Page 18 of The Ruler
“Good, then tell me what you’re holding back.”
I hesitated.
“For fuck’s sake, woman. Get into your head that it’s offensive to me that you think me too fragile to handle a sharp tongue or opinions different from mine.”
“Very well.” I cleared my throat and let my thoughts spill out. “You say that you don’t want us to see you as monsters, but the problem is that to us your behavior, your culture, and your values are those of monsters.”
Khan narrowed both eyes and leaned forward, speaking each word slow and hard: “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You kill for fun,” I said and looked up at the deer head hanging on the wall not far from me.
“Oh, come on, that’s like saying that all our ancestors were monsters. Hunting animals doesn’t make us monsters and you damn well know it.”
“You treat women like objects to own and control,” I stated calmly.
“We protect our women,” he objected. “We honor them.”
“Do you?” I challenged him. “If one of the women born here were to choose to remain unmarried and pursue a career, could she?”
His jaw tightened. “No.”
“I didn’t think so,” I said and leaned back. “So let me ask you this. How would you like it if I told youwhatwoman to marry and that youronlypurpose in life was to have sex with her and get her pregnant?”
Khan frowned.
“Forget about power, or being respected for what’s between your ears. All that’s asked of you is that you reproduce.”
He snorted at me. “Our women are given choices. It’s not like we dictate to them who to marry. They have five candidates to choose from,” Khan told me in a pedantic tone.
“Then I’ll return the favor in our little thought experiment. You can choose one out of five women to control you, and dominate you. And here’s a bonus. If you don’t feel like having sex with her, she will still demand it.”
Khan
“And is one of the five womenyou?” I asked, unwilling to let her get to me with her stupid “thought experiment.”
Pearl blinked. “What?”
“In this thought experiment. Can I have you as my wife and make you pregnant all the time?” I grinned. “Because if I can, it doesn’t sound too bad. You’re notexactlymy type but if we turned off the light, I could probably work with that.”
I was messing with her and enjoying how her pretty mouth fell open. Pearl was beautiful and she had to know it, but my sharp reply gave me the same type of rush that came with telling an opponent “checkmate.”
Pearl’s chest heaved as if she only now remembered to breathe. “No, you can’t pick me,” she said firmly. “But what you can do is focus on the future of your people instead of playing mind games.”
“Hey.” I threw up my hands. “You’re the one talking about thought experiments, not me.”
“Does that mean you’re against the idea of an inclusion experiment with children?” she asked.
“No.”
“No?”
“I mean it depends.” I pondered out loud: “Where would it be, who would teach, how would we agree on the curriculum? And what would be the next step when they’re done with school?”
“Well, ultimately the children should help bridge the cultural differences between the Motherlands and the Northlands,” she emphasized. “It’s just an idea, but if we start small, then down the line bigger things might happen.”
“Like men on the council,” I repeated, well aware that Pearl had practically ignored me the first time I brought it up.
This time she looked straight at me. “I’m talking about small steps. Men on the council would be considered a fall into the abyss.”
