The Pacifist

by Elin Peer

  I frowned. “That wasn’t very nice.”

  “That was one of the milder ones. Another wrote that he wished I’d get a bad case of diarrhea because it would give me time to sit still and think about what I’d done to you.”

  “Anne, I’m sorry, but they have a point. What you did was selfish and destructive.”

  “I know.” Her voice broke and she covered her eyes. “I just want to reverse time and take it back.”

  Her voice soft, Mila stroked Anne’s back. “I can’t help you with time travel, but if you need a distraction, Jonah has just the right thing.”

  My eyebrows creased together. “I do?”

  “Yes. You could let Anne read Forbidden Letters from the North. I guarantee she’ll forget about her problems while she reads it.”

  “Wait, but that’s the forbidden book.” Anne looked to me. “You’ll let me read it?”

  “Only if you promise not to tell anyone.”

  “I promise you, sweetie, once you begin reading, you won’t be able to put it down. Jonah has been sending me recorded chapters of it and I’ve been completely engulfed in the story.”

  “What is it about?”

  Mila moved to the edge of the sofa and turned her whole body to Anne. “It’s about a woman called Deidra who lives close to the border. One day she finds a bottle with a note inside that has been thrown over the border. It’s from a man who lives on the other side, and the two begin to share details from their lives and through all their corresponding they fall in love. It’s the most beautiful love story and when he can’t stand to be separated from her anymore, he climbs over the wall to see her.”

  Anne pulled back. “That’s not possible.”

  “He has a long rope with a hook on it and he’s strong enough to pull himself up and rappel down on the other side.”

  “But he would be detected by the drones if he climbed the wall.”

  Mila sighed. “Anne, it’s a fictional story that happened two hundred years ago. It doesn’t have to be realistic. The point is that he came to her and that’s when the steamy scenes happened.” Lowering her voice, Mila smiled. “I promise they will distract you.”

  Anne bit her lip. “Can I read it now?”

  “Sure. I brought it. It’s in my bag in Mila’s room. Would you mind getting it yourself? It’s just that I have something to discuss with Mila.”

  “Not a problem.” Anne was quick to get up and leave the room.

  “What is it we need to discuss?” Mila asked.

  I walked over and locked the door before returning to her.

  She had guessed what I was up to, and getting up from the couch she smiled. “We can’t do it in here.”

  “Why not?” I was on her, pulling her down again, and sending her heated looks.

  “Jonah, we should go up to my room.”

  “I’m too impatient. I need you now.”

  In the background the News people were talking about the election and interviewing some of the candidates, but all I could see was my beautiful Mila. Once I kissed her, she gave in and from the way her hand tore at my t-shirt to get it off me I felt her craving me too.

  “We’ll have to be quick, someone might come.”

  “I can be fast,” I promised and kissed her neck and collarbone.

  “None of that Kama Sutra, you have to make it a quickie.” Mila was opening my pants and pushing them down over my hips.

  “Is that a complaint I hear?” I kneeled down on the floor, took myself in hand and stroked up and down a few times before moving Mila to the edge of the sofa to line up with her.

  “No, it’s not a complaint, but you always take your time and make love to me for hours… we don’t have that sort of time.” There was a cute smile on her lips when I slid inside her.

  The couch was the perfect height for me to take her, and she let me control the pace.

  “You have beautiful abs.” Her hand slid down my torso and she licked her lips.

  “That’s what hours of daily sex does to you,” I teased.

  Mila closed her eyes and made sounds of enjoyment as I pumped in and out of her. Pushing her knees up, I got in deep and rotated my hips. “You feel this?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You like it when I take you hard and fast?”

  Opening her eyes, Mila gave me a challenging stare. “You call that hard?”

  I gave her a wicked grin. “Oh, North Star, you shouldn’t have said that.” Leaning forward, I fisted a hand into her hair and held her in position while I took her in the most primitive way.

  She retaliated and pressed her nails into my shoulder. The rawness made me grab her tighter and pick up my pace, which made Mila’s body move up on the couch. With a firm grip around her butt, I brought her back to the edge. Suction on my neck alerted me that she was adding another love bite to the three she’d already given me.

  “You’re marking me?”

  Her pupils were dilated and her tone low and sexy when she spoke. “Because you’re all mine.”

  I lost all control. Cupping her face, I kissed her forcefully, biting her lower lip, and making guttural sounds that sounded a lot like growls. “What are you doing to me?”

  “Same as you’re doing to me.” Her lips were puffed from our kissing and she closed her eyes when I hammered in and out of her over and over.

  “More, Jonah… yes, yes…” Her nails were digging into my back as I kept pushing her to her climax. The way her insides contracted when she came felt like a warm fist pumping me to my own orgasm.

  It took everything I had to pull out and not come inside her. Finishing off with my hand, I marked her in my own way. I’d come to love the sight of Mila with my semen sticking to her creamy skin.

  We were panting for air and looking at each other with awe.

  “Quickies are totally underrated,” Mila declared. “I read somewhere that it was a waste of time, but this… this was amazing.”

  “It was.” Getting up, I got her paper and dried her off. “I never knew you could be so animalistic.”

  Her face turned to the interactive wall. “Shh… they said something about the Council voting.”

  I listened and when a small pop-up window blinked with breaking news, Mila activated it. A second window opened up on the wall with a headline saying, “Council meeting postponed until Wednesday.”

  We dressed while listening to Chairwoman Isobel make a public statement that pushed the final vote back two days.

  “Are you disappointed? I know you wanted to get the vote over with and have a decision.”

  “Yes and no. Now I don’t have to rush home to be in the Council meeting.”

  “Couldn’t you do it from here?”

  “Sure, if I’d been smart enough to bring my VR device. Unfortunately, I was frantic to get to you after the last meeting and I left without it.”

  Mila caressed my cheek. “I love you.”

  Leaning my forehead against hers, I swallowed hard. “I love you too, Milove.”

  “I’ve always loved when you call me that.” Mila smiled and then she pulled back and used her hands to flatten her hair. “Do I look okay?”

  My face softened as I pulled her back in to indulge in another kiss. “You look gorgeous.”

  With her fingers caressing my chest, Mila nibbled at my lower lip. “You know who will be happy that you don’t have to go back today? Anne will. She thinks everyone hates her at home.”

  I released a heavy sigh. “It’s not an easy situation. Intellectually, I’ve forgiven her, but I’m no saint and at times, I feel anger toward her.”

  “That’s understandable.”

  “Yeah, well…” I shrugged. “We should check up on her and tell her that we have another two days here before we go back.”

  We held hands all the way up to Anne’s room, where we found my sister on her bed reading.

  “You okay?” Mila asked in her soft singsong voice.

  Anne held up the forbidden book. “I found it and
I’ve already read the first two chapters. Did you two get to talk?”

  Mila and I exchanged a look. “We did, thank you. By the way, the Council postponed the vote until Wednesday so we don’t need to go back today as planned.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Jonah. Why did they postpone it?”

  “Isobel just made a statement in response to the demonstrations. Basically, she said that we Motlanders need to remember who we are and that the protesters should go home and trust the Council to make the right decision. I think her exact words were, ‘Shouting at us won’t make us work faster or sway our decision.’”

  Mila chuckled a bit.

  “What’s funny about that?”

  “It’s just so typically Motlandish. You might not know this, Anne, but I was part of the first integrated school with both Motlander and Northlander children.”

  “Yes, Jonah told me on the way here. That’s how you ended up staying in the Northlands.”

  “Exactly, but Isobel’s words are funny to me because they remind me of our teacher, Kya. Whenever the Nboys lost their temper and began screaming profanities, Kya would stay calm and say, ‘I can’t hear your words with all the shouting. When you’re ready to speak in a calm voice like me, I’m happy to listen.’”

  Small crinkles formed at the edges of Anne’s eyes when she smiled. “Did it help the boys or did it just make them even angrier?”

  “Mostly it helped, but it’s like Jonah said, up here people act out while back in the Motherlands people look in.”

  “As in we reflect more, you mean?”

  “Yes.”

  Anne tilted her head. “I don’t know about that. I feel like I acted out quite a bit. If I had reflected a bit more, maybe I wouldn’t have…”

  I cut Anne off. “Let it go. We’ve all done stupid stuff we regret.”

  She looked down. “Yeah, I guess.”

  For a moment there was an awkward silence but then Mila spoke. “Anyway, Isobel had a point. It’s hard to have a conversation when people are screaming at each other.”

  Anne frowned. “But they’re out there protesting with outrage because they want to save Jonah’s seat on the council.”

  I shifted my balance. “It’s not about me so much as it’s about what I represent to them. Honestly, I’d like to think that I empowered people to find their voice and now they want to be heard.”

  Mila gave me the sweetest smile. “Yes, you have that effect on people. Me included.”

  CHAPTER 26

  The Final Vote

  Mila

  On Wednesday morning, I went back with Jonah to the Motherlands. He offered to go by himself, but I sensed that he was nervous and I wanted to support my man.

  The Council had closed the meeting to the public due to the tension after the last meeting. The News would be given the final vote after the meeting, but that was all.

  I sat quietly in the corner of Jonah’s sofa and watched him arrange the mood reader and put on his device.

  For the longest time, he said nothing and I couldn’t hear the other Council members speak. All I could do was watch his body language as the meeting went on.

  I knew the moment the vote began. Jonah stopped breathing and folded his hands into fists. I held my own breath, reading his stiff stoic pose and preparing myself to see his head fall forward in defeat.

  “Please, please,” I muttered low.

  And then his body eased up. There was no smile on his face and no sunken shoulders either. The suspense was killing me as I couldn’t figure out if he was in or out.

  Without having said a single word the entire time, Jonah finally took off the device and blinked his eyes.

  “What happened?” I breathed.

  “There was a difference of five votes… in my favor.”

  I screamed. “Does that mean you’re staying on the Council?”

  “Yes.”

  Raising my hands above my head, I jumped up to hug him. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

  “I’m shocked. I was convinced they would throw me out.” A sudden burst of laughter erupted from Jonah. “Wow, I feel happier than when I was first elected to the Council. What a relief.”

  “How could you think they wouldn’t want you? The whole country has been showing them how loved you are.”

  Jonah squeezed me in a tight hug. “And the best part is that they know about my feelings for you. We never have to hide our love.”

  “We should celebrate.” I ran to the fridge to find a pair of sweet drinks but before I’d made it back, Jonah was being bombarded with calls from colleagues on the Council wanting to congratulate him.

  I let him soak up all the attention, while I took the opportunity to call my parents and tell them before they heard it on the News.

  After that came the requests for interviews from the press. Jonah had stayed away from all the drama of the press since the last Council meeting, but now he accepted an interview without hesitation.

  “Come on, Milove, I agreed to meet them at the old archive.”

  Jonah had a happy bounce in his steps as we walked, hand in hand, the ten-minute walk to the old archive Because it was raining heavily, we hid under an umbrella and weren’t stopped by passersby, but once we got there, people were flocking to him like he was some kind of rock star.

  I tried to pull away to give him space to do his interviews, but Jonah only tightened his grip on my hand. “Please stay with me.”

  The deep eye contact between us made me melt a little. Jonah wasn’t like the big macho men of the North. He had no shame in admitting that he needed me as much as I needed him. Without a word, I moved closer to him and smiled when he placed his arm around my waist.

  “Jonah, tonight you secured your seat on the Council. How do you feel?”

  “Touched, and grateful to everyone who supported me.”

  “At Friday’s Council meeting, you declared that you were going to fight for Mila. As you may have seen in the News, many have been worried about you and speculated whether you meant metaphorically or literally. There were theories that your absence in the media was due to injuries sustained while fighting.”

  “I’m flattered that so many were worried about me, but as Lord Khan explained in his announcement last night, Mila’s bridal tournament will have a new format and won’t involve Mila choosing a husband.” Jonah couldn’t stop smiling at me. “She can’t because she already chose me.”

  “Mila, were you surprised when Jonah declared his love for you at the Council meeting?”

  My heart was beating fast with the intensity of the interview being turned on me. “Ehh…”

  “Did you see it when Jonah declared his love for you?”

  “Yes, I was with friends. It was surprising that he was willing to share it with the whole world when he knew many would judge him for it.”

  Turning to Jonah, the journalist asked, “Do you consider this a turning point?”

  “It’s all so new that I haven’t truly understood it yet.”

  “Are you aware that Councilwoman Wendy Douglas just announced that she’ll propose a bill that will make romance books legal again?”

  “No, I was not, but I’ll support it of course.”

  “Jonah, what do you have to say to your critics who accuse you of being in the pocket of Lord Khan?”

  “I’m not!”

  “Can you see why marrying his niece would make people think that there’s a close relationship between you and the ruling family of the Northlands?”

  “I understand, and it’s no secret I’ve been an admirer of Pearl Pilotti since I was a young teenager. Her focus on equality and her tireless work to heal the centuries-old dispute between our nations is inspirational. I’m one of the few Motlanders who have met Lord Khan in person, and he is a man with a sharp intellect. He is also very much his own man and prefers to make his own decisions, which is something I can relate to. There’s no doubt in my mind that Lord Khan is the best-qualified person to be President. I’ve studied many o
f the other candidates and should they win, it would be a major setback to the Northlands.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because the trust that Lord Khan has built with the Council won’t be transferred to a new ruler. It’s taken twelve years and with the political agenda that many of the other candidates have, we would need to protect ourselves from potential attacks.”

  “Mila, do you agree with Jonah on his analysis?”

  “I’m not much of a politician. All I know is that there are a lot of amazing initiatives being planned at the moment that will make the Northlands a better country. It would be a shame if Khan didn’t get a chance to implement them.”

  “Can you tell us a bit more about these plans?”

  I looked to Jonah, who shook his head a tiny bit. “Ehh, no, I’m sure that my uncle will share the good news himself, very soon.”

  “Any last words for your supporters?” the journalist asked.

  Jonah looked straight into the drone camera that hung steady in the air. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of you who walked the streets and showed that you care. Together, we’ll change the laws that we should have never accepted to begin with.”

  By the time the first interview was over more journalists had arrived. Jonah did two more interviews with much of the same questions and then as we were leaving, a fourth journalist began calling out questions.

  “How are you going to celebrate this victory? Will you stay here or go back to the Northlands? And when is your wedding?”

  Jonah hesitated but being polite, he took time to stop and answer. “I think we’ll celebrate by going home and find the answers to where we’ll live and when we’ll marry.”

  “So, you don’t know?” The reporter looked to me.

  “Jonah serves the people of the Motherlands. I’ve always known that if I wanted to be with him, I’d have to live here where his work is.” I gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m okay with that and Jonah has promised me that we’ll go back often to visit my family.”

  “And your wedding? When will it be?” the woman asked.

  “Soon.” Leaving it at that, Jonah pulled me along.