Page 143 of The Warrior
“This is most shocking.” Isobel’s eyes were glazed over and her fingers played with her necklace.
“I’m sorry, but Hans is no hero. He kept hiding behind me and did nothing to soothe the situation in that house. Julia and Devlin were in love and Hans was disgusted by it.”
With resolution, Isobel stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go make a few calls. I have to get to the bottom of this.”
Boulder and Khan came in as Isobel walked out.
“What is wrong with Isobel?”
I shrugged. “She just found out that one of her mediators is a fraud and a liar.”
Boulder sat down a large jug of beer.
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
Picking up the jug I poured beer into glasses. “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Khan? He’s got experience with lying.”
Khan plopped himself down on a chair at the end of the table not far from me. He looked tired. “When are you gonna let it go?”
“You told me Marco was Laura’s protector and that they slept together.”
“I said I’d heard that she didn’t sleep alone, which was true.”
“You knew that I was sleeping with Mila because she asked me to,” Laura pointed out.
“Yes.” Khan took the glass I handed him. “But I was desperate to make Magni come home so I catered to his jealousy. Kind of genius when you think about it.”
“Marco could have been killed,” Boulder complained.
Khan scoffed. “No. Archer would have never allowed it.”
“What wouldn’t I have allowed?” Archer called from the doorway.”
“For Magni to kill Marco.”
“Of course not. But a good fight would have been entertaining.”
Pearl came in with Kya, and the children began taking their seats.
“We shouldn’t talk about it,” Khan warned. “Pearl is still upset that you knocked out a child.”
I scoffed. “Solo is no child. He’s a young man and he’d be offended if I’d spared him. He was out of line and he fucking knows it.”
“No doubt, but you know how the women are; they dislike violence in general and are overprotective when it comes to the students.”
Boulder, Khan, Archer, and I all turned our heads to look at Solo, who stood brooding at the other end of the table with a big black eye.
“How is the eye doing?” Boulder called out.
“What part oflet’s not talk about itdidn’t you get?” Khan hissed.
Boulder didn’t seem to care and chuckled. “Just a warning, young Solo. If you ever see me and Christina having an argument, I suggest you stay out of it. I won’t be as nice about it as Magni was.”
Solo’s pride was hurt and he gave a sideways glance to Willow before he sat down at the table.
“You’re being jerks,” Laura whispered to us. “If you can’t see that Solo is a fine Nman then you’re blind.”
We men exchanged a glance and Khan gave a small eye-roll before he called out in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Tell you what, Solo. If I get a report of a husband abusing his wife, I’ll let you come with the team that investigates. No man is allowed to abuse a woman in this country. I believe you have a good heart and the courage to confront anyone who doesn’t understand that.”
