Page 104 of The Warrior
“We won’t tell anyone,” Mila promised. “You can trust us.”
Magni exhaled deeply. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but I warn you: you might not like me when you hear the truth.”
My heart started racing from the seriousness of his tone. Magni was letting us see what was behind the tall wall he surrounded himself with, and I was scared to breathe and miss a word he said.
CHAPTER 27
Ending an Era
Magni
“Anyone who knew my father feared him. If they didn’t, they were fools. He was ruthless, strong, domineering, and often cruel,” I told Mila and Laura, who were both on the bed looking at me with their eyes wide open.
“I was my father’s favorite son, and it’s because of him that I grew to be the best fighter in this country at an early age. My father was relentless, and would push both me and Khan to an extreme. With Khan being his firstborn, it was always worse on him. I suppose my father was like every ruler before him; he wanted to secure his legacy. Khan and I wished there had been more of us sons to share the burden of his impossible expectations.
“Breeding heirs to the throne was of high priority to him and from the moment Khan and I turned eighteen, he obsessed about us marrying and having children of our own.
“Khan didn’t show any interest in tournaments. Maybe it was his own way of rebelling, but he paid a heavy price. Our father did everything to pressure him, accused him of being a homosexual and humiliated him at any opportunity.
“It wasn’t much better for me, but we both withstood his pressure until I was twenty-three and Khan was twenty-eight. By then our father had become more irrational and unpredictable than ever. He’d started threatening to kill Khan if he didn’t follow orders. To take the pressure off Khan, I agreed to fight for Laila Michelle that year.” I paused and locked eyes with Laura. “On my way to my first fight, I saw you.” In my mind’s eye, I remembered the fourteen-year-old version of Laura who had stared at me with such longing.
“The memory of you being nine and telling me to wait for you wouldn’t go away. I never confirmed that I would wait, but seeing you that morning did something to me. There was such hurt and disappointment in your eyes, as if we had made a pact and I was letting you down.” I shook my head. “I couldn’t do that.”
Laura and Mila were both staring at me, soaking up every word I said.
“My father went ballistic when I told him I was backing out of the tournament. He ordered Khan to fight instead of me, and when Khan refused, the two of them got in a physical fight.” I folded and unfolded my hands, while forcing myself to continue telling about the secret I’d kept for so long.
“Again, our father threatened to kill Khan. At first, I didn’t think he was serious because he had threatened to kill him so many times. This time, however, my father pulled out a knife from his boot and jabbed it in Khan’s direction. Khan was stunned and didn’t move back fast enough when our father slashed the knife again. The second time he cut Khan, his white shirt turned red. I acted on instinct, making a high kick to get the knife away from my father, but that only made him turn on me. When he attacked, I saw red. He’d already tried to kill my brother, and now he was coming for me.”
“What did you do?” Mila whispered.
“At first, I defended myself and kept at a distance, trying to talk him down. But he kept shouting about all the ways he would kill us for not following his orders. I made sure that he could never harm us again.”
Mila gasped. “You killed your father?”
“No, I injured him enough that he wouldn’t be a danger to us.”
“Was that why he was in his bed for the last three years of his life?” Laura asked.
“Yes, officially he had a heart attack that caused him to fall and injure himself. Only Khan, Finn, and I knew the truth.”
“Wow.” Laura held a hand to her mouth.
Mila frowned. “What does all that have to do with you loving Laura?”
I blinked a few times. “Ehm, well, because you asked when I knew that I loved her, and it was my loyalty to her that made me rebel against my father and refuse to fight for Laila Michelle.”
Mila turned her head to look at Laura. “Is loyalty the same as love?”
Laura’s eyebrows drew close. “I’m not sure.”
“To me it is,” I said. “Words are cheap. I don’t need people to tell me they love me. I’d rather that they show it by being loyal and staying with me through thick and thin.”
Laura gave me an incredulous look. “Says the man who’s talking about moving to Alaska.”
“You’re moving?” Mila exclaimed with a gasp.
I brushed my hair back. “It’s nothing. I shouldn’t have told you the story; I’m sorry. How are you feeling, Mila? Still hurting?”
