Page 83 of The Ruler
“When will they be coming?” Kya asked.
“As soon as the school is ready and you’re all set.”
“I’ll be back here before the first of August.”
“Actually,” I said, choosing my words carefully, “we would like for you to come earlier and meet with a man called Archer. He’s a mentor here, and he and you will work together to prepare a curriculum that connects teachings from the Northlands with teachings from the Motherlands. As you can imagine, Khan isn’t interested in having his boys conform with Motlanders, so he has appointed Archer to work with you.
“All right.”
“Archer is the cute one that I told you about.” Christina wiggled her eyebrows.
“But what is his role exactly?” Kya asked.
“He’s a mentor and he trains boys in this age group. He can tell you all you need to know about schooling in the Northlands.”
“Okay,” Kya said slowly. “I suppose I could come back sooner.”
“How about you go home, pack your stuff, and come back next week?” I suggested.
Christina could hardly stay in her seat for excitement. “You and Raven can stay at our house until the school is ready.” A hearty laugh escaped her. “Boulder is going to be over the moon when he meets a girl for the first time.”
Kya looked thoughtful, but then a smile grew on her face. “All right, I think I can make it work.”
With that settled my day couldn’t get any better.
Khan
“You asked her to marry you?” My brother, Finn, and Boulder were in my office, and Magni was pacing the floor. “And what did she say?”
“That she would think about it.”
“Auch.” Finn wrinkled his nose like he’d just taken a punch.
“She just needs a little time. Pearl is a thinker,” I elaborated. “I’m confident that she’ll say yes.”
“Congratulations, man, I’m happy for you.” Boulder grinned and patted my shoulder.
“You’re happy for him?” Magni stopped and widened his eyes at Boulder. “A Momsi has my brother by the balls and you’re fuckinghappyfor him?”
“Relax, Magni,” Finn told him. “Pearl isn’t Laura.”
“No, and that’s lucky for her, because if Laura was out in that garden right now, I would fucking drag her to our room and spank her ass red for running away.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet you would,” Finn arched his brows. “I always knew you were a little kinky.”
“You know Pearl wants us all to conform and be sweet Momsiboys, right?” Magni ranted.
“Do I look like a boy to you?” I pulled back my shoulders, making my chest wide.
“It’s no fucking joke,” Magni huffed out. “I don’t trust her.”
“Why? She has a high level of integrity or she couldn’t be on the council,” Boulder pointed out, but Magni snorted back at him.
“I know she’s been lying to me, so I don’t really think much of her so-calledintegrity.”
I shot Magni a warning glance.
“Actually, I’ve seen her lie,” Finn said thoughtfully and folded his arms. “But only to save my ass.”
