Magni
Finn’s happy whistling warned me before he opened the door to my suite.
“Are your hands broken?” I asked and continued putting on my boots without looking at him.
“My hands are fine.”
“Then why didn’t you knock?”
Finn grinned. “Because I like to surprise you.”
That made me look up and raise an eyebrow. “Let me give you a tip then. If you’re trying to sneak up on someone, don’t whistle.”
“I wasn’t aware that I was whistling.”
“That’s because you live in a fucking bubble lately.”
Resting his arms on the back of my large comfortable chair, Finn looked down on me sitting on the stool in front of it. “I remember you being happy when you first got married too.”
I kept my eyes down and fastened the boots, not appreciating his bringing up Laura.
“Look, Magni,” Finn said. “I know it’s hard for you with Laura being in the Motherlands and you being here, but you’re my best friend and I want you to be happy for me and Athena.”
Taking my time before I answered, I stood up and grabbed my leather jacket from the chair. “I am very happy for you – I already told you that.”
“Are you heading back to the border?” Finn asked, his eyes sliding over my uniform.
“Yeah, someone has to do it while you and my brother are playing house with your wives. I’m told they still need about three weeks to have the wall completely rebuilt.”
Finn nodded and looked down at my scratched-up knuckles. “Maybe you should take a break from all the fighting or at least wear your Proteco gloves to protect your hands.”
“Thank you for your concern,” I said without explaining to him that the physical pain of fighting was a welcome distraction from the emotional pain I was in.
“Hey, at least the Motlanders caught another of the Nmen this morning,” Finn said.
I gave a snort. “Since when do you call them Motlanders? We’ve always referred to them as Momsies.”
“Since I married one of them. Did you hear what I said about them catching another of the Nmen?”
“Yeah, I heard. But there’s still three left. I don’t understand why it’s taking so long to locate the men. They should stick out like piss on snow.”
“Maybe they would have caught them under normal circumstances, but with the earthquake so many things have changed and people are taking in strangers. That makes it easier for the men to hide as homeless.”
“You’re right. But it’s been ten days and I want Laura to come back home.”
“Did you talk to her?”
“Yeah, a few times. They teamed her up with a man who Laura tells me is their best. I sure hope she’s right and that he’ll keep her safe. By the way, Finn, Laura mentioned that you know him. His name is Hans.”
Finn took a step back. “Laura is with Hans?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck.”
“What?” I narrowed my eyes. “Please tell me he’s not a threat to her in any way.”
“No, no.” Finn waved his hand and shook his head. “Hans is pretty harmless. But Laura shouldn’t depend on him to save her, that’s for sure.”
My hands flew to my hair. “Why the fuck would they set her up with a man who can’t protect her?”
“Hans is an opportunistic ass-licker.”
“What do you mean?”
“He talks a big talk, but he’s as soft as they come.” Finn picked up a vase and scratched the gold leaf on it, before he put it down again. “Just tell Laura to watch her back, because he sure as hell won’t have it.”
My face was growing redder by the second.
“Relax, Magni, they only need to find three more. She could be home by tomorrow.”
“I wish.”
“You’ve got to stay positive, man.”
“You know me, I’m always positive.” My voice was flat. “A fucking ray of sunshine.”
“That you are, my friend.” Finn smacked my shoulder. “But I didn’t come here to bathe in your sunshine. I came with the result of the test.”
I squeezed my jacket tight in my hand. “You mean the paternity test you did on me and Mila?”
Four days ago, a test had shown that Finn was the biological father of Tristan, a boy who had grown up in the Motherlands. It had been nothing short of a miracle that the two of them ever met, and now I was hopeful that Mila might be my kid too.
“Here you go.” Finn handed me a paper. “I went to the school yesterday and Mila kept asking me when you were coming.”
Opening the paper, I stared at the result. “I’ll go right now.”
Finn patted my shoulder with a smile. “You do that, my friend, and while you’re there, could you give Tristan a message from me? Just tell him that the papers came and that I’m officially allowed to live in the Motherlands now. We’ll be leaving tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” A knot formed in my stomach. Finn was my best friend, and I hated that he was moving to the Motherlands where I couldn’t visit him.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked him. “They’re not going to like you there. They hate us Nmen.”
“No, they don’t. They just hate you.” He grinned in Finn’s typical relaxed way. “That’s what you get for kidnapping one of their priestesses.”
“Hey, you should be thanking me. If I hadn’t, you two wouldn’t be married today.”
“You’re right, but honestly, Magni, I know you dislike the Motlanders, but you’ve got to give them a chance. They are good people. Even Khan is starting to warm up to them.”
I snorted again. “You and Khan are blinded by the sex, that’s all. But I’m not. I’ll be here to remind you of the four hundred years that the Momsies have been oppressing men and keeping all power to themselves. I’ll never forgive them for isolating us in a far corner of the world while they get all the warm sand beaches. I fucking hate the cold up here.”
“It’s not healthy for you to carry all that anger and bitterness toward them. Athena and Pearl didn’t live four hundred years ago, and you can’t hold it against this generation of Motlanders. At least they’re open to dialogue and integrating our countries.”
I rolled my eyes. “Is that you or your wife talking?”
Finn shrugged. “So what if I picked up a bit from her? She’s helped me a lot. Maybe she can help you too. Athena is easy to talk to and she knows about emotions and stuff.”
“I don’t think so,” I said in a dismissive tone. “I’m not a talker and you know it.”
“But maybe she could teach you not to be so guarded.”
“Unless Athena can get rid of that fucking wall, I’m not interested in her help.”
“Fine. But just for the record, I’ve been to a beach in the Motherlands and so have Marco and Archer. Don’t forget that things are happening.”
“Hoo-fucking-ray!” I moved to the door, my fist itching to hit something. “Things are happening alright. But from where I’m standing it’s all shit. My wife is gone and tomorrow you’ll be gone too. In fact, you know what; if you see Laura over there, the two of you can have a party together. Forgive me for not being able to join you, but as you know there will be a big fucking wall separating us.” I hissed the last words and slammed the door behind me before I spewed more of the anger that filled me every time I thought of the Motherlands. That country had meant only humiliation and pain to me. And now it would steal away both my wife and my best friend. I fucking hated it!
When I took off in my drone, I was tempted to go straight for the border in the hopes of finding some fool who thought he might cross unseen. I could use a target for my frustration, but the paper in my hand made me fly to the only oasis I knew these days. The experimental school where Mila lived.
It only took me fifteen minutes to fly there and the minute I landed several of the kids came running.
“Hey, Magni,” Raven, one of the Motlander children, called out to me. “Are you here to teach us fighting?”
“No, not today.” I tousled her black curly hair and she smiled up at me. Raven had beautiful dark chocolate skin and was the opposite in looks to her good friend Mila, who was blond and waited for me with a beaming smile on her face.
“I missed you,” Mila exclaimed and although her mentors, Archer and Kya, had told me not to show her favoritism in front of the others, I couldn’t help picking the girl up in my arms.
“I missed you too.”
Mila flashed those cute dimples of hers and it instantly soothed my soul.
“Wanna go with me to the lake?” I asked her.
“Can I come too?” Raven was bouncing from side to side with excitement.
“I have something I need to talk to Mila about. But next time you can come with us for sure.” I set down Mila, who was half my size. “Raven, do me a favor and tell the adults that I’m taking Mila to the lake. We’ll be back in half an hour.”
“Okay,” Raven agreed and ran back to the school with the other students who had come to greet me.
“You came at a perfect time,” Mila said as we walked away from the buildings. “We were about to have science, and it’s so boring.”
“Are you kidding me, science is fun.”
“Fun?”
“Science is where you do experiments and explosions. It was my favorite subject in school, except for fighting of course.”
“We’ve never done any explosions.”
“Then ask Archer to step it up. Science isn’t supposed to be boring.”
Mila nodded with a thoughtful expression. “I’ll tell him you said that.”
“So, what’s new at the school?” I asked and Mila was happy to entertain me with the newest gossip about pranks and crushes.
“Has anyone been mean to you?” I asked.
“No. I think they’re afraid you’ll hurt them. Nero is still mad at me for the time you hung him upside down in the tree.”
“He can be mad all he wants to, as long as he doesn’t touch you or tease you. If he does, you’ll tell me, right?”
Mila nodded, but something told me she didn’t agree with my methods, and that she might be hiding something.
“What aren’t you telling me, sweetheart?”
“Nothing,” she said but the way she bit her lower lip revealed that she was hiding something for sure.
“Mila, sweetheart, do you know that one of my talents is to get people to tell the truth?”
“How?” she asked and looked up at me with large eyes.
“With little girls like you, I tickle them until they pee their pants.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That’s disgusting.”
“Yes, and it smells bad too, so you better tell me.”
Mila took my hand and I melted a little. “If I tell you, will you promise not to get upset?”
“Hmm.”
“It’s a secret, so I can only tell you if you promise not to tell anyone.”
“Hey, I’m the unofficial world champion of secrets.”
She tilted her head, as if considering if that was a real thing. “Okay, but if you freak out I’ll never trust you again. It’s a big secret and I’ve been keeping it for more than a week.”
“Now you have me curious.”
She waited until we reached the water. It was November and too cold to sit still for a long time, but we picked up stones and made ripples in the water as we threw them in.
“I saw Solo kiss Willow again.” Mila’s eyes were wide open and her voice almost a whisper. “But if you cut his hair or get angry with him again, I’ll be very upset with you, and you know why?”
“Why?” I asked, annoyed that Solo hadn’t learned his lesson the first time I caught him kissing Willow.
“Because Willow loves him. She told me so herself, and she’s going to marry him when they’re older. They made a pact.”
I was quiet when I threw another stone in the water.
“You don’t believe me?” Mila asked beside me.
“Yeah, I believe you.” I bit the inside of my cheek.
“What’s wrong?” Mila asked and took my hand again.
“Nothing. I was just reminded about a time when a young girl made a similar promise to me.”
“I want to hear that story.”
“Maybe later. First I have something to tell you.”
“Is it about the test?” she asked and squeezed my hand.
“Yes, I got the answer this morning, and I’m not your biological father.”
Mila’s head fell down and her shoulders drooped. Her long blond hair covered most of her pretty face, but I could tell her mouth was quivering.
“I’m disappointed too, sweetie, but it doesn’t change anything. If I could choose a daughter, I’d pick you any day and you can call me dad as much as you’d like.”
“But how come Tristan gets to be Finn’s real son when I don’t get to be your daughter? We look just as much alike as they do.”
Her indignation and tearful eyes made me caress her hair in a soothing manner, swallowing down my own disappointment.
“I have blue eyes like you and you said it yourself, you have dimples like me. So why can’t I be your flesh and blood?”
“I really wanted you to, darling.” I hugged her and she continued crying in my arms. I’d never been good with tears or emotions and felt powerless in that moment.
“Maybe you should consider yourself lucky. If you were my biological daughter, you’d probably be mean and scream at people, like I do.”
She took a moment before she spoke. “Sometimes I get mad.” Mila dried away her tears.
“Really? I’ve never seen you mad.”
“I got mad when Storm took my dessert last week.”
My left eyebrow flew up. “Storm did what?”
Mila’s hand covered her mouth. “I shouldn’t have told you that. Please don’t hang him in a tree. The boys are already scared of talking to me after you threatened them never to touch or kiss me.”
“Good.” I gave a satisfied nod. “They should be.”
“But I want to be kissed like Willow, one day.”
“You will when you marry,” I assured her. “And if you let me, I’ll make sure only the strongest and fittest males fight for you in a tournament.”
“Did you fight for Laura?”
I gestured for us to walk back when I saw that Mila was shivering a little from the cold.
“Here.” I pulled out gloves from my inner pocket and gave them to her. They were far too big but she still smiled and thanked me.
“Yes, I fought for Laura. She’s much younger than me so I waited a long time for her to be ready for marriage.”
“But what about the girl who promised to marry you? Wasn’t she disappointed when you married Laura?”
“No, because it was Laura who made me that promise.”
“Like Willow and Solo?” Mila’s sweet voice rose in excitement.
“No, it was nothing like that. There was no kissing and no pact. Just a promise from a little angel to me, a big sweaty warrior who thought Laura was the cutest thing I’d ever seen.
“Was she prettier than me?”
I looked up at the sky. “The first time I saw Laura, she stood out to me as if she was the only bright and colorful person in a black-and-white picture. She was so vibrant and fascinating with her red-colored hair that I couldn’t take my eyes of her.
“How old was she?”
“About your age.”
“Ten?”
“Almost. I think she was still nine at the time. I had never spoken to a female child before and one day when I was teaching Khan some fighting techniques, she walked in out of nowhere.” Memories made my lips purse upward. “I was horrified to see a girl walking around unprotected and asked her where her father was. It turned out her parents were having tea with my parents in a different part of the Gray Mansion. She had gotten lost while looking for the bathroom.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I took her back, of course, and before we entered the door she pulled at my hand to stop me, and then she asked me if I would marry her when she got older.”
“How old were you?”
“Old enough to know she wasn’t serious.”
“And how old is that?”
I smiled at Mila. “I was around eighteen.”
Mila wrinkled her nose. “That old?”
“Yeah, ancient almost.” We shared a grin. “And I was even older the next time I saw her.”
“When was that?”
“When she was twelve and we were at a funeral. As I saw her long red hair in the sea of people, I knew it had to be Laura.”
“Did you talk to her?”
“No, but I circled around the room to get a better view and was confused that the little girl I remembered had grown so much.”
“Did Laura see you?” Mila asked, soaking up my every word.
“I don’t know.”
“Why didn’t you talk to her? You really should have talked to her.”
“I didn’t think she would remember me and you forget that it’s not the Motherlands, where all males can talk to females. In the Northlands we watch from a distance. I couldn’t have walked over and talked to her even if I wanted to. It would have scared her and upset her family. The truth is that it was rare for girls to be out among that big a crowd to begin with, and I promise you that every male in that room noticed Laura and her twin sister.”
“Because they were pretty?”
“That, and because at that time girls were married when they were fifteen. Laura and her sister were only three years from being ready. All the young men were weighing their chances of being the lucky man who won them as brides.”
Mila gave a grimace. “But they were just children.”
“I know, and I wanted to beat up all the men that looked at the girls like they wanted to kiss them.”
“Didn’t you want to kiss Laura?”
“She was too young for me to think about kissing her. I wanted to protect her from marrying the wrong man.”
“Couldn’t you have reminded her that she promised to marry you?” Mila asked with big eyes.
I shook my head. “It doesn’t work like that, Mila. She has to pick one out of the five champions who win the tournament.”
“Are Laura and her twin identical?” Mila asked.
“No.”
“Is Laura prettier than her sister?”
“Yes. To me Laura was always the prettiest girl in the country. Her sister is more serious and reserved by nature.”
Mila tilted her head next to me. “I wish I could ask Laura if she saw you at that funeral.”
“Chances are that she doesn’t remember the funeral at all.”
“Can’t we call her?” Mila ran a few quick steps to get in front of me and walked backward. “Tristan says they opened up direct communication over the border now. I know you said she’s back in the Motherlands, but you’ve spoken to her, haven’t you?”
“Uh-huh.”
“So call her up right now. I want to ask her about the funeral.”
“She’s busy chasing bad guys.”
“Maybe she’s on a break. I really want you to call her,” Mila begged.
I held up a palm. “You have to get back to class. I’ll call Laura tonight and tell you what she said.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
“And will you tell me the rest of the story about you and her the next time you come?”
“If you want me to.”
“I do, and I also want you to tell me about…”
Before Mila could finish the sentence, I took a large step, snatched her from the ground, and turned her around in the air so she hung upside down. It had her howling with laughter when I continued to walk on with her dangling from my arms, teasing her. “Why are you down there? Normal girls have their heads up and their feet down.”
All that came from her were fits of laughter.
Mila was my antidote to depression. It was weird how a ten-year-old girl was better at making me talk than anyone else I knew. With her, I never had to square my shoulders or raise my voice. The truth was that I liked who I became around her.
The only person who had seen glimpses of that side of me was Laura. But with her I always had to be careful that she didn’t see me as weak or soft.
When I said goodbye to Mila that day, she repeated her request. “Promise to call Laura and ask her about the funeral. I want to know if she saw you there.”
“I promise, I’ll ask her.”