Page 101 of The Pacifist
Mila began walking and nodded her head for me to follow.
Holding my breath and crossing the fingers on my right hand, I gave her a sideways glance. “Please tell me, I’m staying in your room tonight.”
“Officially, you’re staying here.” She pointed to the door next to Anne’s.
“And unofficially?”
“You’re staying with me.”
My fist went up in the air as I exclaimed a big “YES!”
That made Mila laugh. “I can’t wait to hear more about your plans to fight for me.”
“I was afraid I was going to have to beg for you to let me back into your life.”
“Why? I never wanted you out of it to begin with.” Opening the door to her room, Mila let go of my hand and gave ear rubs to the dogs who’d run up to her.
“You have another one?”
“She’s a rescue. One of the guards found her starving so I had to take her in. I already found a family for her so she’s only staying one more night.”
A skinny dog with an underbite and fearful eyes kept its distance when I tried to pet it.
“It’s okay, she’ll warm up to you.” Mila walked over to her bed and sat down. “I’ve missed you, Jonah.”
I sat down my bag and joined her on the bed. “Not as much as I’ve missed you. I’ve been such a fool, Mila. I should have told you how madly in love with you I am. This whole thing with Anne and the council. It distracted me and I screwed up."
She waited for me to elaborate.
“Last night I was with Hunter and he spoke about your tournament. It made me physically ill to think about you marrying someone else.” I took her hands and looked deep into her eyes. “Mila, what we have together is special.”
“I know.”
“There’s no one like you and last night it became painfully clear that I’d rather lose my seat on the Council than lose you.”
She tilted her head. “You mean that?”
“Yes. That’s why I had to come up here and convince you not to go through with the tournament.”
Her eyes widened. “But I thought… wait, but you said that you were going to fight for me.”
The moment she said it I understood how my words could be misinterpreted. My eyes shut tight together and I cursed on the inside. “I didn’t mean that I’d physically fight for you in the tournament. I wouldn’t be much use to you dead. I meant that I was going to plead and beg for you to give me another chance.”
Mila’s face softened. “Ahh, that makes more sense, because we all thought you had lost your mind,”
“They all think I’m planning to fight in the tournament?”
“Yes. My dad and Khan were very impressed.”
I fell back on the bed with my hands to my head. “Oh geez, I must look like an idiot to them.”
“They did call you delusional, but if I were you, I wouldn’t correct their misconception. The fact that you were willing to fight for me means a lot to them.”
“I can’t lie, Mila.”
Mila leaned back and propped herself up on her elbow facing me. “Letting them assume something isn’t the same as lying.”
“It’s not honest either.”
