Page 11 of The Ruler
My father had once shared with me that council members were chosen for their high level of integrity and sharp minds. I needed to remember that.
Still, a female’s sharp mind was nothing compared to a man’s. Everyone knew that men were intellectually superior to women and although Pearl couldn’t be characterized as stupid, I could at least count on her being naïve. All Momsies were!
I left my office and was going in search of Magni when my friend Finn found me.
“Hey,” he said coming down the staircase.
“Hey.” I stopped and took in the grim expression on his face. Finn was normally the happiest person I knew. When I was in a bad mood, he would drive me crazy with his eternal grinning and whistling. That’s why I had assigned him to be the protector of Athena, when Magni had first brought her here.
Obviously, I had been furious at my brother for breaking the peace treaty and kidnapping a woman, but it was already done, and Magni had a point when he argued that returning the priestess without at least getting Laura back would be stupid.
At first Finn had been excited to take on the job of protecting Athena, and on my orders he’d stayed with her for the five days she was at this Manor. But with every day he’d become more and more frustrated.
“What the hell happened to you?” I asked. “Why aren’t you celebrating that you’re off the hook? Athena is gone and you never have to see her again.”
“Thank god,” he muttered.
“What’s with the long face?” I asked.
“I told you. She fucking cursed me.”
Shaking my head, I patted his shoulder. “No such thing as a curse.”
“I wish you were right, but I fucking felt it when she cursed me.”
“And what exactly did this curse say?” I asked skeptically.
He looked around before he leaned in and whispered it in my ear.
My eyes grew round. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
With a deep sigh and a hand behind his nape, I shook him lightly. “Don’t worry about it, okay? Curses aren’t real.”
He didn’t believe me and there was nothing I could do for my friend, so I walked along, calling back to him. “Let’s play some chess soon.”
“No thanks, I don’t enjoy losing,” he called back to me and with a grin I waved a hand.
“I’ll let you win. I even let the councilwoman win, that’s howniceI am.”
It wasn’t true, but in case the rumor spread that Pearl had beaten me, I needed people to think I’d let her.
Magni was in his suite, stewing in a corner. The first thing he said when I saw him was, “She knows.”
I closed the door behind me and let him fire the first round.
“That councilwoman knows where Laura is.”
“Stop!” I held up my hand to him. “I didn’t come here to discuss that.”
“Then what do you want?”
“You know I worry about you.”
Magni got up from the floor where he’d been sitting, and I noticed the picture of Laura that he crumpled into his fist.
“I don’t want to fucking hear about how much you worry about me, okay? I already have Mom on my tail constantly telling me to eat, drink, sleep, and shower.”
