The Pride by John Campea

Author:John Campea
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781530044313
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2016-02-23T17:00:00+00:00

Justinian

Justinian looked at Linara and wondered if the other dra’acheck found the situation quite as peculiar as he did. Even after four hundred and seventy-eight years, he stilled looked at her human face and saw her dragon form. It was wonderful but at the same time somewhat…

He didn’t know the word.

Disturbing?

No, there was nothing about Linara that ever disturbed him. It was curious. That was it. Curious and strange. It was strange to see that mouth forming words that belonged to her, strange to see eyes that were not Linara’s but without question were.

She smiled sadly and asked softly, “Do you think he’ll be here? Do you really think he’ll come?”

Justinian shrugged. “I hope not. This is all overkill, really. He’s probably the most respected of all dra’acheck, except for Agathon. He’s angry. Sure he’s angry, and I suppose any of us would be. Still, there’s no reason to believe he’ll take this any farther. We shouldn’t really have prepared so hard, and we can probably go back to the city tomorrow.”

He was lying. He was lying, and he knew that Linara could tell he was lying, but added another sentence anyway. “Maybe, if it were someone else, some other pride, Yara might act rashly but he and I go back longer than most.” She could tell he was lying but she acted relieved anyway, for his sake he knew. Once again he was struck by how perfect of a mate she really was for him. “Do you remember when you first met Agathon?”

She nodded and smiled a little less sadly. “He wanted to celebrate but you had to tell him Artemi was killed in the Hunt.”

Justinian closed his eyes. He’d forgotten about Artemi or at least driven the thought from his mind. “Even back then, I think Agathon knew dra’acheck and humans shared the same future. Did you know he’d lived among them before he came back to the cave?”

“Of course I did,” she said. She said it indulgently, though. “You talked about it almost every day. You even tried spying on villages to find him.”

“He and Yara were very close. They argued all the time but I think Agathon respects none more than Yara and I think Yara respects none more than Agathon. In many ways, Yara will think of me as Agathon’s son. He won’t come.”

It was a lie because there was no way as long as breath remained within him he would let this matter go. Yara was not the type to let even the slightest issue remain unaddressed, and this wasn’t a slight issue. The council had ruled. The council had ruled, and they’d ruled that this event, while tragic, was obviously accidental but Yara hadn’t even attended, and if he’d arrived earlier and tricked the council into revealing the presence of the pride, he was coming. He’d already given up on anything resembling procedures.”

Obviously accidental.

There was no justice to be had but Yara never saw nuances. Everything was black and white, and he’d be here.

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