Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 78164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78164 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
My sister had not seen me.
What a bizarre spectacle to witness the terror of an unexpected meeting with General Cyderial. My friend didn’t tremble, but I knew she must be terrified. After all, I vanished days ago, and news of Cyderial being mated would not have spread within academy walls.
News of any kind was not allowed to recruits.
She must have thought I’d been hanged—or worse.
The academy was forced into lockdown all those days ago. Chaos must have ensued inside. Had recruits even been given an explanation? Had it been written off as a drill?
And now she stood before the man she thought responsible for my demise, aware that my ploy to take the blame might not have landed. That he may have held her accountable for all of it.
That this might be her death sentence.
To stand in silence and wait was torture, and I could not leave her wondering how ugly her fate might be. Yet, for all I knew, General Thayer might be worse than death.
Standing, the blanket falling from my lap, I called to my sister, “Maeve.”
How fast her head flew around. How quickly her composure shattered.
I never wanted to see that expression on another person’s face again. Ever.
It was a shattered look weighed with guilt and terror as she stared at the face of a ghost.
Rushing to her, I gathered her up in my arms and let her know I was okay. She’d seen the uniform, far too clever to have missed it, and I felt her vacillate between stiff and supple in my rough embrace.
Voice broken, she muttered, “I thought he killed you.”
He. The male standing from his desk and watching closely.
“No.” Unsure what to say, I kept my reply vague. “General Cyderial informed me that I… am his mate. He’s taken care of me since I last saw you.”
She went stiff all over again, no doubt in horror.
He was terrible. I was trapped with him, and her imaginings were no doubt running wild.
The implications, what she must think… I didn’t have it in me to discuss it. So I pulled away, offering a careful smile. “I need to speak with you about something very important. Will you come sit with me?”
Pulling her away from Cyderial’s silent, staring proximity, I brought her to the chair he angled toward the couch and gingerly sat on the white death cushions that belonged solely to me. Spines ramrod, the pair of us tense, I found it hard to know where to start.
Until I looked away from her beautiful face and found Cyderial waiting. No tension was in him, no nervousness or fear. Calm and collected, he gave me an example of how to appear.
The perfect example of a coldblooded leader.
I swear he even took a deep breath so I might duplicate the action.
On my exhale, I dared something I wasn’t sure he would agree to. “I don’t think I can talk about this with you watching us, Cyderial. May we have some privacy, please?”
I had not called him sir, and it startled Maeve. Maybe even more than me ordering the man from his own office.
Stalking forward, he came to stand at my knee. A general bowing to a rankless nobody, he pressed a gentle kiss to my lips and promised, “I’ll return in twenty minutes.”
And then I was alone with my sister, who looked like she was moments away from a faint.
Twenty minutes was not very long, so my words came out with urgency. “I need you to know I am okay and that I have bartered more than I can afford so I might speak with you about things unmated women are not permitted to know.”
“What do you mean? Lorieyn, I thought you were dead! Now, you’re with him? I am so sorry!” Her horror was clear.
But my mate was not the issue at hand. “Maeve, listen to me. Everything I am about to teach you is vitally important. And you cannot tell a soul. I mean that. Please, hear me out completely, and hate me all you will, but you and I have an opportunity to enact change hybrid women need. The kind of change you have dreamed about.” I was going to break her heart with the next ugly truth, but she had to know. “Understand, this might be the only change you may ever have power to enact.”
Her eyes were wide, and she looked very unsettled. Petite, cute, upturned nose, and vibrant eyes, she composed herself, then said, “Tell me.”
“Unmated females do not exist outside the academy.” They didn’t exist, and she would never have her dream. I needed her to understand that first, trying to speak with kindness. “What we were led to believe is not true. The opportunity of the list is only if a girl wants to graduate sooner… and make herself available to whoever is highest ranking and hears her song. There will be no future in politics, not with the world the way it is now… and your mate may not be able to think clearly for a few decades at least after he claims you. You will be able to do nothing without his support. The large man who kissed you at the bar, his name is General Thayer. The only reason I am permitted to speak to you is because he is allowing it. Your future mating is registered and publicly acknowledged. He can come take you at any moment he wishes.”