Page 70 of The Ruler
“Of course I do.” She laughed. “But I’ve gotten used to it and heistrying to cut back on the swearing.”
“That’s good. Then I was right after all; our very presence is changing the Northlands.”
CHAPTER 16
Kya
Khan
I went running with Magni that morning before we left for Boulder’s island.
“Did you think about it?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I did,” he said, each step in a perfect rhythm. Magni was a born athlete who made anything related to his body look easy.
“Boulder says his island is safe, but I would feel better if you went over the security and maybe stayed for a while to protect the female teacher.”
“But Archer is there.”
“Exactly.”
Magni shot me a sideways glance. “You worried he’ll violate her?”
“I don’t know him well enough to feel safe that he won’t do something stupid. Besides, it’s not only Archer I worry about, there’s also the question of the other three single men on the island. The park rangers and Max, Boulder’s assistant.”
“So, make Archer her protector.”
“It’s one solution, but Pearl doesn’t like it and she insists that we can’t trick Kya into marrying him.”
“It worked for Boulder,” Magni said dryly.
“Because Christina didn’t understand what we were suggesting. She’ll warn her friend for sure, so it wouldn’t work.”
“So what do you want from me?”
“I want you to protect her.” When he gave me a questioning look, I quickly added, “Until Laura decides to come home, that is.”
“You want me to sleep in the teacher’s bed?”
“Yes, if it were up to me. But Pearl says no.”
“Then how am I supposed to protect her if someone sneaks into her bed?”
“I’ll leave that to you, but for now I just want you to meet her and see the school. Her name is Kya Janae.”
“Kya – that’s Christina’s roommate, isn’t it?” Magni asked and I felt jealous that he wasn’t even out of breath.
“Yes.”
“I’ve met her,” he said and that made me stop.
“You’ve met her?”
“Yeah, last time I went to the Motherlands.”
“And?”
“And she’s really pretty in an exotic way.”
