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)
“That is barbaric! They’re barely more than children!” I snarled.
“Hybrid males are dangerous!” Tacking on an insult, Murdoch spoke so that only I would hear, “You should know that by now, my queen.”
Bristling at his nerve, I ground my teeth. “Fine.”
I knew every last face in that room, found all their little eyes had discovered me, round as I was. Yet it was the older girls, the missing faces, that set my hearts to double their rhythm. “Where is Maeve? Where are the others?”
“Do not expect me to explain things you already know the answer to.” Adjusting the weight of his weapon, Murdoch scowled. “You were in estrous for a week. Graduation took place.”
So… my sisters were gone. Taken by God only knew who.
“Are they safe?” Could the males have prepared for them? Was Maeve okay after Thayer…?
Murdoch waved it off. “They are in the care of their mates.”
On a sigh, I said, “Maeve would want to be here.”
“Thayer is not Cyderial. Do not anticipate that you will be granted access to her anytime soon. He will submit her and may not allow her freedom until she too is pregnant. That, you must take some responsibility for. Your public chemical switch sent half our population into the rut. Your pheromones snowballed out of the courtyard very quickly.”
No. Females chose to enter estrous.
Right?
But his words frightened me. Nothing so far had been straightforward since I learned of the world outside the academy. “A man cannot make a woman enter estrous.”
“A mated male can rut her as if she is. Encourage estrous, one might say.” Said as if it were nothing, as if it were obvious. “Mated males were driven into season that night, which implies estrous can be coerced as well.”
That is not what I had been told!
Cyderial had been very rough with me in the rut, but I had wanted it, needed it. Maeve would be crushed under Thayer if he rode her unrestrained.
“Oh my God….”
General Murdoch cut me a glance. “Most males who were denied estrous from their partners were motivated to procreate and have resorted to reestablishing the captivity of their mates. Considering we went to war days later, it would seem a wise choice. Our females are safe this way.”
“That’s monstrous.” And not at all what I had intended.
What had been a cutting glance became a scandalous glare. “Holding our unborn children hostage, have you not thought that might be unjust? Do you not think we deserve to be fathers? Do you not think we deserve to know a full life?”
“Not like that.” Swallowing down bile, I shook off the horror.
As if he realized he had driven me to illness, the male softened considerably. “Small as you are, you are quite fierce. A new generation will be born thanks to you. If anything, many will look to you as a hero for ordering the women to give new life to a struggling species. And as it had been an order, and as you are their queen, those females who denied your will are at fault and deserve what their mates might do to them.”
Mortified at the thought, my face fell. “It wasn’t an order.”
With a dark laugh, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I was standing there as you made your proclamation. The females obeyed, because you gave them good reason to submit to your will. To wield your power, that is what it is to be a leader. There will be a new world order, and our genders may not see eye to eye, but you and Cyderial... you are to set the example. You are to make the women listen.”
I hated the sound of all he said. “And Cyderial, what is he to do?”
It was said as if I were simple. “Worship you. Tear down cities for you. Offer you an entire planet to rule at his side. At his side, female. Remember that. You will serve all, be mother to all, if that is your wish. But you must tolerate the crown in return.”
How foolish I had been to think I would wield power over these men, that I could handle any of that. “I’m a twenty-two-year-old academy failure. You are asking too much of me.”
“We are not human.” That foxlike smirk settled into place. “Our place in the hierarchy is relegated at birth—no different than the vorec. The strongest of us may have scrapped amongst ourselves for rank, but all was decided in the arena decades before you were born. Your mate is unbeatable, and the fact that you have that kind of monster wrapped around your tiny little finger is almost funny.” But this was spoken with a deep sense of envy, Murdoch unashamed to let me know how badly he craved a female of his own to spoil.
21
“I should have known I’d find you here.”