Page 71 of The Warrior
“You’re pregnant!” The thought struck like lightning, bypassing every filter I had.
From the way Pearl’s face stiffened, and her eyes widened, I knew that I had guessed right.
“Fuck!” I closed my eyes and folded my hands into fists. There was no way in hell Khan would give up on Pearl now when she was carrying his child. The power she had over him would only increase.
“Can’t you be happy for us?” she asked in a soft voice.
I couldn’t explain to her that her pregnancy was just another reminder of what a failure I was as a man and a husband. Laura and I had been married for close to two years, and I hadn’t succeeded in getting her pregnant in that time. Khan and Pearl had been married for three months and she was already knocked up. So was Christina, my friend Boulder’s wife, and Kya, the woman teacher at the school. I should be happy that we had a baby boom in the Northlands, but it pained me deep inside that I was left on the outside, watching other people’s happiness while I had never been more alone.
I landed the drone at the Gray Mansion, and got out at the same time as Pearl did. On purpose, I walked in the direction opposite hers, but she called out to me.
“You don’t have to be afraid of Khan. I won’t tell him that you were mean to me.”
“Go ahead and tell him. He should know I’m just doing my job.” My voice sounded flat and dead.
“I worry about you.” Pearl sounded sincere, but I didn’t need her sympathy or pity.
“Don’t,” I grunted and walked on.
CHAPTER 19
Pissing Contest
Laura
I knocked on the door when I entered Julia’s house for the second time. She and Devlin were still in the bedroom, sitting on the bed and holding hands. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying and he looked like he had just been swimming two miles in cold water.
“The others will be here within a few minutes,” I said. “Maybe it’s better if we just pretend that I never came in here and saw what I saw.” I frowned. “I know you said that you were just playing out some sort of fantasy, but I would have to explain that it looked like rape to me. It’s a bad word to have in your report. You know, in case you want the Council to approve Julia joining you in the Northlands.”
Devlin and Julia exchanged a concerned look. She was tucked against him and his hand kept stroking up and down her arm. “We would appreciate it if you didn’t mention the part about the role playing,” he muttered.
I pointed my index finger straight at Devlin. “Don’t try to run when we come in. I won’t hesitate to shoot your ass with a numb gun, and I have to be honest with you, it’s kind of a buzz to see a big-ass guy like you go down and be powerless.”
He snorted. “Don’t you think I would’ve run by now if I was going to escape?”
“I’m just saying, don’t run!” I turned around to walk out. “Oh, and you should both act surprised. Pretend that you’ve never seen me, okay?”
They both nodded when I left.
It was still dark when Hans and the other two mediators arrived.
“We should surround the house.” Hans spoke with a look of importance. “And then one of us will approach the door and come up with some story about being lost and thirsty. That way she will let us into the house and we can look around.”
Cheryl, one of the mediators, wrung her hands. “I like the part of your plan where we surround the house, but maybe we could adjust the part about telling a story.” She was too polite to remind Hans that lying wasn’t the way of the Motlanders.
It took them almost ten minutes of polite discussion before they agreed to simply ask the woman living there if she had seen Devlin.
“We should agree on who of us should knock on the door,” Cheryl said. “I suggest we send two people, in case he gets violent.”
The fourth mediator, who had introduced herself as Lizzie, was scrolling through files on her wristband. “Procedure says that it should be the two most experienced mediators. According to this, Hans is the most skilled among us.”
Hans’s voice sounded a bit shrill. “If someone else would like to go first, that would be fine with me. I don’t want to take all the glory or the excitement.”
I didn’t blame them for being frightened. We had all heard horrible stories about Devlin, and they didn’t know that he was sitting in the house holding hands with his girlfriend.
I raised a hand. “I don’t mind going.”
“Good.” Hans looked at the other two women. “And who else wants to go?”
