Page 31 of The Ruler
“Uh-huh.”
“You would pick ten boys. The other ten will be selected by the Momsies.”
“Will I be alone with twenty children night and day?”
“No.” Pearl held up a hand. “We’re working on a solution but until we have the final plans ready we can’t reveal more.”
“I’ll need at least two assistants,” Archer said.
“We’ll make sure you’re not alone,” I assured him. “The question is, would you be interested?”
Archer grinned. “Hell, yeah, that sounds epic. I would love to study little girls and see what they’re like in real life.”
Pearl nodded with satisfaction. “Good, then we shall continue with our plans and get back to you soon.”
“How soon?” Archer asked excitedly.
Pearl and I exchanged a glance. “Hopefully very soon,” she said with a smile.
CHAPTER8
Tied Together
Khan
My days with Pearl were both amazing and torturous.
Sometimes we played chess and had deep and long conversations about politics and life. Other times I felt like I was slowly losing my mind.
I had seen Christina and Boulder together, and was disappointed that Pearl didn’t show any interest in me physically.
There were days when I was tempted to appoint a different protector for her because it was too hard to be close to her and not be able to touch her.
Maybe that’s why I sometimes bullied her. Her constant rejection of sleeping in my bed made me get back at her in other ways – mostly when she beat me in chess, became too argumentative, called me a pervert, or refused to sit quietly in my office while I worked.
I would get in her space and say demeaning things to her, reminding her of her place as a hostage. In all fairness, it didn’t take much to get under her skin, with her being such a damn softie to begin with.
Telling myself it was necessary to instill fear in her, I justified my behavior and praised myself for behaving like a gentleman at night when my body was screaming for me to drag her to the bed and lose myself inside her.
It had been fifty-four days since Pearl had arrived. My brother wanted me to set a deadline with the council, but I wasn’t ready to kill or torture Pearl if they failed to deliver Laura back.
Although it had never occurred to me that Pearl would be staying with us this long, we had fallen into a daily routine with me working and her reading in the corner of my office.
When I had meetings, I sent her into my suite and had the guards make sure no one entered or left. Unfortunately, I had postponed many of my duties as a ruler and it was long overdue for me to take up the traveling that I usually did. On this particular day, I looked up, expecting to see Pearl sitting in her favorite spot by the window, reading a book.
She wasn’t there!
Getting up from my chair, I called her name with an uneasy feeling spreading quickly through my nervous system.
Magni… did he get to her?
My brother had woken me up at three a.m. this morning admitting that he’d been to the Motherlands again, searching for Laura without success. He had looked more broken than ever and I knew he was unhinged.
Has he harmed Pearl?
My heart was hammering like it was trying to escape my body and go search for her. Pearl wasmyresponsibility – I was her protector.
With a burning throat and a head spinning out of control, I slammed open the door to my office and shouted for my guards.
