Page 48 of The Ruler
I held up a hand to stop Magni, who already had both hands on the man’s collar, ready to punch his head in.
“We’ll get back to that in a minute,” I said and held back my own rage. “First I would like you to explain to me what you think will happen when you tear down the border. Or wait, maybe we should ask one of my good friends what will happen.” I waved my hand to Boulder, who stood by the door with Pearl behind him, and the two of them walked closer.
A gasp went through the small crowd of men at the sight of Pearl, and I couldn’t blame them. She looked divine, like an untouchable goddess too good to be in a place like this and way beyond people like these assholes.
“This is Pearl Pilotti, who is one of the council members in the Motherlands and currently my guest.”
“Your guest?” Edward blinked in confusion. “Why haven’t we heard about this?”
I laughed condescendingly. “Because you arenobody, that’s why!”
“She’s a real councilwoman?”
“I am,” Pearl confirmed with her soft grace.
All seven men were staring at Pearl, and it gave me a rush of pride to walk over and stand next to her. “Pearl darling, why don’t you tell these misinformed men why tearing down the border won’t be a smart move?”
She tolerated my closeness. “We have had almost four hundred years to prepare for the day such a thing would happen, and we are more than prepared.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the red-haired man asked.
“It means that we track all movement close to the border and that we have sufficient weapons to eliminate any threat against us.” Pearl spoke softly and eloquently.
“Then we’ll just fly over the damn wall,” Edward hissed. “You can’t keep us out.”
Pearl angled her head and seemed to consider it. “You could,” she said. “But the moment your unauthorized drone, plane, or hybrid crosses over, you would be under attack and shot down. We are one point five billion people against your ten million. Do you really want to start a war when you’re severely outnumbered?”
“Yeah, if that’s what it takes to get men back in power and women into our beds,” Edward exclaimed and received supportive comments from his friends.
Pearl didn’t look fazed by Edward’s anger. “I see,” she said calmly. “And you think women would be willing to sleep with you if you attack us? Or should I deduce that you’re talking about raping women?”
He didn’t confirm or deny it.
“Either way,” Pearl said softly, “I should warn you that although we are pacifists at heart and prefer sanctions to violence, we’ll defend ourselves if we must. In fact we have a whole army of robots just waiting for the day you attack.”
“Ha! We’re not afraid of robots or sanctions,” Edward sputtered.
“That’s because you’re fucking morons,” I growled and pushed him back in his seat. “Our whole nation will be extinct if we don’t receive boys from the Motherlands. You want to risk them holding back our boys?”
Edward bounced back up from the chair and was foolish enough to push at me. It made Finn, Magni, and me lose it.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” I sneered at Edward, registering that Boulder had quickly pushed Pearl behind himself and brought her back toward the exit.
One of the men ran out the door and I figured he had to be the informer, but the other six naïvely thought they stood a chance against us, being six against three.
Clearly they had no fucking idea who they were dealing with.
Shoving Edward into the bar, I turned to see Magni slam another man’s head down on the table. The glass top splintered and when Magni pulled the guy back up, a large splinter stuck out from his forehead and blood ran from several cuts.
Edward pushed away from the bar and attacked me full force, but I had anticipated his move and welcomed him with my knee in his ribs. He whimpered but attacked me again, throwing his arms around like a small windmill. It was ridiculous.
“Stop!” The unfamiliar sound of a clear female scream made me look up, my heart skipping a beat in fear that someone was hurting Pearl.
“I said STOP!” she screamed, high-pitched, again, and the sound was so unfamiliar that it got everyone’s attention.
Pearl stood by the door with both hands on her waist and a fierce expression on her face. “No one is going to kill each other today,” she said firmly and moved closer with Boulder shadowing her.
“You,” she pointed to Edward, who was panting and holding his hands to his ribs. “Sit down and listen.”
