Page 20 of The Ruler
“No, I would never,” she apologized.
Accusing someone of lying was probably what Christina always referred to as improper communication.What a bunch of pussies.
Pearl’s eyes shot to the door and then back to the window, and she looked like she was expecting a horde of zombies to come through any second now… or rather, heathen Nmen.Geez!
“Sure you don’t want to sleep in my bed after all?” I asked.
She was so freaked out that she couldn’t speak. Her mind had probably shown her plenty of worst-case scenarios since she agreed to come, but I didn’t think human sacrifice had been one of them. In a way it was brilliant, since it was a known fact that many cultures had practiced human sacrifice.Christ –I wanted to roll my eyes, offended that she thought so little of us.Talk about being brainwashed!
“Are you a virgin?” I asked her, because I was genuinely curious.
She didn’t answer me but sat with her head down and her shoulders tensed up.
“You are, aren’t you? It’s okay, we can remedy that, tonight if you want,” I offered, and laid it on so thick that surely she would get that it was a joke. But she didn’t.
Moving to the edge of my seat I leaned in and took her hand. “Look at me, Pearl.”
With a finger under her chin, I lifted her face and saw pools of water filling her eyes.
There was a bit of guilt seeing the sheer terror in her eyes. “Hey, don’t cry, – if I fuck you tonight, you won’t be a candidate for virgin sacrifice, will you?”
She jerked her hand back and tears ran down her cheeks.
“Hey, I’m just trying to problem solve here,” I said. “So what do you say?”
“I sayno!”she said firmly; drying her tears away, her chest rising and falling with her shallow gulps of air.
She was taking it much too seriously and I felt a little bad for her. “I’m just messing with you, sweetheart.” I laughed to underline it as a joke, and slowly her shoulders fell back into place.
“You… you were lying?” she whispered, blinking away her tears.
“Of course I was lying.” I grinned. “Christ, you Momsies reallyarenaïve.”
CHAPTER 6
Forbidden Books
Pearl
After Khan’s cruel lie that he was protecting me from heathens wanting to sacrifice me to their gods, I learned to be critical of his words.
He was shameless and openly admitted to lying when it served him. I should have expected it, of course, but in my thirty years I had never met a liar like him.
It wasn’t that no one ever lied in the Motherlands; I’m sure they did. I too had said things that weren’t completely true. I had told my friend that I loved her apple pie to spare her feelings, and I’d told Magni I didn’t know where Laura was to protect her. By no means was I a saint, but at least I had never lied for my amusement or to hurt someone else.
He was confrontational but I stood my ground when every night he insisted I sleep in his bed.
Watching him closely, I grew bolder and more direct in my communication with him. It was like learning to speak the language of the natives. Using soft tones and sugarcoating my opinions like we did back home only infuriated him. Khan spoke his mind freely and he asked the same of me.
Days passed with us in a deadlock. Khan kept talking about Laura’s return, but she never came and it clearly frustrated him.
Maybe he thought he would spend a few days as my protector, and send me back to the council telling about his royal treatment of me. Maybe he thought it would be interesting to learn more about our ways, or maybe he actually thought he could influence me to see things from his perspective. He certainly tried.
“They really said yes?” he asked when one night I excitedly told him I’d received news from the council.
“It’s not that simple. They’ve agreed that the idea has merit, and they want me to prepare a more detailed plan of how a school with children from both sides of the border would look.”
“Good.” Khan nodded. “I’ve been giving it some thought and have some great ideas. I’ve also selected the mentor to run the school.”
