Page 11 of The Warrior
“Only the cutest, sweetest, most beautiful…”
My annoyed outburst was as surprising to me as it was to him. “Just say it!”
“Wow, I’ve never seen you jealous.” Magni chuckled.
“Do you love this Mila?”
“Not in a romantic way.”
That confused me even more. “What?”
“I’ll take you to meet her later today.”
“Why won’t you tell me who she is?”
Magni got out of the bed and walked to the bathroom, keeping the door ajar while peeing.
I was still in bed when he returned. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?” My voice was full of irritation.
“Give a man a minute to enjoy his wife being jealous.” Magni looked smug. “Mila is a ten-year-old girl from the Motherlands who lives on Boulder’s Island. It’s a secret, so you can’t tell anyone.”
I dropped my chin. “A girl from the Motherlands, living here? How is that possible?” My heart was beating so fast it almost hurt. “What did youdo, Magni?”
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. I didn’t hurt the girl. All I did was kidnap a priestess.”
“You kidnapped a priestess?” My voice was loud and shrill. “When? Where is she?” I spun around, my eyes searching the suite again.
“Calm down. She’s the woman Finn went to see in the Motherlands. Her name is Athena.”
“I’m confused. Tell me everything.”
Scratching his chest, Magni began explaining. “I sneaked into the Motherlands to find you and when I couldn’t, I figured I could take a hostage and ask the Council to return you in exchange.”
My hands flew to my hair. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”
“I thought they did.”
“No. Do you seriously believe I would have let an innocent suffer because of me?”
“She was only here for five days.”
“And then you let her go?”
Magni scrunched his face. “Of course not. What do you think I am? A softie?”
“Did she escape then?”
He snorted. “No, Athena didn’t escape. Pearl took her place, and I’m pretty sure it’s been all over the news in the Motherlands. How can you not know this? Pearl came to see you, remember?”
“Yes, but she never told me about the hostage situation. She said that she and Khan had met during some negotiations and that they fell in love.”
“Maybe she didn’t want you to feel bad about causing others pain.”
“That would make sense.” I nodded. “I feel like a fool for not knowing all of this, but to be honest, I stayed away from any news sources.”
“Why?”
“First of all, the news in the Motherlands is a waste of time. There are no juicy stories about violent episodes or rebels trying to overrun the Council.”
