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)
Growing more uncomfortable with the lack of any relevant information, I asked, “What about your mate?”
“What about her?”
Fidgeting, I felt as if I had gone sharply in the wrong direction. “I mean… what if it had been someone else who heard her song first?”
His voice was frightening. “They would be dead, and she would still be mine.”
Okay. Noted, he was very possessive of his female.
Which gave me an opening to challenge my hypothesis. To find out what it took to ruin a woman. “Are there men that will fornicate with a woman, even if she is not their mate?”
The look in his eyes made it clear I was risking much by pushing the conversation this way.
Yet he answered me. Somber, he stated, “Young men can be impulsive and rash in their search for pleasure. The list assures that unmated females are not exposed to such males. Only those of high rank and demonstrated loyalty can access the females ready to engage in sex and enjoy a bond, not the unproven boys.”
“There are boys here,” I reminded him.
“And they know what I would do to them if they touched you.” Without hesitation, Cyderial leaned forward, proud to state, “Before I took over the academy, one in four females in these walls were improperly handled. Now, it’s less than one in twenty.”
That statement was too vague, and I had no basis to know what “improperly handled” might mean to such a man. “Who says it’s improper, the men or the women?”
His answer came succinct and steady. “Nature. The women become infertile, or the children, if she can even reproduce, are born wrong and do not survive. Ruined females live out their lifespan lacking a bond with a partner. Lifespans that are greatly reduced.”
We were getting closer to what I wanted to know. “What ruins the female?”
I didn’t think he was going to offer a reply, the extended pause in conversation awkward.
Staring at me, staring far too hard, General Cyderial said, “The song inspires certain actions. Males know, and we crave. Females accept, and they receive. A male who isn’t her mate lacks the ability to bond with that female or see to her physical needs properly. She’s left damaged. Her true mate is left without a partner. The man who went against nature and took what was not his has no drive to care for the woman he used, and will mate another, should he hear the song. To upset that natural balance means ruin for all.”
Very poetic but lacking any useful information. “Are you saying that if a woman doesn’t want a mate at all, either way, a male will come and ruin her or bond her? She can’t just live her life?”
Voice smooth, he said, “Mating is a pleasurable part of life. You will enjoy it.”
Bullshit. “It sounds awful. Is your mate happy?”
He took a breath. “I do everything in my power to assure she is safe and able to thrive despite difficult circumstances for us both.”
That wasn’t what I’d asked. “It’s unfair that the males have this information, and you keep the females ignorant. Why do humans have sex education and pornography for reference, and we are told nothing?”
Though he remained deadpan, a glitter of humor came to green eyes. “Been talking to humans, hmm?”
Cheeks growing pink, I tried to cover my blunder. “I hear them talk to each other.”
Leaning closer, he leveled me with that stare. “And just what has made you grow so suddenly curious about sex?”
Why did he have to lean so close? “You’re pressuring me to add my name to the list.”
Two heartbeats passed before he responded. “There is no pressure. You can take your time.”
“And stand by while I watch Dirum torture children? I’m not blind to what you have done here.”
His lips thinned. “It may not seem so now, but I am offering you a gift in this. You will be an excellent instructor. You were born for it, and that will be your path regardless of when you graduate.”
I stole my glance away from him before he might see the anxiety that imagined nightmare future created within me. The man must have disliked me a great deal to think to assign me to a lifetime tied to the academy. He must have hated me, in fact. “Unless I submit to the list?”
“Even then, you will have an assignment. Your mate will place you where you are safest. There is no safer place in the city for a hybrid female than the academy.”
“Then give me specifics.” I dared much to demand it, but I had so little hope left. “How does a male bond a female to him?”
Which he was clearly not going to share. “You will learn the specifics from your mate when you’re ready to submit.”
Submission was not my forte. My greatest gift was perseverance. “What does the song sound like to you?”