Page 85 of The Ruler
But when I rounded a corner all the wind was knocked out of me as I bumped straight into Magni.
“Look where you’re going,” he scolded me.
“I’m sorry,” I said politely.
“No, you’re not.” He shot me a hateful glance that made my blood freeze cold.
“Why do you hate me so much?” The question bypassed all my inner filters and just flew out of me.
He scoffed. “Isn’t it obvious?” Magni was the larger of the brothers both in height and body mass. Looming over me with a deep scowl he continued, “Every time I see you, I’m reminded that Laura hasn’t been returned. I fucking hate seeing you, Pearl.”
There was no right answer to that and I looked down.
“When you first came,” he said, “I was sure the Momsies would want you back badly enough to return my wife to me. But maybe your people just took it as an opportunity to plant a spy in our midst. Someone to influence us and change the way we do things.” His tone was low and threatening. “How convenient that my brother decided to protect you himself and how easy for you to blind him with your beauty.” He made a small laugh and I backed up when he came too close. My heart hammering when I felt the wall behind me. He had me trapped. “The council must be so proud of you, now that you’ve turned the big bad ruler of the Nmen into your lovesick puppet.”
“He’s not a puppet.”
“Then why do you string him along?” Magni’s blue eyes were stormy. “That’s right, he told me about his proposal and how you’re letting him dangle in the hope that you’ll say yes.” He held up a hand imitating dangling a string.
I’m a brave warrior!Empowered by Kya’s words in the garden that I was a warrior, I stood my ground and spoke calmly. “A proposal of marriage isn’t something you just say yes to. Let me ask you this, Magni. Would you give up your country, your mother, your friends, and your place by your brother’s side to join Laura in the Motherlands?”
“What?” He drew in his brows.
“How much do you love her? If Laura wanted you but asked that you move there and give up everything, could you answer her without thinking it through?”
“Laura wouldn’t ask that,” he said and pulled back a little.
“But if she did? Try to see things from my side. I didn’t come here to fall in love. I came to save Athena. I know that my people will grieve and think I’ve lost my mind if I give up everything to be with Khan.”
“I should think they would be delighted,” he said, and this time less confrontationally.
“I wish, but sadly no.” I sighed. “They don’t know that Nmen can be wonderful and warm; all they know are horror stories. I can’t tell you how much I cried before coming here, and then when the first person I met was you and you kept pushing me, I thought all the stories were true.”
Magni was staring at me intensely.
“I don’t blame you for hating me or for associating me with the absence of Laura; it makes sense. But to be honest, you are one of the things holding me back from saying yes to marrying Khan.”
He pulled back a little more. “Me?”
“Your hating me isn’t a nice feeling, and I don’t want to come between you and Khan. Do you know how many times I’ve been warned to stay away from you?”
“Who warned you?” he said and tensed up.
“Everybody.” I leaned my head back to meet his eyes. “You’re a giant, Magni. And an angry one at that. You’re intimidating and threatening and the thought of living here with you as a looming shadow of hatred doesn’t excite me.”
“You hate me too,” he said as if it was a fact.
My response was firm. “No, I don’t! If anything, I sympathize and I wish there was something I could do to help you.”
He hissed at me. “There is! You just won’t do it.”
Watching Magni walk away; an idea popped into my head. “Maybe.”
“What?” Magni stopped and let me catch up to him.
“What if the reason Laura hasn’t returned is that she’s scared that you’ll be furious at her. Maybe you could record a message, saying that she can come back safely and that you’ll forgive her for leaving in the first place.”
“How would that help when you insist that you and the council don’t know where she is?” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “You do realize that for someone supposedly smart, you’re incredibly stupid for revealing that you’re able to get a message to Laura.”
