🏆 THE AMBY AWARDS 2023 TOP PICK - DIVERSE LIT 🏆
It's Rin and Hye-jin against the world. Or so it should have been.
Nagara Rin and Joon Hye-jin, college sweethearts and passionate gamers, have lived a fairytale marriage. Not even a decade after did...
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I hummed under my breath as this annoying song which had been leading the charts for a few weeks barged into my head and started playing on its own. Beside me, Yaora didn't appear to care. Or was it because I've done my best keeping the humming to a minimum so as to not shock him because it's something they hadn't heard before in this world?
Either way, if the dragonkin was sultry the previous days, he was sultrier now. As we walked, he slapped a protruding branch out of the way a little too loudly, his tongue clicking with the motion. His claws brushed against the brittle vines hanging from it and they snapped into two, but not without the audible snipping sound echoing into the forest.
Wouldn't we be discovered early by the netherbeast colony if we kept making sure we announced our presence? I looked behind me to find none of our other party members behind us. It's only natural, though. They're in similar pairs scouting other parts of the reported scope of the mission.
I was just that unlucky to end up being paired with the grumpy dragonkin who made it clear from the beginning that he didn't want me around.
Yaora planted his foot against a fallen log and kicked it away with a force enough to send it arcing in the air before slamming into a thicker, upright trunk. Splinters flew into the air as the log burst into a shower of broken wood, scaring a flock of birds out of their nests and sending them flittering into the wide sky.
"Dude, chill out," I raised my arms in a placating gesture. "What's with you today?"
Green scales glinted against the meager sunlight bursting through spaces in the canopy as he turned to me. "I don't like your guts, Chrysvern," he said, referring to me by my last name even though my first was relatively easier to pronounce. "Especially now. Sending us into danburki territory like it was no big deal. You must have a bag of bravado shoved up your crack, didn't you?"
"Uh...no?" I blinked. What did that mean anyway? "You agreed to it, though. In the meeting. So why are you throwing a fit now?"
Yaora scoffed, a plume of smoke puffing from his flaring nostrils. His fangs peeked at me when he spoke next. "That's just to save face," he said. "It'd be awkward if I was the only one who refused. Cavya would have ruled we go anyway. You've convinced him right from the start."
Ah, so he's a victim of conformity too. "Still, you should have stood your ground if you really didn't want to go here. You might have been able to explain your side," I said. "Cavya would have "considered it in making his final decision."
Yaora huffed, but didn't push anymore. He knew he had had some fault as well.
"But it seemed deeper than that," I said. His eyes snapped up to me like he was surprised I was able to gather as much. "You haven't liked me since I got to Dragnasand, even as far back as the day Mirani found me."
At that, a derisive laugh tore out of his scaled throat. "You just remind me of Lunare," he said. "So full of hope, life, and ideals. She's the light of Dragnasand, that even Mirani paled in comparison. She's a remarkable woman, a thing of legend."
