Magni
“How can you look so unaffected?” Khan panted next to me. “We’ve been running for more than an hour.”
I gave him a sideways glance. “You’re getting out of shape if running for an hour is hard on you.”
“This isn’t running. This is sprinting.”
I slowed down a little. “We’re almost there.”
Five minutes later we arrived back at the Gray Mansion and while I stretched a little, Khan stood with his head down and his hands on his knees. A cloud of warm moistness filled the cold air from his heavy breathing.
“Maybe you should take it easy. You’re getting older after all, and we don’t want you to have a heart attack,” I teased.
Last week Pearl had insisted on our celebrating Khan’s thirty-fifth birthday. Christina, Athena, Kya, and Pearl had shown us all how their traditional celebrations involved eating sweets, receiving gifts, and singing songs. We men played along, until we got to the singing part.
To us Nmen, singing involved being drunk. I knew some great crude songs, but they were best sung with beer in one hand and an arm flung around the neck of a friend.
Singing songs about peace and prosperity would hurt my testicles, so I drew a line. The rest of the men followed my example.
Khan looked up. “Did you just call me old? Fuck you.”
“You know I’ll do almost anything for you, brother, but fucking you isn’t on that list.”
Khan rolled his eyes and walked up the wide stone staircase. “You know what I meant.”
“You want to take a few rounds in the ring?” I asked him. “It’s been a while since we’ve been sparring.”
“I don’t have time today, and it’s a shame that you have energy for that.”
“Why?”
Khan straightened up. “Because the whole reason I suggested we should go running was that I wanted you to be tired and calm when I told you something that you might find upsetting.”
I let Khan walk inside before me. The house felt like a sauna compared to the outside temperature.
“What is it?”
Khan looked around the large foyer and pointed toward his office. “Let’s take this in private.”
My footsteps were heavy when I followed him. I didn’t need more bad news. I’d already sent Finn off this morning to live in the Motherlands and Laura still hadn’t come back. What I needed was some good news.
“Sit down.” Khan gestured to a chair in front of his desk and closed the door behind him. “There’s something I haven’t told you about the negotiations with the Motherlands.”
I followed him with my eyes when he sat down opposite me at the desk.
“You know I told you how the Motherlands were forced to accept our demand for equality on the Council within the next twenty years?”
“Yeah, you said it might happen in ten years if all goes well.”
“True, but you should know that the Council had a condition.”
“What condition?”
“When the Council reaches full equality, we in the Northlands must follow suit.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Pearl will be my co-ruler.”
Jerking back in my chair, I held up a hand. “Wait a minute. Is this for real?”
Khan had a serious expression on his face, his elbows resting on the side of his chair, and his hands folded in front of him.”
“It’s an official title only. I’ll still be the ruler. I’ve already told Pearl that I don’t intend to consult her on everything.”
“But you already do!” I exclaimed and slammed my palms on the armrests of my chair.
“I don’t blame you for being upset about this. But it’s a long way in the future and until then you’ll remain the second in command.”
I got up from my seat, my eyes narrowed into slits. “I would rather die than take orders from a Momsie.”
Khan exhaled deeply. “I was afraid you’d feel that way.”
My voice was booming as blood rushed through my veins, fueled with the injustice of being overruled in such a humiliating way. “We never used to have women present when important discussions were being made. Now you can’t take a piss without consulting Pearl first.”
Khan picked up a marble cube from his desk and turned it in his hands while keeping his eyes fixed on me. “How about you go have a beer with a friend and digest the information before we discuss it further?”
“What friend? Finn moved to the Motherlands a few hours ago. Boulder is hovering over his pregnant wife.”
“You have other friends.”
I snorted and spread my arms out, looking around the room. “Where? I don’t see anyone. I used to be close to you, but that was before you turned into Pearl’s puppet.”
Khan scowled. “I’m not her puppet.”
“You can’t even see that you’ve been brainwashed by the enemy.”
Slamming the cube down on the table, Khan shouted. “Pearl is not our enemy!”
When I stormed out of his office, Khan was right on my heels, shouting after me, “I didn’t give you permission to leave.”
I ignored him and steered right in the direction of the office he had made for Pearl only a few doors away. She was sitting in her chair facing the door when I entered.
“The game is up, lady!”
Pearl tilted her head. “Hello, Magni. I assume Khan told you about the Council’s demand for equality in both countries.”
I sputtered, “He did, and I see your fingerprint all over this scheme. You’re like a fucking trickster, distracting my brother with a magic trick, while emptying his pockets with your other hand.”
Khan positioned himself between us.
“What are you accusing me of stealing?” Pearl asked in a calm voice that stood in sharp contrast to my agitated state of mind.
“His sanity, his free will, basically our country,” I sneered. “Once you have power you’ll change everything.”
“Change can be good.”
I pointed an accusing finger at her. “I’m on to you, woman. You plan to make the Northlands a democracy. Admit it.”
Pearl nodded. “I’m a believer in democracy. You’re right about that.”
I spun to Khan. “Ha! There you have it. We kill men for treacherous talk about democracy, yet you want to make her your equal? Over my dead body.”
“You’re overreacting. All of this is in the future, and we should be focusing on the fact that men will be back in power in the Motherlands for the first time in four hundred years.”
“Momsimen.” I wrinkled my nose. “I want us to be in power. The last real men who don’t cower to women or apologize for being males. What you have negotiated is young boys being stripped of their male pride and emasculated by women before they are allowed to be part of the Council. And you’re willing to give up half of your power of the Northlands for it.”
“Magni, masculinity is much more than war and fighting,” Pearl said. “Our men are strong and proud too.”
I took a step forward, provoked by her words. “Did you just say our men? At least you’re not hiding whose side you’re on.”
My towering over Pearl was too much for Khan, who pushed me back. “Don’t touch her.”
I widened my eyes. “Are you completely blind? Don’t you see what’s going on here?”
Khan lowered his brows and took a strong stance between Pearl and me.
Deep sadness over seeing my brother tricked by the enemy made me want to rip Pearl’s office apart. I lashed out and shoved a pile of books on the floor in a threatening way. “You’re a fucking fool, Khan.”
Khan’s nostrils were flaring and he spoke in a low menacing voice. “Step the fuck back. If you touch Pearl, I’ll kill you.”
His words hit me like a physical blow. “You would kill me? So I guess that’s it huh? You choose her over me?”
“Don’t make me!”
“How the fuck am I supposed to protect you from your own stupidity?” I shouted at him. “If our father was here he would tell you that she’s a poisonous snake who’s got her fangs in you. You just don’t see it.”
Khan’s face scrunched up into a grimace of rage, and he pushed hard at my chest. “Get the fuck out of my sight.”
I was just about to turn around when Pearl spoke up in a matter-of-fact tone. “When you two are done shouting, I would like us to talk about it like sane people.”
I pointed at her. “I’m not letting you brainwash me the way you have him.”
She ignored my insult. “You’re allowed to be disappointed and angry. I know many Councilwomen are in shock about the decision to have males on the Council. If they were as expressive as you are, they would be shouting and fuming too.”
“I’m not going to fall for your mental tricks.” I narrowed my eyes again. “You sit there, pretending to be nice, but I’m not falling for it. I see what you’re doing.”
Pearl folded her hands in her lap. “I would love to know what it is you see me doing. Will you come back tomorrow when you’re calm and sit down with me to talk things through?”
Khan spoke in a deep voice. “You’re not talking with Magni without me here.”
“Why?” I looked at Khan. “Are you scared I’ll give your wife the spanking you aren’t man enough to give her?”
His fist hit my jaw so fast, I didn’t have time to blink. “No one touches my wife.”
My respect for Khan was wearing thin. I’d been raised to know my place as the second in command. Our father had always emphasized that Khan and I were strongest together. For years, I had backed down in confrontations between us and swallowed my pride.
My fist clenched, and I took a step back, afraid that I wouldn’t be able to control myself if I stayed in the room. Khan was five years older than me, but I had been physically superior since my early teen years.
“I’m warning you,” I said in a low ominous tone. “If she has her way, our days as free men are numbered.”
When I turned and left, Khan didn’t answer or come after me. He stayed with Pearl.