Page 112 of The Ruler
Khan kissed the top of my head before pointing his finger. “Boulder’s island.”
“You mean Victoria’s island,” I grinned. “She had it first.”
“Nah, I think the indigenous people had it way before Victoria put claim to it.”
“Who was this Victoria?” I asked. “Do you know?”
He nodded. “Some queen from the old days.”
“Look, there’s the school.” I leaned forward. “I can’t wait to see how far the project has come.”
“It’s almost done,” Khan noted. “Boulder has outdone himself; you won’t recognize the old church. He’s had his people working on it night and day to get it ready.”
“Wow.” As I took in the area from above, I spotted a man coming out of the building to look up with a hand shielding the sun. I guessed it to be Archer but we were too high up for me to be sure.
“Did you tell Archer and Kya that they’re going to share the responsibility and lead the school together?”
Khan arched a brow. “Oh, they discovered that all by themselves and came to confront Christina and Boulder about it. I wasn’t there, but from what Boulder said it was dramatic.”
“What happened?”
“I didn’t ask about the details.”
“Why not?” I asked, disappointed that he didn’t have more to share with me.
“It’s irrelevant; all I need to know is that Kya and Archer will work their asses off to make these kids the prime of our nations.”
“And they committed to that?”
“Apparently,” he said. “Kya threatened to go back home, saying Archer was stubborn and unwilling to compromise, but since she didn’t I’m assuming that she and Archer have both accepted that this is a shared project.” Khan looked down too. “Do you want to stop here first?”
“No, I think Christina and Boulder would be disappointed if we didn’t let them show it to us.”
With a nod of agreement Khan let the drone continue a few miles further north, where it parked itself in front of Boulder’s estate.
Christina flung her arms around me when she came out to greet us. “I was so worried the council wouldn’t let you come back here,” she said with her eyes big and round. I had always been fascinated that she had two different eye colors – one eye blue and the other hazel green.
“They took me to a place of reflection,” I said, knowing she would understand. When Christina held a hand to her mouth, I placed my hand on her shoulder. “I know. And they were planning to keep me there for four months.”
Her eyes grew moist. “It’s always been my nightmare to end up in a place of reflection. I know they don’t hurt people and I have friends that have loved it, but to have your freedom taken like that… well, it scares me to my core.”
I nodded.
“So what made them change their minds?”
My eyes softened as I broke into a grateful smile. “Your video did.”
Christina gaped. “Did you hear that, Boulder?” she called over her shoulder.
Boulder, who was greeting Khan, came closer.
“Did I hear what?”
“Pearl says it was our video that convinced the council to let her return here.”
“For real?” He lit up, making his gray eyes look even more piercing than ever. It didn’t surprise me that he no longer had a clean shave like he’d had in the video and that stubble was back on his cheeks. What surprised me was that I thought it looked good on him.
“I am deeply grateful to you all.” My tone was serious and tender.
