The River of Sand by Kobe Bryant & Ivy Claire

Author:Kobe Bryant & Ivy Claire [Bryant, Kobe & Claire, Ivy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Granity Studios
Published: 2020-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

15

PRETIA

A JUDGMENT

Pretia examined the leaderboard in the center of the Dreamer Village. The Realists were now ahead by four medals, twenty to the Dreamers’ sixteen. Vera was tied for most individual medals with five after making the podium in both her events yesterday. Aquiis and Ecrof were tied for most academy medals.

Pretia looked at the daily competition schedule. None of the meets she wanted to watch were until the afternoon, which gave her the morning to train. And she certainly needed to train, especially if the tribunal decided that she couldn’t split herself. Then she’d have to compete better than ever.

Pretia was about to head to the cafeteria when she heard a commotion rippling through the Dreamer Village. From up above on the walkways, Dreamers were pointing at someone or something.

Watch out for the opposition, she heard. Realist coming through.

As quickly as they’d started, the comments stopped. She glanced toward the fountains, and through the spray of purple water she saw Janos and another Realist delegate making their way toward her.

“Uncle Janos,” Pretia said. She stopped herself short of hugging him. Suddenly she was overcome by cold terror. Had someone seen her momentary split at the end of the marathon? Had Janos come to remove her from the games?

“What’s wrong, Pretia?” Janos asked. “Afraid of the opposite team? You of all people can’t hate Realists that much.”

“What? No.” Pretia’s mind was racing. “I just . . . Did I . . . did I do something wrong?”

“I don’t know, did you?” her uncle asked in a serious voice.

Pretia took a deep breath. “No,” she said. She hadn’t. She hadn’t meant to reveal her shadow self at the end of the marathon. It had been a mistake that hadn’t harmed anyone. At least she hoped so.

“That’s good,” her uncle said. His eyes were kind, but his voice was all business. “But I am indeed here about a question of right and wrong. There’s been a decision.”

Now all Pretia’s nerves tingled at once. She took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “What did they decide?”

“You’ll need to come hear it yourself,” Janos said.

“Can you just tell me?”

“Even I don’t know what has been decided. The rules of the tribunal state that all decisions must be heard in person.”

Pretia shuddered. The thought of all those adults staring down at her again, deciding her fate for her and coldly judging, made her heart race and her palms sweat. She felt as if her knees were going to give way.

Janos lowered his voice and met her eye with a serious but confident gaze. “Pretia, you must face this like you will face all challenges going forward as ruler.”

“I don’t want to rule,” Pretia said. “I just want to compete.”

Janos put a hand on her shoulder. “I, too, had no interest in statecraft. But I don’t think you are going to be able to make the same choice I did. I don’t see a future in which you don’t rule Epoca.”

Pretia sighed. “Ugh. Why not?”

“Because of who you are—the Child of Hope.

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