I scoffed. “I’ll bet she was a hidden passenger with the guard who went with your message today.”
Christina nodded and then a hint of a small smile spread on her lips. “Good for Laura.”
I stopped abruptly and hissed, low. “What did you say?”
“I mean, did you see Magni, the way he went berserk? The man clearly has anger issues, and I’ve seen how he bosses Laura around. I’m happy that she escaped him if she wasn’t happy.”
I leaned closer and spoke in a low firm voice. “If you think he was angry then you don’t want to see me if you did something similar. He’s her protector and now she’s out of his reach. He’s worried.”
“No, he’s possessive of her.”
“Because he cares,” I argued.
Christina tilted her head back to look up at me. “Sorry, Boulder, but I don’t think Magni or Khan cares about anyone but themselves. Laura means nothing to Magni other than the prestige that comes with having a wife.”
I pointed a finger at her. “You know nothing about how he feels, and I won’t let you judge him or his actions.”
“Fine!” she said and continued up the stairs.
I followed with a knot in my stomach, feeling great sympathy for Magni and a troubling suspicion that Christinawassomehow responsible for Laura’s disappearance.
CHAPTER 17
Surrounded by Men
Christina
After Laura’s disappearance, I wasn’t allowed to speak to any other women unsupervised. I saw Erika at breakfast and dinner but she refused to speak to me, so I figured she blamed me for the incident too. After all, Magni was her son and only a day after Laura left, he’d vanished too. Khan had sent several messages to the council, demanding that they return Laura at once, but so far there had been no reply.
Four long days passed with everyone in the mansion tip-toeing around their troubled and irritable ruler. The good thing was that Boulder’s arm was fully healed and didn’t cause him more pain. The bad thing was that the atmosphere around the mansion was incredibly tense.
Each day I spent as long as possible at the digging site. At least there I was distracted by my work and didn’t have time to worry about the situation with Laura.
Boulder was quieter than usual. In fact, we hardly spoke, and yet, every night he would want to be physical with me. I missed my friends and felt homesick, and maybe that’s why the physical part of my relationship with Boulder became so important to me. He was my only friend in this foreign place and despite his grumpy mood, huge size, and lack of manners, I felt safe with him. The way he had shielded me against Magni’s wrath had proven he truly was my protector, and when he touched and kissed me at night, it made me forget all the craziness that surrounded me. I was even starting to wonder what it would be like to go all the way with him and if I could justify it as a part of my scientific approach to this adventure.
On the fifth night after Laura ran away we were upstairs preparing for bed when the sound of a woman screaming outside made us move to the windows to see what was happening. It was too dark to get a clear view, and all we could see was a small figure being dragged by a large man while kicking and screaming.
“Is it Laura?” I asked worriedly.
“Stay here,” Boulder muttered low and got dressed again. “I’m just going to see what’s going on.”
As soon as he was out the door I dressed too and sneaked out quietly, tip-toeing all the way down to the first-floor landing where I hid in the dark shadows to follow the spectacle taking place down in the foyer of the large mansion.
Magni was back, and with him was Laura in a white cloak fighting to get away from him.
“Stand still, woman, or I’ll tie you down again,” he threatened.
“Hey.” Boulder moved closer. “Take it easy, can’t you see she’s frightened?”
Khan came to the scene and with a furious scowl, he took a masculine stance with his legs and shoulders spread wide. “Magni, what part of my orders didn’t you understand?”
Magni cursed under his breath, but Khan kept talking. “I told you to stay here and yet you went anyway.”
“I fucking had to,” Magni hissed and jerked at Laura to make her stand still.
“And how exactly did you get Laura back?” Khan asked with a nod to her.
“I didn’t. I searched for Laura but couldn’t find her.”
