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RETH

Reth sat in the dirt like a broken child, Elia curled up between his thighs, her back to his chest, staring at Gahrye. He\'d wrapped her in his arms because she shook like she was cold, but he wasn\'t sure she\'d even noticed. The truth was, he trembled like a leaf in the wind and he needed to hold onto her as much for his own sanity as hers.

His mate… his beautiful, magnificent mate sat in front of him, nodding encouragement to the male who was telling her to kill herself.

Reth swallowed back a snarl—and throat ripping tears. His head kept screaming and his heart roared along.

This couldn\'t be real.

But Gahrye sat there in front of them, a fucking tidal surge of pain and destruction, relentless and coming for them, whether they wanted him to or not.

"….if you\'re walking into the traverse already resolved to go to the voices, they\'re going to hit hard, Elia. You have to understand, they\'ll know. They might not know why, but they\'ll know that you\'re ready. You have to get through." Then his eyes rose to meet Reth\'s for a split second, before dropping back to her and against his own selfish neediness, Reth was reminded that this male was facing the same hell. "Reth too. He has to give you up. You can\'t do that if you break before you reach them."

Reth shuddered.

Gahrye, his face haggard and lined with grief and anger, shook his head. "And then… when you\'re there… when you know you\'re really there, you have to do it willingly, Elia. You have to give your heart to it. Your soul. You have know to your bones that you want to be there and you want to give. You have to go to them willing. To give yourself up to them to save everyone else. They will take you—I don\'t believe they\'ll understand what you\'re achieving until it\'s done. And when they do… when they take you, it will destroy you—but it will also destroy them."

Elia made a small noise in her throat and her fingers dug into Reth\'s forearm. She gripped him like Elreth had when she was tiny and sick.

"But…" Elia\'s voice was husky from crying. "Asking a Protector to walk into that with me—"

"You can\'t see it as asking them to hurt for you, Elia. Whoever does it, whoever is willing… it will be because of their love, too. It will be because the Creator inspired that in them. It\'s what… what we were made for," Gahrye rasped.

Reth would have raged at the male, would have torn him to pieces for saying that so heartlessly… except for the fact that Gahrye clearly owned the verdict on himself. He was a Protector—the first in hundreds of years. And he believed he\'d been made for this.

Reth wanted to vomit.

Instead, he tipped his forehead against the back of Elia\'s head, inhaling her hair, holding her too tightly, he knew, but he couldn\'t find the strength to release her. And she clung to his arms like they were the only lifeline keeping her in place.

"When the voices are defeated, they leave and their power with them. That means the traverse just becomes… a place."

"Is it even real? How can we know what—"

"We don\'t. That\'s the point," Gahrye muttered. "All I know is that place has made me bleed, so it has to be real while you\'re in it. I\'ve touched it and smelt it and… I\'ve been to war in it. But is it actually located here? Is there actually a tunnel between the two worlds? I don\'t think so. I think when their grip is broken, the place will disappear.

Elia shivered.

"I have no idea what will happen to the Protector who goes with you both. So whoever you choose, they have to be willing." Then he looked at Reth.

Reth didn\'t even hesitate. He nodded. It was the only part of this that he didn\'t question at all. If she was walking into death, he was going with her. All the way.

Gahrye raised a trembling hand to claw back and forth through his hair. "You guys are… taking this much better than Kalle and I did," he said with a nervous laugh.

Elia shuddered and Reth tightened his grip on her. He wasn\'t sure which of the shakes were hers, and which came from him.

Then Elia snorted so hard she coughed. "I d-don\'t know if I can do this. I don\'t know."

Gahrye\'s face crumpled and Reth groaned, hushing Elia as she began to cry again. But all of them were startled when footsteps announced that they were about to interrupted.

Gahrye leaped to his feet, Elia following more slowly, but wiping her face and clearly trying to control her breathing.

Reth stood and didn\'t even care who was coming, he pulled her into his chest and held her, even as she shook her head and tried to resist his comfort.

"For me, Love," he breathed. "Please."

She whimpered then and put her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest. Reth was certain his heart was cracking, shattering, literally being yanked from his chest.

This couldn\'t be real. It couldn\'t be.

"I\'m sorry," a low, quiet voice said right before Reece emerged from between the trees, his eyes staying on his father who\'d clearly been crying but his face was blank and tight now.

"What\'s going on, Reece?" Gahrye asked his son.

"There\'s been a messenger from Lerrin… the Humans are in Anima. Elreth sent me. She said she\'s sorry, but you have to come. You have to come now."

Reth didn\'t want to move. As if the simple shift of his feet was a step toward this destiny and if he could avoid that simple thing, he could avoid… all of it. He stroked Elia\'s precious hair, holding her tightly against his chest, shaking his head.

"No," Elia whispered. "No. Not now. Not this fast. I\'m not ready."

Reth huffed the mating call and it rolled off into a groan of sheer pain that echoed in his ribs.

"We\'ll go," Gahrye said, his voice choked. "Give you some time. I\'ll… I\'ll tell them you\'re coming when you\'re ready." Then he hurried forward, taking his son by the shoulders and pressing him between the trees, leaving Reth and Elia standing together, unmoving.