Page 115 of The Ruler
“Cina?”
“That’s what Kya calls Christina.”
“I see. And you helped them?”
“Uh-huh, sorta.” She shrugged. “My job was to distract Archer and Magni – I’m good at that.”
“Why did you need to distract them?”
“Because Kya didn’t want to dirty her clothes and it was boiling warm up there.” She pointed to the high vaulted ceiling. “So she climbed up in her underwear only.”
“Ahh.” I nodded in understanding.
Raven wrinkled her nose. “The men fight over Kya, and Christina said Magni would go crazy if he saw her flaunt her skin to Archer.”
“And did you manage to distract them?”
She shrugged. “More or less.”
“What did you mean when you said that the men fight over Kya?”
“Oh, they’re scary when they get angry.” Her eyes grew big. “Do you know what ‘I’ll fucking castrate you’ means?” she asked innocently.
“Ehm… who said that?”
“Magni shouted it at Archer and he didn’t seem to like it.”
“No, men don’t like to hear that, but it’s not something you need to concern yourself with, sweetie.”
Raven gave me a conspiratorial look. “Boulder says, Archer better learn to back down or Magni will surely kill him in a fit of rage, but Archer isn’t afraid of anyone – he told me so himself.”
“Violence is never a good thing,” I said solemnly.
“I know, but…” Raven narrowed her eyes with a thoughtful expression.
“What?”
“I still like that Archer doesn’t let Magni push him around.”
“You like Archer?”
“Uh-huh.”
“But not Magni?”
“Yes, I like him too. He’s nice to me. And you know what, Pearl?”
“What?”
“Magni says that he’s going to teach me how to fight like a real warrior.”
“He is?”
“Uh-huh.” Raven placed her tongue between her lips in concentration and jabbed into the air.
“Just remember you can’t use it on anyone outside of training, okay?” I reminded her.
“I know.” She turned and gave me a wide smile and I couldn’t help look at that little booger again.
