by Elin Peer
“Yeah, he’s strong, but you’re much faster than him,” Magni said. “If you had to fight him, I would put my money on you.”
I choked on my beer, and just stared at him. Magni didn’t give many compliments; in fact I didn’t remember him ever giving me a single one.
“Thanks,” I said and sat a little straighter.
“What did Kya say about the prospects of your bringing back a wife?” Magni asked me.
“She doesn’t know that I’m here.”
“Why the hell not?” he asked with a deep frown.
I shrugged, unwilling to share the details of our complicated relationship. “It’s better that way,” I stated firmly and felt another stab in my gut at the thought of the expression on Kya’s face when I returned with Lori Ann as my wife.
Would Kya understand that she hadn’t given me a choice?
“Don’t worry about Kya,” Khan said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Why do you think I chose Finn to be her protector? He’s good with women and he’ll distract her.” The grin on his face told us what kind of distraction he was thinking of.
Closing my hands into fists, I was just about to say something but Magni was quicker.
“You’re forgetting that Finn is leaving for the Motherlands next week.”
“That’s right.” Khan pointed to me. “Which reminds me, that while Finn is gone, I’m making you responsible for Kya’s protection.”
“Me?” I frowned.
“As long as she stays on the Island it shouldn’t be much of a task for you.”
Knowing how awkward it would be between Kya and me, I wanted to ask why Boulder couldn’t do it, but questioning Khan’s orders was never wise and refusing to protect Kya would only make them suspicious.
There was only one thing to do. I needed to stop thinking of Kya or I would develop a fucking ulcer before the weekend was over.
Only a fool would walk away from a million dollars and the chance to marry a beautiful young woman like Lori Ann. I had to think about my future!
Tilting my head back, I emptied the last of my large glass of beer, predicting I’d need a lot of alcohol to get through this and forget about Kya.
CHAPTER 28
The Winner
Kya
Christina used a singsong voice when she exclaimed: “I had to call you and tell you the good news: Khan signed the paper, and Boulder and I are now officially the parents of Raven.”
“That’s great!” I said in a high-pitched voice of happiness.
“I just spoke to him and he’s out celebrating with the boys. He’s going to be home later tonight, and then tomorrow we’ll tell Raven the good news.”
“She’s going to be so excited,” I said. “But remember there might also be a reaction to her mother’s giving her up.”
“You’re right.” The smile on Christina’s face, hovering above my wristband, faltered. “You’re going to help me, right? I don’t have your expertise in matters like this.”
“Of course I’ll help you, you know how much I love Raven.”
“Oh, I just wish that Boulder would hurry home from that tournament.”
“He’s at a tournament?”
“Yes, but only because Khan had to conduct the marriage ceremony. Boulder knows I detest those tournaments. I’ve told him I won’t have anything to do with it, so he doesn’t even bring up the subject anymore. I’m still traumatized from what they did to me.”
“But at least you ended up being happy,” I reminded her.
“I know, and I promised Boulder that I wouldn’t be mad at Archer for taking part in it. I get that it’s their culture and that he has a chance to win a million dollars and start his own family. I just feel that it’s a primitive way of getting a wife.”
I was cleaning my room while we were talking, and moved a stack of books. “Don’t worry about it, Archer has moved on from that thing. It’s history now.”
“No, I’m not talking about the thing that happened at my tournament, I was talking about this tournament.”
My eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“Just that Archer is one of the five champions. I told you he was preselected for the next tournament, didn’t I?”
An acute dryness in my throat made it hard to speak and I had to sit down from the pace of my heart racing.
“But Archer wouldn’t…” As I said the words I remembered him asking me to marry him and the way he had been so sad when he made love to me the last time. My mouth fell open as I suddenly understood. Archer had known then. I swallowed hard but simply couldn’t produce enough spit to talk. He had been saying goodbye to me without the words.
“Boulder said that the young woman is surely going to choose Archer, because the other champions are too ugly or too wounded to be attractive.”
“Uh-huh,” I croaked out when I really wanted to scream at her: why hadn’t she told me sooner?
“Didn’t Archer tell you that he was going?” she asked.
I shook my head, using all my energy to hide the breakdown that I felt physically inside of me.
“Maybe he wanted to surprise you.” Christina lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. “Think of the bright side, now you won’t have to fight with him to keep from being attracted to him. With a new wife on his arm, he’s going to be too busy to come on to you.”
“Uh-huh,” I muttered again and somehow managed to add. “I can hear a child calling for me, let’s talk later, okay?”
“Okay. May peace surround yo…”
I had already ended the call before Christina had said the last words. My body trembling, I sat down on the bed, grabbing onto the bed sheets as if I could make the world stop spinning around me.
If Christina had known that I’d been sleeping with Archer, she would have been more tactful. It was my fault for being so adamant about keeping my relationship with him a secret. Not because I didn’t trust Christina, but because I hadn’t wanted her to get all giddy with hope that I’d stay here forever. And then, after I’d realized that I loved Archer, it had seemed like the right thing to tell him before anyone else.
Archer wasn’t hiking. He was getting married!
From the tip of my toes a wave of anger rolled through me, and my emotional intelligence was reduced to a pitiful need to throw an infantile tantrum. I launched out of my cabin determined to find someone to blame, but when I got to the school, I found Shelly, Marco, and the children doing the afternoon meditation. Spinning on my heel, I marched back to the row of cabins and without knocking I opened the door to Finn’s cabin.
“Knocking is completely overrated,” he said and looked up from the floor, where he was doing push-ups.
“Why did you not tell me that Archer has gone to the tournament?”
“Ehhm, because he asked me not to tell you.”
My nose was itching from all the emotions and my need to cry. “And why wouldn’t he want me to know? It’s not like he can sneak a wife past me; I would’ve found out eventually.”
“True,” Finn said and got up from the floor. “But maybe he didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Why would I be hurt?” I asked with the hardest tone I could muster. From the deceptive expression in Finn’s eyes, I wasn’t fooling him, so I tried harder.
“Archer knows that I am not interested in him for anything other than sex.”
I thought I saw a ghost of sympathy flash on Finn’s face before he played along.
“Oh, I’m sure Archer knows that. But you know how we men are – one woman or the other, it doesn’t make much difference. He was probably just being strategic and didn’t tell you because in case he doesn’t get picked, he’s planning to come back and continue his relationship with you.”
I snorted. “Ha!”
Finn’s eyes drifted to the door, where sounds of footsteps alerted us before Marco made his appearance in the doorway.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Not at all.” Finn stretched with a yaw
n. “Kya just found out that Archer is at the tournament.”
“And you’re okay with that?” Marco asked.
For a moment I worried that Finn had told Marco about me and Archer, but there was no pity in his eyes.
“Archer is a grown man, he can do whatever he wants to,” I said and felt the words cut my throat from the inside.
“Clearly Archer underestimated you,” Marco said. “He was so sure you would be angry with him for taking off and leaving the work load to you. That’s why he didn’t want us to tell you.”
“I’m only upset about him not telling me the truth about where he was going.”
“Well, since the secret is out, does that mean we can see the ceremony with the kids? I think they would love it,” Marco said and looked at Finn.
“I don’t see why not.” Finn raised an eyebrow, challenging me to protest.
A knot the size of my head was building quickly in my stomach, and I had to get out of there before the anger that had fueled this confrontation fizzled out and grief took over. “Do as you please,” I said and walked into my own cabin, slamming the door behind me.
I couldn’t cry, or they would hear me. And I couldn’t scream either. I considered telling everyone that I was sick, which wasn’t far from the truth. But in the end, there was a perverse curiosity within me that made me sit down to watch the ceremony with the others.
Crammed together in the cozy corner of the schoolroom, the children lounged on pillows and each other. A detached part of me was pleased to see the Nboys feeling more comfortable with physical touch now. But I worried about the way Willow and Solomon sat against the wall, shoulder to shoulder. All the signs were screaming at me that something had happened between them, but I didn’t have the energy to ask questions or investigate. As in a blur, I registered the way his hand was so close to hers that it looked like his pinky finger was on top of hers, and the quick glances they shot each other when they thought no one was watching.
Being a protective brother, Hunter slid down to sit on Willow’s other side.
“When can we see the bride?” someone asked when the ceremony started.
The children became noisy when the camera panned over the audience and rested on the four champions.
Archer looked like a prince next to three trolls, and my heart sank. Until now, I had clung to a small hope that the woman wouldn’t choose him, but not any longer.
“Why is there only four?” Storm asked. “I thought there were supposed to be five champions.”
“One of them is in intensive care,” Marco said. “He got hurt really badly in his last fight.”
“How could he win if he got hurt really badly?”
“Because the other guy didn’t survive.”
“Oh, okay.” Storm nodded as if that sort of thing was to be expected.
Finn shushed the children when Khan began talking, and soon the camera zoomed in on Lori Ann, the bride-to-be and a woman my complete opposite. Her creamy white skin and tall slim figure made her look like an elegant ballet dancer. Her long, shiny, and light brown hair was perfectly styled to cascade down her back. But it was her perfect nose and large pale eyes that made her beautiful.
“She’s really pretty,” Oscar said. “In eight years I’ll be twenty-one and then I’m going to fight and win a bride of my own.” His head turned to Marco. “You’re lucky, you’ll be twenty-one soon and that means you can fight in the next tournament.”
Marco squared his shoulders and gave a satisfied smile. “That’s right, I just hope the woman I win is as pretty as Lori Ann.”
“Would you fight for one of us?” Raven asked innocently.
“Nahh, probably not; you’re all my students so that would feel wrong.”
“What about Shelly? She’s not your student and she’ll be eighteen in three years.”
Marco smiled and shook his head at Raven. “You and I both know that I wouldn’t have a chance of being selected by Shelly. She would rather pick some ogre than a simple-minded pole climber like me. Besides, Shelly is more like a…” He trailed off and looked at Shelly as if he had to think about what category to put her in. “I guess she’s more like a little sister.”
Shelly didn’t spare him a glance. She was looking straight ahead at the ceremony in front of us, where Khan was congratulating the champions and explaining to the audience why Archer hadn’t had to fight.
“This must be really exciting for you, Kya,” Rochelle said. “When Mr. Archer brings back his new wife, you’ll have a new friend.”
She didn’t seem to notice the stiffness in my smile when I nodded and said: “Yes, she certainly looks very sweet.”
“When will they get here?” Mila asked.
“Probably tomorrow. First they have to consummate the marriage,” Oscar said matter-of-factly. “The wedding night is the best part.” Most of the boys laughed with him while I looked down and took a deep breath.
“We should make a banner for her to feel welcome to the school,” Nieall suggested. “I’ll bet it’s a bit difficult to get a new husband and twenty kids at the same time.”
“How about we decorate their cabin and make it real pretty? I’m happy to volunteer,” Nicki sweetly offered.
Weaving my fingers together, I lifted my hands to my lips.
“I didn’t know you prayed,” Marco said and angled his head. “You don’t have to be so nervous. There’s no way Archer won’t be the winner – just look at the others.
I couldn’t! All I could do was look at my wristband, right in front of my eyes. What if I called him and told him not to go through with it? But I already knew he wouldn’t answer on national broadcasting.
In a pure fit of desperation, I wrote five words in a text:
Don’t marry her. Marry me!
My eyes lifted and I stared at Archer, who should feel a small buzz on his wrist any second now.
With my heart in my throat, I watched him lift his hand and read my text.
Nothing!
There was no joy on his face. No sadness or regret either. Just a tiny frown before Archer tucked his hands behind his back as if determined to ignore me and put what had been between us behind him.
The tears that I had managed to hold back until now prickled behind my eyelids when Archer widened his shoulders and looked straight at Lori Ann.
“I think the time has come for the question we have all been waiting for,” Khan said in his formal voice. “Lori Ann, who do you choose to be your champion?”
It was like I saw it in slow motion: the way she raised her hand and pointed at Archer.
There was no force in this world strong enough to make me want to stay and watch them marry.
With everyone else in the room completely transfixed by the screen, I ran out of the schoolroom. Stumbling to my cabin, I threw myself on the bed and sobbed into my pillow to dampen the sound.
I couldn’t remember ever crying like this. I rolled into a ball of misery, blaming Archer for not being honest with me. It felt like hours that I lay there feeling betrayed and cheated, but eventually the anger morphed back into deep grief. My body ached with tension and emotional overload; and unable to stay in the same position, I shifted to sit on the bed, rocking back and forth with my legs pulled up in front of me and my arms tightly wrapped around my knees.
Tears were still falling, but less noisy as memories of Archer and me together filled my mind. The time he showed me the fireflies, our first kiss, his running to save me from the bear and staying with me until I felt safe again. The confusing arousal from when he spanked me and my prank to get back at him before we made love the first time. I wiped away tears and remembered his plea for me to marry him.
If only I had known then how much I loved him and how close I was to losing him.
I felt numb with grief that Archer was marrying another woman at this very moment.
He and I wouldn’t be laughing together anymore, nor would we be sneaking away for a secret rendezvous. Our bond was forever
broken before I got a chance to tell him that I loved him.
With the heel of my hand I dried away more tears, but they just kept coming. The children would expect me to help with the banner, but the resistance inside of me to being part of their welcome committee was taller than a twenty-first-century skyscraper.
A vile thought took me hostage, and images of Archer consummating his marriage with Lori Ann right now made me get up and run outside to the back of the cabin, where I threw up. Supporting myself with one hand on the wall, and one to my stomach, I emptied everything I had inside of me. If only I could rid myself of my love for Archer that easily too.
My body felt like I had come down with the flu and I dragged my feet back to my cabin, knowing one thing for sure: I would never be happy again.
Covering myself with my blankets, I wished the world would just forget about me. I didn’t want to fake another smile and I certainly didn’t want anyone’s pity. But most of all, I didn’t want to ever see Archer again.
No one can force me to.
My skyscraper of resistance made my brain race to come up with an excuse and get out of here.
A few hours ago I would’ve sworn I was committed to this experiment, but only a masochist would stay with a broken heart like mine.
It’s not like I’m letting anyone down. Raven has a mother and father now, Shelly is an excellent teacher, and Archer will be back tomorrow with his new wife.
Pearl will find another teacher from the Motherlands and soon the kids won’t even remember me.
My teary eyes fell to the picture of my mother on the desk. I hadn’t seen her in a long time, and she wouldn’t understand that a man had broken my heart. It sounded pathetic even to myself.
Christina would understand, but she would also try to make me stay.
I have to get out of here.
Getting up from the bed, I paced the room, shook my hands, and blinked my tears away. I needed a lift to the border, but Finn would see right through me if I asked him. I didn’t trust that he wouldn’t tell Archer how heartbroken I was, and I was too proud for that.
My biggest regret was that I had sent that text asking Archer to marry me. I should have known that a million dollars and a beautiful tall ballerina were too much to compete against.
