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 Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 2:40 pm
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Umepatwa was dead. A b*****d brother, maybe, but still kin. Antara's brother, the b*****d sister who he'd been discouraged from being too friendly with, but never held ill will towards. The news confirmed something that the young royal had suspected--if Father had killed his own parents, his grandparents, he would kill his offspring if given reason to suspect they might dethrone him. It was hard to feel comfortable in the royal dens with that thought in his head. He still slept there, to avoid suspicion if nothing else, but he'd taken to wandering the pride more often, and sleeping less.
A loud sigh gusted from him. Things were getting worse--what was he going to do when they got really ugly? |
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Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 6:36 pm
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Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:21 pm
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Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:29 pm
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It's probably safer out here, Yueyun nearly replied. He got as far as opening his mouth, only to shut it with a faint click when Liuhe changed tack.
He let out a heavy sigh. "No, it doesn't. They've seen--we've seen--that he will still kill to keep his power, to silence dissent." Raising his eyes to Liuhe's, he held his brother's gaze as he made a point of adding in a hushed tone, "Even if they're his children. Tell me, brother, what do you think will happen if one of us disagrees with how he does things?"
For a moment, the guard he'd thrown up around his family since the night of the strike dropped, and his fear was plain to see. Yueyun didn't want to fear Father, but he also didn't want to die. And he wouldn't--couldn't--agree with maintaining rule by blood and fear.
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Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 11:47 pm
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Liuhe was being honest but he wasn't being nearly as bold as his brother, and Yueyun looked absolutely terrified about it. It struck the elder prince that this might have been what he failed to notice about their last private conversation. Sure, he had noticed that Yueyun was uneasy about the strike, but had had never guessed that it might be because he wondered if they were right.
He had not allowed himself to think about that possibility. Even when arguing with his would-be friend, now known to be an active rebel, he hadn't let anybody convince him. It wasn't until he heard about Umepatwa's death that his resolve began to crack.
"Umepatwa did it to himself," he said sternly, frowning, "The rebels challenged the king, they wanted him to lash out and prove he's every bit as cruel as they make him out to be.. and he did. Does that make it his fault, or theirs?"
His voice was confident but his eyes were filled with doubt. Liuhe truly believed what he said, but he couldn't hide behind that truth forever. He was as scared as Yueyun. Maybe it wasn't all Shangyue's fault, but it meant the same thing in the end. He was provoked and that made him a danger to everybody. His pride and, apparently, his family.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:29 pm
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 10:00 pm
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2016 4:39 pm
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"Can't you?" Yueyun frowned as well, trying to meet his brother's eyes. "If he expects you to try to off him, to be just like him, I don't see how doing nothing is going to help. Maybe...I don't know. Maybe we both need to prove we have the pride's best interest at heart, or they'll trust us just as much as they trust him." His words danced dangerously close to traitorous, maybe crossing the line entirely. But if Liuhe wanted to damn him, he'd have more than enough to even without this. In a way, this was...perhaps not the lifting of a burden, but the sharing of one, allowing the young male to breathe. "If we think this is bad, imagine what it might be like if something happens to Father and they think his legitimate heirs are the same as him. D'you think they'd just sit back and let you have the throne then?"
He dearly, desperately wanted to believe they weren't like Father. That even if his father was a fallen hero, he still had a family. That even if he didn't know what side they were on, that they weren't bad.
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2016 3:21 am
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It had all seemed so obvious before talking to Yueyun. Liuhe was heir to the throne- his father's throne, anyway- and that made him helpless against his watchful, murderous father. And that made him useless to the rebels, if he would give in and believe that maybe, just maybe they were right about Shangyue.
If something happens to Father and they think his legitimate heirs are the same as him..
Those words finally got Liuhe to look at his brother again. He'd already had this conversation with someone dear and he's chosen his father's side. Now his half-brother was dead and his full brother stood across from him, expressing doubts that had been creeping up on the heir since then.
"Umepatwa did," he said suddenly, sadly, "I met him, did you know that? He barely spoke to me, stormed off before I could really talk to him. We had a mutual friend, they argued because of me.. because Umepatwa was sure I was as bad as Father."
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2016 5:02 am
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Yueyun rocked slightly on his feet, as though the words were a physical blow. It was one thing to suspect he and his siblings were considered of the same moral fiber as Shangyue, another to hear such a confirmation.
"I didn't... I never got much of a chance to talk to him," he said in a soft, wistful voice. He'd seen his half-brother at the strike, sure, but the purple male had been very...distracted. He wished now that he had been able to speak to him, maybe be able to mourn something more than what might have been. "But that just proves it...if we don't do anything, it's like we're agreeing with what Father's done, what he's doing. Are they so wrong, in that case?"
"You don't have to fight," he said, abruptly changing tack. "Kimondo asked me to plant moon flowers, to remind others of the Great Lion...it's not much, but it's something, you know?" He might have failed, but at least he was trying. He was, of course, oblivious to the fact that Kimondo was the friend that Liuhe was referring to. His tone and posture grew more defensive, almost hunching in on himself as he added, "I'd rather do that than just wait around and hope nobody tries to kill me. The pride can be better than this. We can be better than this."
He scrunched his eyes shut for a moment. Sometimes it felt like everything was trying to pull him in a dozen different directions, and he was still struggling to determine which was the right one.
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2016 3:16 pm
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