Taming the Queen of Beasts

GAHRYE

The guards had barely blinked when he and Reece stepped into out of the portal on the Anima side. Clearly Gar and Aaryn had warned them.

As always, Gahrye was hit immediately by the scent of Anima—the fresh, humid air, the thick forest and wet earth. Sunlight on grass… It was the smell of home, even now, and always threatened to bring him to his knees.

His senses yearned for Anima. His heart remained in the human world.

Shaking off the inner conflict, Gahrye had led Reece through the cave and out into the forest. It was barely dawn, so they hadn't headed straight for the city. Instead they stood on the rise of the foothills to the west, where they were above the WildWood canopy and could watch the sun edge over the mountains on the other side of Anima.

Though he'd definitely observed that his ability to hear the Creator was improved by being quiet in His creation, Gahrye knew there was no actual increase in their gifts by being up high in the wide open air. But the events and plans he was asking to see clearly were so massive, they seemed to deserve a grand view when Gahrye made the final plea to the Creator for clarity.

The truth was, he didn't expect to hear anything new. He was more certain with every passing hour that he knew exactly what was to come. But he wished—pleaded to be wrong. And he would not take any this lightly. His mate and his best friend deserved the surety that he had done everything he could before he declared this verdict.

Verdict… it had the ring of finality. Justice. But Gahrye shook his head. Even that thought turned his stomach. The mantle of this prophecy weighed more heavily every day. And now... now he would have done anything not to be the one delivering it today.

As the sun crested the hazy, purple mountains on the other side of Anima, Gahrye nudged Reece. "Breathe and ask about the prophecy. We have to be certain."

Reece had been very quiet this morning. Not angry as Gahrye expected, not defiant. His son, normally so strong and sure of himself and what was right seemed suddenly... subdued. As if he had been defeated. Gahrye feared again that Reece knew more than he was letting on. But he couldn't think about that now or he'd lose his courage. So, closing his eyes and breathing the welcome, clean air of Anima deep into his lungs Gahrye asked for the final time... what the Creator meant by the prophecy, and what He expected of them who knew it.

You know.

Gahrye grimaced. The Creator rarely spoke so distinctly. Usually Gahrye saw in visions, convictions, understandings. But now, as he thought back on everything he had heard, everything he had seen, everything he'd read in the histories and prophecies, and the ways he'd come to interpret them... all he heard were those words, over and over.

You know.

You know.

You know.

Gahrye wiped his face and swallowed the lump in his throat.

Please, he pleaded silently. There must be—

"Pruning isn't punishment." The words tumbled out of Reece's mouth as if they'd been thrown out against his will.

Gahrye blinked and turned to his son.

Reece, his sandy blonde hair tousled and his eyes puffy because he'd rolled out of a sleepless night in bed to come with his father that fateful morning, looked at Gahrye, his green eyes—so like his mother's—shining with unshed tears.

"Pruning isn't punishment," he said, his voice hoarse, and Adam's apple bobbing.

Gahrye's breath caught. "What... what do you think that means?"

"It means that the Creator is going to cut things out of my... your life. And He's not doing it because you're bad. It's not punishment. It's like the roses in the garden. He cuts some things out so that new, beautiful things can grow."

Reece's chin trembled. Gahrye was just about to reach for him, but Reece turned away, quickly wiping his eyes on the backs of his sleeves and staring out at the beauty of Anima, as if he'd never seen it before.

"Reece... what's going on? Clearly something is eating at you. What have you learned—it might be important for me to know. And even if it's not… Please, maybe I can help? Let me help you."

But Reece just shook his head, his shoulders hunched and hands now stuffed into his pockets. It was such a human posture, seen as weak within Anima, but his son did it without thinking because he'd grown up in a world where people made themselves smaller on purpose… Gahrye suddenly questioned everything. Was he wrong about his son somehow? Had he been wrong to bring him here? Was he putting his own assumptions into this and removing his son from—

"I don't like any of this," Reece said, looking out over the beautiful forest below, and the mountains in the distance. "I'm not mad, Dad. Okay? I know I've been acting mad, but it's been... it's not you, okay? I'm not mad. I love you. And Mom."

That hit him in the chest like a powerful punch, but he didn't let it show. "I know, Reece," Gahrye said, smiling despite the grief and fear churning in his gut. "We love you, too."

Reece nodded. "I know," he said, swallowing hard. "That's why I hate this. I feel like... I feel like the people who were forced to do all the work to get here have ended up being the ones who have to give it all away, and that's not fair."

Fuck, he nailed that. Gahrye sighed. In the same moment he wanted to high five his son, he also wanted to scream his frustration and anger, and... just generally throw a tantrum. But he knew he wouldn't. He couldn't. If he'd learned anything in his forty years of life, it was that.

Throwing anger at the world, or at the Creator, only felt good while it was happening. It never solved anything.

He dropped his head as the conviction came, undeniable, and ugly: There were no more questions. He had his answers. It was time.

It was time for Reece to come home. Time for Gahrye to go home for the last time. And time for all of them to watch the fulfillment of the work they'd been doing their whole lives.

He should have been ecstatic.

Instead, he put his arm around his son and pulled him into a hug, and they both cried.

Then, a minute later, they both stopped, breathing heavily and wiping their eyes. Because crying didn't solve anything, either.

"Come on," Gahrye said without any preamble. "There's some really amazing people I want you to meet."