Page 125 of The Ruler
Magni’s eyes ran over the text hovering in the air above my arm. “About time.”
“Pearl has spoken for us in the council. Don’t forget that she’s the reason we have the school project to begin with. Aren’t you happy that our female population is going up? Especially with the nine girls joining us on Monday.”
I realized my mistake when I said it. Yes, we had gained more women, but he’d lost his wife in the process.
“I get that Pearl isn’tallevil but…” Magni breathed.
“Evil? Do you hear yourself?” I felt my temper flare. “Pearl is the opposite of evil. She’s fucking selfless and kind to everyone, including you, and all you do is hate her.”
Magni squared his shoulders defensively. “I just call out bullshit when I see it, and something about Pearl isn’t right.”
“Why? Because it’s too unthinkable that she wouldactually love me?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to,” I said grumpily. “I’m finding it hard to believe myself.”
“You’re too hard on yourself.”
“Yeah, I wonder why,” I shot back, and we both knew I was referring to the man who had been hard on me from my birth.
“Hey.” Magni placed his hand on my shoulder. “You’re doing a good job; just don’t get played by them.”
“Pearl is going to be my wife.” I said it with a raised eyebrow to match my nonnegotiable tone of voice.
“Oh, so that’s how it is? You’re going to risk it all?” He snorted and shook his head. “Unbelievable. But let’s see if you want to go through with it when we know who she’s really loyal to,” he challenged. “Boulder and I set a trap for her.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Unease spread in the pit of my stomach.
“We made sure she overheard us talking about the way we got into the Motherlands.”
“And?”
“And if she hasn’t told you, then it’s probably because she’s saving that information for hersisters.” Magni hissed the last word.
My nervous system flared up with a feeling of fire ants running up and down my arms “When did she hear you talk about it?”
“A few hours ago, and from your cluelessness, I’m guessing Mamma Pearl hasn’t come running to you, has she?”
No, she hadn’t. In fact, she’d been cooler than usual and now I had an idea why. The acute sensation of nausea made me bend over and place my hands on my knees.
“What? Is doubt finally creeping up on you?” Magni said and when I looked up, he was towering over me with his arms crossed. “About fucking time you get your head out of your ass and start seeing what I see.”
I exhaled deeply and rose to my full height. “I need to talk to her.”
“No.” Magni clamped his hand down on my shoulder. “Keep an eye on her. We didn’t give her any valuable information, since it was all fluff we made up.” A smirk emerged on his face.
“What did you say?”
“Just that the town was called Northgate and the contact person was called Jackass Johnny.”
“As in the whiskey?”
“Yup, but she won’t know that. They don’t have whiskey.”
“But Ido. There’s a bottle in my office, you idiot.”
Magni wrinkled his nose. “You think she noticed?”
