The Beast Within (The Elite Series) - By Jonathan Yanez Page 0,50
room was allowed to get up. First, Faust, Christof, and Randolph were allowed to exit. Christof shot Morrigan a dirty look while he led Faust out by the arm, and Randolph, nervous as ever, his eyes darting to and fro, bringing up the rear.
Morrigan gave them a wide berth. Connor, Laren, and Lu followed in her wake. If Connor thought that the audience was scrutinized him on the way in, he didn’t know how to describe what he felt now. The brightly colored eyes of every single Elite were on him. It felt as thought he was being examined with a microscope. Some of the looks he received were of admiration, some of curiosity, most of disdain.
Connor let out a pent-up sigh of relief as soon as he was out of the room. “What was all of that about my father? Why didn’t you tell me you were going to put me on display to the entire room as a savior?”
Morrigan simply turned to him, touched her finger to her lips and then to her ears, motioning that they were within hearing distance of more than a few Elites. Connor nodded, willing to wait, but at the same time, eager for answers.
Laren and Lu followed. Neither of them said a word, instead nodding greetings to various passersby as they made their way through the labyrinth of halls.
Connor soon realized they weren’t headed back to his room, instead, Morrigan led them to a mid-size banquet room with plenty of open space. There was only one large table and it was stacked with enough food to feed an army. Closing the doors behind them, Morrigan was satisfied they would be able to talk freely.
As Lu headed straight for the food, Connor looked at Morrigan and Laren with questioning eyes.
“I’m sorry, Connor, we had limited time before the Council was called. Maybe I should have told you about your father, revealing you as the answer to the prophecy was a spur of the moment call. Christof was presenting a solid argument and I needed something to throw him off. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Of course, I just want some answers about my father. What happened to him? Is he alive?”
Laren answered his last question first. “Yes, he is. Your father was a great warrior and years ago rose up as a Judge when our race needed him. He brought unity to our people and calmed a storm that would have soon consumed us. The facts are told differently in the human world. You would know the disaster your father saved the world from as the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was a hero, well-loved and respected by everyone.” Laren hesitated, unsure how to relate the rest of the story.
“Until he fell in love with a human and threw it all away,” Lu said in between bites, a ham bone in one hand and a large bread roll in the other.
Morrigan shot him an intimidating stare.
“What? That’s what happened.”
Laren shook her head at her brother. “Your father, Caderyn, fell in love with your mother. He knew the Law forbade it, he did it anyway. He was able to hide this from the Council until you were born and then the cat was out of the bag.”
Morrigan took up the story. “Your father left you because he loved both you and your mother. Rather than see either one of you hurt, he revealed his actions to the Council. As you can imagine, the meeting did not go well. Because of his years of faithful service and his honesty, your life was spared. He was still punished, however. He was sentenced to live out his remaining days in a secret Elite penitentiary.”
“All these years I thought he abandoned us.” Connor was dumbfounded. He didn’t know what to feel, let alone what to say. He was always under the impression his father didn’t want him, not that his father loved him so much he sealed his own fate to save him.
Laren wrapped her arms around Connor. She could only imagine what he was feeling right now. He hugged her back. Morrigan took her cue to leave and joined Lu at the table.
“I can’t even begin to understand what you’re going through right now. I just want you to know that I’m here for you, Connor, with whatever you need.”
“I know you are, thank you.”
They separated and joined Lu and Morrigan at the table. He was starving, and rather than sit and dwell on the newly discovered information