE KING OF BEASTS? I'm looking for a couple volunteers to read a scene and make sure it gives enough information for those who don't have the background of KING. If you're one of those, and would like to read a minor spoiler scene ahead of publication, let me know! (You can just click comment at the bottom of this chapter.)

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ELRETH

Elreth held her breath, but when Jayah met her gaze she nodded again.

Elreth slumped. "Where were the Anima that he observed?"

"Deeper up the canyon, where the gateway is."

Elreth looked at Gar. "The Midnight Cliffs, I believe," he said quietly. "I'm not certain because I haven't been, but that's where the rumors pointed the disformed. To follow the canyon—"

"I believe I can cast light on this, El," her father said from the other side of the room. Everyone turned to look at him. Elreth nodded for him to continue.

Her father's face was pained and drawn. "If the humans observed Anima in the Canyon, before they crossed the desert, they were almost certainly in contact with Lerrin and his mate, Suhle, and their cubs. And the tribe they have collected over the years."

Elreth blinked. That was the rebel leader of the wolves. Her father had banished him, she'd known that. But somehow she'd never thought about the fact that that might have allowed his enemy to just.. keep living. To have a life—and a family, apparently.historical

"An entire tribe?" she asked tensely.

Her father shrugged. "Over the years I've sent them more than a dozen individuals, and a group of five at once. Plus the disformed have.. defected, apparently."

Gar nodded. "They were only rumors, but from reliable sources. It was believed another group of Anima resided in the land beyond the desert. No one we sent has ever returned."

Elreth looked at her father. "But they communicate with you, correct?"

He nodded. "Every season—though sometimes not in the winter. They send a messenger who reaches me personally, without being seen in the City."

Elreth pursed her lips. "But you haven't heard from them since before the time Rika's describing?"

He shook his head.

Elreth snorted and turned back to Rika. "Did you, at any time, learn or even suspect that the human who came before you had killed or captured Anima?"

Rika shook her head immediately. "We discussed what he'd observed in their behavior and senses and.. no. If he did them any harm, I was not informed of it."

"Were you there for all of his reports?"

Rika's lips pressed thin. "That's not how it works in my world. When people are reporting information—especially a great deal of it—they don't do it in speeches. They enter it in.. technology. They type it up. It's possible they reported things other than I was told. But I never heard any discussion of having an Anima in captivity, or of the killing of one. And I was told about the wider plan to do so. I can't think of a reason they would have had to hide that from me. I told you, I entered this world believing you were all little more than animals, and a resource to be exploited. It was only in observing you that.. that I learned otherwise."

Elreth asked more questions, looked for more details, but in the end it was clear that not only was Rika telling her the truth, but she was honest about the things of which she hadn't been informed.

Elreth was both more relaxed about the woman, and more tense. They had some information on their enemy, no doubt. But strategically, very little. And everything she heard about how the humans worked and their technology only made her more afraid. How were they ever going to defeat these people?

Eventually, Elreth sat back in her chair and opened a hand to the elders. "Please, ask any questions you haven't heard me ask. I feel that we need to be utterly certain that Rika is a friend, not a foe. And we need to learn as much as possible about our enemy.

Many of the elders shifted in their seats, frowning. It was Lhern who spoke first, rubbing his chin, his gaze clouded.

"Is there any element to the human plan that you haven't shared with us?"

Rika shook her head. "No.. but.." she looked at Gar again, who frowned and watched her carefully. Rika cleared her throat and turned back to the male "There is something about our world and our work that I haven't told you."

"What is it?"

"This isn't the only place they're working to discover a new bloodline, or at least, the makings of it. They want to.. to breed with you, I think."

Elreth jolted. "Why didn't you mention this before?"

Rika looked at her with an apology. "Because I can't actually tell you for certain. I was never filled in on the ultimate strategy. It was described to me as.. as building a resource that would heal the world. But the more I know of you, and your family and the fact that we can mate and.. I'm almost certain.. Elreth if they knew you and Gar existed—maybe they already do, I don't know. I haven't told them. But.. I think you're their goal. To.. to change the human race by introducing Anima blood."

"Why?"

"Because our people are getting weaker and weaker. Physically. More and more prone to sickness. And our medicines and technologies.. we can't stop it anymore. The decline, I mean. In my laboratory your people are spoken of as the magic pill."

"Pill? A medicine?"

Elreth's mother made a small noise, and her father put his arm around her, but Elreth was riveted, uncertain why this little piece of the puzzle felt so important. But clearly Rika did as well.

"I didn't make all the connections before," she said. "But the more I think about being here and living here and.. You can't beat them, Elreth. They're too strong. There's too many of them. You have to find a way to keep them out. If they can get their hands on you, that will be the end. You'll never be free again. You'll be raised like animals. Farmed. I'm certain of it." Rika leaned forward, her face tight. "Elreth, they don't realize that you are people just as much as they are. They're stuck on the animal thing.. They see your strength and your beauty and they want it and.. they don't see you as people."