Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 76857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“I want a political appointment—that requires the highest academic pedigree to even be considered for an internship position on that career track. And you know what I did? I asked for extra classes if I didn’t understand the subject matter. I stayed up late studying with smarter students. My sisters helped me achieve this goal, because I will be an excellent leader.”
That was true. The blonde spitfire might achieve great things if she avoided the list and followed her passion. In a few hundred years or so, she might even have the voice to make things better for hybrid females.
With a condescending boop to my healing nose, she cooed, “If you really think you can unseat me, you better have a solid plan on what to do with your ranking. Moping in your room isn’t helping anyone, least of all you.”
The shower was icy, but heat came from my growing agitation. “I don’t want a leadership position. I don’t want accountability to anyone but myself. Out in the fog, I can explore and provide knowledge to those who don’t love the wilderness the way I do. Ranking has only ever been in my way.”
Maeve threw up her hands, gesturing grandly. “I want what I want. You want what you want. We all want something, and we only have each other. In six weeks, we lose this family and go out into their society with massive gaps in our understanding and no idea where they will place us. In order to leverage what we achieve here, we need to keep our eyes on the prize.”
Agnes shared a secret I had long suspected. “I want to study biology at the human university. I hate patrols. I hate the military. I might even hate humans, because they get everything we don’t, and we’re supposed to… what? Fight huge lizards or breed, so they can try to live on a planet that they are literally allergic to?”
Nodding in angry agreement, Tamsyn spoke up next. “Human women can go into the city, wear dresses, say what they want to whoever they want. I seriously want nothing more than to not have to do this”—she gestured at her uniform—“anymore. Why can’t I just be a young woman? I didn’t ask to be born to swing a sword at noisy dinosaurs. And I should not have to mate with a stranger to be allowed outside!”
“Do you all remember when we were younger, how we’d watch the older sisters slowly go insane? Some would wander about, confused. Others would start acting crazy.” Maeve cut a disapproving glare my way. “We can’t let that happen to us. Six weeks is a long time to plan an offense if we use it to our advantage. If we can’t find a way to force the general’s hand, we will help you attain a surveyor position, and you can walk into the fog free to die in it if that’s what you want.”
Maeve motioned to the bar of soap at my feet. “But none of us are helping you until you take a shower.”
7
I had bathed, as they’d ordered. Scrubbed my hair, cleaned my teeth. Fresh clothing had been fetched after I’d dried, and now, bone-cold from the icy shower, I sat huddled up with my sisters in a quiet corner of the females’ common room.
Before me, a pile of food was slowly dwindling as I found my appetite. Food pilfered from their own trays while I’d been sulking. And to show my gratitude for the gesture, I ravaged even the stale meat cubes and my least favorite kind of compressed vegetation patties.
Accepted by my sisters, embraced even with my flaws and deceits, I began to thaw. Maeve’s arm against me offering heat and support. Tamsyn’s shoulder to mine. Agnes’s feet tangled with my own across the couch.
I had taken them for granted.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love them; it was the desperation the academy drilled into a person. I needed out. I needed freedom.
And there was nothing I could do for them.
But it seemed they were more than willing to do anything for me—risk punishment, even execution. To help me.
“Cough it up. What exactly did General Cyderial say to you? Be specific, Lorieyn.” Maeve was prim, her blonde curls caught up in a bun, ignoring her damp sleeves as she prepared to take ubiquitous notes.
After a deep breath and a shaky exhale, I let my thoughts drift back over a situation I longed to forget. “General Cyderial was aware I’ve been throwing the tests.” An uncomfortable moment of remembered embarrassment flared to life, my cheeks going pink and my scales glittering. “Wait, that's not right. First, I failed uniform inspection, because my jacket was too tight. He also noted that I smelled like children. Then he told me he was failing me and suggested that I should join the list.”