Page 31 of The Pacifist
“The one point two million signatures from citizens will help persuade them.”
“I like it.” Hunter swung his head and took in Mila. “What are you doing here?”
“Jonah brought me as a guest. He wanted me to see the Motherlands, and with everything happening up north it was a good time.”
Emanuela, who had just been hugging Mila, crossed her arms. “Speaking of that, what is going on? The News has been warning about a potential civil war in the Northlands.”
Mila paled a little. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“But is it true that Khan is changing things from an authoritarian dictatorship to a democracy?”
Mila squared her shoulders and stood a little straighter. “I’m not sure what the right term is, but he’s letting the people elect their leader and I’m very proud of him for taking such a bold step.”
“Oh, for sure. I think we should all be celebrating.” My mother’s smile was warm, while Hunter narrowed his eyes and poked at my chest. “Did you have something to do with it?”
“No, he didn’t.” Mila’s tone was sharp as she took a step forward. “You do not get to blame Jonah for it.”
“Hunter can blame me all he wants to.” I pushed away a lock of hair from Mila’s face. “I’m not vain enough to think that I had anything to do with Khan’s decision, but I’m happy to let people believe it.”
“Huh.” Hunter lifted his chin and looked down at me. “A piece of advice, Councilman. You might not want to take the blame when you are up north. A lot of people are royally pissed and scared of what this will mean for us.”
“Are you saying you don’t want democracy?” my mother asked Hunter.
“That depends. I’ll have to see it to understand what it means for me and my friends. We’re not exactly impressed with your system. You have too many limitations – the most annoying one being that alcohol isn’t allowed in this country. Whoever came up with that law will surely be toasting in hell right now.”
“We don’t believe in hell,” my mother reminded Hunter, who picked a chair from the dining table, turned it around, and sat astride it.
“That’s funny, because to most of us Nmen, the Motherlands resembles hell. We can’t drink here, we have to fly in slow drones, and we’re surrounded by women who in most cases aren’t interested in us.”
“Stop whining. You don’t need other women when you have me, and you can come here if you want to drink alcohol.”
We all stared at Emanuela, who had just revealed a dark secret of ours.
“Oh, come on. Mila isn’t a regular Motlander. We can trust her. Right, Mila?”
Mila blinked her eyes at Emanuela. “You have alcohol here?”
“Yes, but you can’t tell anyone. It’s illegal.”
“I won’t tell.”
“Great!” With a satisfied nod, Emanuela clapped her hands. “With that out of the way, is it possible to have a cold beer?”
The atmosphere relaxed and Cole brought out beers for everyone as we sat down to chat and catch up. When one of our family dogs let out a silent but deadly stink bomb, I opened a window, letting in some fresh air. With snow outside, it was cold so I offered to fetch Mila a sweater from her bag.
“That’s nice of you, it’s in the bedroom.”
Grabbing the first sweater I could find in her bag, my eyes fell on an envelope with four words on it. “To Mila from Python.”
It was the letter she had received from the large huntsman after Khan had declared that the Northlands would have their first election.
Picking up the letter, I stood for a second just looking at it. My fingers were burning to open it and read what he was trying to fill her head with. But no matter how curious I was, I couldn’t do it. Mila had a right to privacy. If I read her letter without permission, I would be violating the trust between us.
I returned to Mila with her sweater and for the rest of the evening, I kept thinking about the letter in her bag. Why had she brought it? Had she liked it enough to want to read it again? Did she intend to answer him? Would she pick him in the tournament? And would she give the same sweet little moans when he kissed her as she had with me?
That night when we went to bed, Mila asked me, “Why were you so quiet tonight?” She was on her side facing me, while I was on my back staring up at the ceiling.
“I just have a lot on my mind.”
