Beyond His Control (His 2)

And he does it all … for me …

He takes my rage as though he deserves it …

Like a man would quell the pain inside his wife’s heart.

And when I’m done slapping, kicking, and screaming, I fall into his arms and hug him tight. “Thank you.”

He pets my hair, and whispers, “I’m here.”

And right now, that’s all I need.

Him.

It was always him.

But at the same time, all I want is for all of those other patriarchs, including my father, to disappear. Or die.

Not that I’ll ever get my wish.

But I can at least damn well try.

And the only way to do that is by following Noah’s lead. He wants them gone as much as I do, even though it’s for different reasons. He wants power and control—to be the top dog—while I … I just want to survive. I want my child to grow up somewhere safe, and since Noah wants that too, we share a common goal.

But how do I prevent my child from ending up in the same system that ruined me? How do I stop all of these women from being confined by these rules? From being used and sold like livestock animals?

There has to be a way to break the chain. The men aren’t going to do it. They’re in a position of power they’d never relinquish freely. No … it has to be taken from them.

And I lean back, grab Noah’s arms, and say, “I will do anything I can to make these men lose everything, even if it costs me my soul.”

He looks at me from underneath those dark lashes with even darker eyes, stained by the devil himself, and he says, “You know what must be done for that to happen, right?”

I nod. “Our child must be the next heir to this community, and for that to happen …”

He finishes my sentence as though he can peer into my thoughts and fit the images together like pieces of a puzzle. “The president must die.”

Chapter 17

Noah

I stand on top of the shared balcony and look down onto the Holy Land, where Natalie is talking with the people. She asked the president for permission in a private meeting, and somehow, someway, she got him to agree to let her out of the temple to help the people out. I don’t know how she did it, but I’m proud of her, and I watch her every step of the way to make sure she’s okay. If anyone bothers her, I’ll send down a guard to come to pick her up or punish the ones getting in her way.

She may be a matriarch and loved by the people almost as much as a patriarch, but she is still my wife, and I will protect what belongs to me. What a few months can do to change a person. I’ve seen her flourish from a girl into an actual queen, and it beguiles me.

She’s watching the people’s kids and plays with them, helps the women cook and clean, and tells the men not to overexert themselves on the heavy lifting. It’s as if she’s running a one-woman empire, and I like what I’m seeing. If this is how it’s going to be with her by my side while I ascend to the throne of president after he’s gone, then I’m going to love every single minute.

“She sure seems to enjoy being down there with the people.”

I turn my head right as my father walks up onto the balcony with me.

“She’s a people person. It’s what she does,” I say, and I turn my head again to look at my beautiful wife. “What she did … before she came here.”

“I’m surprised the president let her go out,” my father says, bothering me like a petulant child I wish I could shoo away. But if I did that, I’d only create more division, and I’m already on slippery ice with the patriarchs.

He stands beside me and stares out across the balcony. “After everything you two did …” he adds, stabbing a knife in my back.

“What do you want?” I ask, leaning sideways so I can glare at him.

“Nothing.” He shrugs. “I’m just curious about how she persuaded him. It’s not every day the president gives a woman what she wants when there’s nothing to gain on his end.”

“She’s his daughter,” I say. “Easy explanation.”

“And you think that gives her an advantage? Not a chance.” He shakes his head. “You wanna know what I think?”

Actually, no, but he probably won’t stop talking, even if I said that out loud, so I sigh instead.

“I think he knows she has that special thing, that thing that makes people like you … love you … follow your lead. And that can be very useful when you need to keep a crowd happy after there’s been a … kerfuffle,” he says. “You know, with you two leaving the property and her coming back. News travels fast.”