[[Until We Become Lions]]

Chapter 57 - Part 5 [[Lion's of Yara]]

The next day.

Danijela slipped out of Juan's bunker before the morning sun could rise. She was heavily hungover from the previous night but she found it urgent to get off this island before Juan or Clara woke to avoid the culmination of awkward conversations that were bound to happen. What the fuck was in the air last night? For one, she had seen more of Juan than she ever needed to in her life. And second, she had almost kissed Clara Garcia. " The " Clara Garcia. As if she hadn't already betrayed Anton enough. But to be fair, he had betrayed her long before. Deceived her before she even knew him. One kiss would not have rocked his entire world the way holding her mother captive and murdering innocent people did for her. Danijela chalked up the interaction between her and Clara as just two women lost in a drunken stupor. After Juan had divulged to Danijela that little tidbit of information about Clara's background, Danijela found herself wanting to hold her at a distance.

What she felt was a bridge between annoyance and anger - still unsure how to feel for Clara's status as one of the elite True Yarans. She had given up everything Danijela had clawed her entire life towards. It made no sense. A complete waste. But perhaps Danijela was being too harsh. Was she not doing something similar? The rickety boat she rode in now could very well take her back to Esperanza but instead, she had chosen to stay and help Libertad . She still didn't quite understand how two relative strangers had convinced her to stay and fight at the cost of leaving her sister and Diego in the hands of a madman she had once given her entire life to.

Yes, she wanted to restore this country to a livable state so that her sister and Diego were free to make their own decisions and choose their own path. Yes, she wanted to stop Anton and the other unknown atrocities he had committed. But she feared part of the reason was that she did not want to return to Esperanza just yet. Returning to Esperanza meant facing the man she loved, still loves. And there was a chance she may follow in her mother's footsteps.

Danijela found herself reminded of the words found in her mother's journal that she still refused to open for some reason. When was a monster not a monster?

When you kill it.

Who was to say that if she reunited with Anton that she would not immediately kill him where he stood. Kill him for lying to her for all these years. Kill him for forcing her baby sister into a marriage against her will. Kill him for making her feel something beyond anger and hate. Kill him for making her believe that he had been the northern star that she had searched for her entire life as an escape from her cruel life. Her return was inevitable - but she wanted to prolong it as long as possible, which was why she wanted to avoid Clara questioning Danijela's ability to perform these operations. She needed to stay away so that she could selfishly hold onto the hope that he would change. That he would still be the perfect silence she had always known.

She squinted against the rising sun as Madrugadas's coastline inched closer. Thank God, she had thought. From the sound of this boat's motor, it sounded like this would be a one-way trip until she was able to achieve what needed to be done here.  Danijela perched the boat along the sandbank. She had never been this far west. What she knew of Madrugada was that it was laced with farmlands and tobacco fields.

Luckily she wasn't alone in this venture. Guapo had followed closely behind her boat the entire way here. She was glad the beast was on her side and not the other way around. Danijela consulted the map that Clara had given her. This, Philly Barzaga, was somewhere north of her location. She had no photo to go off of, and it was not like she could ask people without giving her own identity away. She adjusted the gaiter around her neck and pulled it up over her mouth and nose.

"Well, Guapo. I guess it's just our two wits from here on out."

Guapo's throat radiated with an acknowledged growl.