by Elin Peer
I needed to see him, right now, or the pain in my stomach would never go away. Images of us together, played in my mind’s eye, and it was accompanied by a soundtrack of strong emotions that I had suppressed.
How could I have rejected him again and again when it was so obvious that I loved him?
I was still sitting on the sofa, lost in my own thoughts and feeling ashamed for having been so blind, when Christina and Boulder decided it was time to include me in all the hugging.
“When can we tell Raven?”
“As soon as you have Lord Khan’s signature. The adoption cannot go through unless he agrees to the terms.”
Boulder didn’t waste any time; he dropped me off at the school on his way to find Lord Khan and make him sign the papers.
I was enormously happy for him and Christina, but something big was happening in my own life, and with a huge smile I greeted all the children that came out to welcome me back.
“My God, you are positively glowing,” Finn said and lifted me from the ground in a big bear hug. “We should let you have a day alone in the Motherlands more often.”
“Where is Archer?” I asked while my eyes searched for him.
“He left this morning,” Marco said, and disappointment wiped away my smile. How typical of Archer to choose today of all days to leave the school for a few hours.
“Did he say when he will be back?”
“Probably Saturday or Sunday,” Finn said quickly. “But don’t worry, I’m here to entertain you and make sure that you won’t miss him one bit.”
“Where did he go?” I asked with a frown.
Finn shrugged. “Not sure, he just said he would be back in a few days.”
“But didn’t you ask him where he was going?”
Finn shook a finger. “Kya, my sweet papaya, in our country it’s rude to ask too many questions.”
My heart was pounding with an uneasy suspicion that something wasn’t right. “That’s too bad, because I have some news that I want to share with Archer. I’ll just have to call him up.”
“You do that, but don’t be disappointed if he doesn’t pick up.”
“Why wouldn’t he pick up?”
“I don’t know, maybe he went hiking into the woods or something.”
“He didn’t mention anything about going hiking to me,” I said.
“Maybe it was an impulsive thing,” Finn suggested and quickly changed the subject. “You actually arrived at the most perfect time, because I was just giving a lesson on anatomy and physical health.”
“That’s a great idea,” I said although I was pretty distracted.
“I’m happy you feel that way, because Shelly tried to stop me when I talked about sex; she clearly doesn’t understand that health and sex are very much related.”
“What do you mean you talked about sex?” I asked, my brain clearing up a bit. “Archer and I were planning to do that, once we agreed on the message.”
“Excellent, but I figured that being a doctor and all, I would be the perfect person to do it.”
“All right, but we still need to agree on the level of detail and the overall message.”
“Ah, don’t worry, I just covered the basics.”
“Then why did Shelly try to stop you?” I had a bad feeling about this and quickly waved her over. “Finn tells me that you tried to stop him from teaching.”
Shelly was biting her lip, and staring at his elbow, as if it was hard for her to look Finn in the eyes.
“It wasn’t appropriate,” she said.
“Of course it was appropriate,” Finn defended himself.
Shelly still didn’t want to look at him, but her jaw tensed and she bit out the words with passion. “Saying that it’s the woman’s job to satisfy her husband is very old-fashioned and inappropriate.”
I spun to gape at him. “Tell me you didn’t say that.”
Crossing his arms and taking a defensive stand, Finn said: “I’m a doctor, I know about these things.”
I was momentarily speechless, but Shelly wasn’t.
“I suppose that makes you the living proof that even educated men can be ignorant,” she said with indignation.
Finn raised an eyebrow. “Ignorant? Really? And that’s coming from someone calling herself open-minded.”
“I am open-minded,” Shelly insisted, her voice shaky.
Finn angled his head. “Maybe that’s the problem then. You people are so open-minded that your brains slipped out.”
With a grimace, Shelly stomped off and left me with this Neanderthal of a man.
“Was that necessary?” I asked. “She’s only fifteen, Finn, and it took a lot of courage for her to speak up.”
“She could have fooled me.” Finn looked after Shelly. “Marco said she used to be shy when she first arrived, but now she’s just a pain in the ass who thinks she’s much smarter than everybody else.”
“She has an IQ above one hundred and eighty, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t match that.”
“There’s still no need for her to be snooty about it. She might be a smart cookie, but she’s still just a girl.”
The way he said “just a girl” rubbed me the wrong way, but the Nmen were notoriously confrontational, and I was in too good a mood to fight. “I would prefer if you do not teach sex education again,” I said and walked away, throwing a last instruction over my shoulder. “I’m sure Marco could use your help with the fight training, but for now, stay out of the classroom.”
There was one good thing about the situation, and that was the fact that I didn’t have much time to worry about Archer. My first instinct, calling him, was quickly overruled by my deep-rooted need to declare my love for him face to face. Whenever he returned from his hike I would talk to him and we would be happy. Just thinking about it made me smile.
CHAPTER 27
Champion
Archer
The tournament was in a place called Green Acres, two hours northeast of Victoria’s Island. When I arrived, my first impression was that the small village, which normally offered a quiet home for its some three hundred residents, was under attack.
With no hotels near the village, the area had been surrounded by men camping in tents or sleeping in their drones. I estimated at least ten thousand men, which wasn’t too bad, all considered.
Only a fraction would be competing, and most were there to support their friends or simply to enjoy the entertainment that the fights offered.
For those men too young, old, or weak to fight, the huge media event made it possible for them to watch from home.
The whole country was buzzing about the rarity of three tournaments being held so close together. Normally it could take years between tournaments, but only a year and a half ago, Laura and her twin had turned eighteen and Magni had brought Laura back to the west coast while her twin had stayed with her new husband on the east coast. And then the chance to win Christina in a tournament had popped up out of the blue, leaving Boulder a married man.
With Lori Ann now up for marriage, that made four brides and four lucky husbands in only eighteen months.
Back when Christina originally chose me as her champion, I felt like I had won the lottery. That joy had been short-lived when I understood that she had been tricked into the whole thing.
At least Khan had honored his promise from that day that I didn’t have to fight in the next tournament. This time I was preselected to be one of the five champions that Lori Ann would choose from tomorrow night.
I met up with Magni to watch some of the fights. Being a married man himself, Magni wasn’t participating but seemed to enjoy the excitement and brutality of the games.
“Did you bet any money on this game?” I asked when we were watching the final in one of the four leagues.
Magni’s eyes were locked on the two men fighting when he muttered: “More than you want to know.”
He gave a grimace when one of the men took an elbow to his ear.
“
I’m guessing you have your money on Kennedy?”
“Uh-huh.”
Kennedy took another punch to his face and from the way he spit out blood and teeth, I wasn’t so sure Magni would ever see his money again.
“Come on, you miserable piece of shit,” Magni shouted angrily. “Stop being a wuss and kick his bony ass.”
“You look like you want to go in there and help him.” I chuckled and found it a little amusing to see Magni so upset.
“If I was in there, this fight would have been over long ago,” Magni declared. “I saw Kennedy fight earlier, and he was much better than this. I don’t know what the fucker is doing but he’s wasting my time, and more importantly my money.”
A roar from the audience sounded when Kennedy jumped his opponent and started biting his neck.
“What the hell is he doing?” Magni’s eyebrows gathered closely.
“I don’t know, but with all the teeth he spit out before, I can’t imagine that it hurts much to be bitten by him.”
Magni threw up his hands and spun around in a full circle before he shot another round of curses at Kennedy. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Sucking his goddamn blood out like a vampire or something, you sick motherfucker?”
Kennedy’s opponent finally managed to push away and held a hand to his neck, barely covering the blood that poured down. He was so disoriented that he didn’t see Kennedy jump forward and use his entire weight to punch the man right between his eyes.
The way Kennedy’s opponent fell backward and smashed the back of his head into the ground looked like something from a movie.
Because of Magni’s position as the second most important man in the country, we had an excellent view from the first row, and I didn’t have to be a doctor to see that the blood running from the man’s ears and neck surely wasn’t a good sign.
Kennedy was announced the winner of the league and stood with his hands in the air and his mouth open in a large grin that showed off his lack of front teeth. His face was smeared in blood, and the audience was loving it.
“The man fights dirty but he just won me a shitload of money,” Magni said and leaned against me. “Come on, I’ll buy you a beer.”
We found a beer tent where a large brawl had just cleared the tent. Quickly we grabbed a table, knowing that it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes for the tent to fill up again.
Magni took an incoming call from Khan, who wanted him to come and meet him.
“Archer and I are just getting a beer,” he said. “I’ll swing by afterwards.”
I couldn’t hear what Khan was saying, but Magni chuckled low. “That doesn’t surprise me, but we must be in luck then, because this tent hasn’t run out of beer, yet.”
Magni frowned and looked around. “Maybe, if you’re discreet. There’s a table in the corner; we’ll move there and let you in through the side, but lose your guards or everyone will know it’s you.”
Turning my head to the table he was talking about, I instantly got up to claim it.
Magni got us four big beers, telling the host that we were very thirsty, and ten minutes later Boulder came strolling through the tent and whispered something to the bartender, offering him a pile of banknotes before he came to our table.
“I didn’t know you would be here,” I said and got up to give Boulder a manly hug before my head swung back to the bartender, who was now claiming everyone’s attention.
“It’s time for an arm-wrestling competition. The winner will have free beer all night.”
Like the other forty or so males in the tent, my competitive DNA was instantly triggered, and I was just about to get up from my chair to join the games when a voice I’d recognize anywhere made me sit down again.
Turning my head back to the table I saw that Khan had sneaked in and quietly joined us.
“Swap places with me,” Khan ordered with his face mostly hidden in a hooded jacket. “I need to have my back to the crowd or they will recognize me, and I’m not in the mood to discuss how I run this country with drunkards.”
With all the men distracted by the chance of winning free beer for the rest of the night, the four of us were able to have a conversation at our table.
“You said we had something to celebrate?” Magni asked Khan.
“We do, but I think Boulder should be the one to share the happy news.” Khan smiled at his friend and Boulder excitedly leaned forward.
“I’m officially a father of two.” The man was almost bursting with pride.
“You’re having twins?” Magni asked with a stupid grin. “You lucky bastard.”
“No, Kya has arranged for me and Christina to adopt Raven.”
“What?” My heart started racing. “How is that even possible? An Nman can’t adopt a child from the Motherlands.”
“There’s a first for everything,” Khan said and patted his hand on Boulder’s shoulder again. “I swear, things just keep getting better and better.”
“Does that mean we can adopt some of the children too?” Magni asked eagerly. “Because in that case, I’m calling dibs on Mila.”
Khan frowned. “What is it about you and Mila? She asked me about you the last time I saw her.”
Magni’s eyes softened as he lit up. “She did?”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine how it happened, but you must’ve made a good impression or something.”
Magni’s chest heaved. “From the first time I saw that girl Mila, I knew that if I ever had a daughter, she would look like her.”
Boulder grinned. “As if ugly devils like you could ever make beautiful angels like her.”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Khan said in a scolding tone to Boulder and received a nod from Magni, which soon turned into a scowl when Khan added. “I’m pretty sure Laura’s beauty would compensate for Magni’s ugly face.”
“Hey, we’re brothers – if I’m ugly then what are you?”
“Older, wiser, and much more handsome,” Khan joked.
Magni planted an elbow on the table and pointed his index finger at his brother’s face. “Let’s see how handsome you are when I’ve scraped the floor with your face, because we both know that the best fighter is me.”
“Undoubtedly,” Khan said with humor in his voice. “Which is why I’m privileged to have you cover my back.”
“That’s right, and you’d better remember that the reason you and Pearl can sleep safely at night is because I make sure the pack knows who the alpha dog is.”
Khan lifted his beer and clinked glasses with his brother. “I’m forever grateful.”
“Grateful enough to let me adopt Mila?”
“Sure, if it was up to me,” Khan replied.
Boulder took over. “Raven is a special case and it’s only because her mother trusts Kya’s judgment,” he said. “Still, you should be excited for me and honored that you’re sitting at the same table as the happiest man in the Northlands.”
Raising my glass, I made a sarcastic toast. “Congratulations to you for stealing away Christina who chose me first, and sticking my nose in the fact that I could’ve been the father of two children by now.”
Boulder grinned. “My pleasure!”
After I downed half of my glass of beer, I was more determined than ever to marry and have my own family.
At that moment, my disappointment with Kya overshadowed my guilt at potentially marrying another woman. Not only had Kya rejected me, but she had rejected Raven too when the three of us could have been a family.
I sat quietly, while the three men around me spoke about Boulder’s good luck, and Khan’s hope that Pearl would soon be pregnant as well.
“What about you?” I asked Magni because although it was mean of me to bring up Laura, my own misery wanted companionship.
Magni was just about to take another sip of his beer but the glass stalled in mid-air.
“Today it’s been five months since she left,” he said. “Pearl has had contact with her, but apparently Laura isn’t ready
to come home, yet.”
“And how long are you willing to wait for her?” I asked.
His expression somber, Magni set down his beer with a loud bump. “I have a deadline in mind, but I’m not telling anyone. If Laura isn’t back by then, I’m either going to break into the Motherlands again and get my wife back, or I’m going to divorce her and forget that she ever existed.” He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair with a stony expression on his face. “I still haven’t made up my mind which of the two it’s going to be.”
“I already told you: you’re not fucking breaking into the Motherlands again,” Khan commanded. “If you had any idea how hard Pearl has worked to convince the Council to let five of our men loose in the Motherlands, then you wouldn’t jeopardize it by doing something that stupid.”
Magni took another big gulp of beer.
“He has a point,” Boulder said. “Besides, do you really want to live with a woman that you have to drag back here? You can’t keep an eye on her at all times, and if Laura doesn’t want to be here, she’ll find a way to escape - just like she did the first time.”
Magni groaned and looked at me. “For your sake, I fucking hope Lori Ann will be tamer than Laura.”
“Lori Ann isn’t my wife yet.”
Magni shrugged. “She will be. There’s no way she’s choosing Nelson; that old son of a bitch is so ugly and mean that most women would rather kill themselves than marry him.”
“I still haven’t forgiven him for breaking my arm,” Boulder muttered.
“Yeah, she’s going to choose you for sure,” Khan agreed. “Sheriff won the last league, but he’s in the hospital with a punctured lung, so he’s out; and I heard Kennedy got four of his teeth knocked out.”
“Yeah, we were watching his fight and it wasn’t pretty,” Magni added. “His face is going to be so swollen Lori Ann will lose her appetite just looking at him.”
Boulder nodded. “Right, which basically leaves you and Moses, and that giant is twice her size and would scare any young woman.”
“I’m just happy I didn’t have to fight him,” I said and raised my beer to my lips. “Moses looks like a fucking mutant with thighs for arms.”
