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)
The whole moment was utterly absurd. “What?”
“Like this.” She spun us about so we might fully face the stiff, observing male, employing a tone of stern command once more. “I want to eat braised hilp cabbage smothered in bacon and cream.” Giving me a quick wink, she added under her breath, “A salted meat from Earth so delicious our human ancestors brought pigs on the ship should they find a home after their apocalypse. It is very rare and expensive. Now, you try.”
Extracting myself from whatever kind of foolishness this was, I shook her arm off. Yet as I began to retreat into the dark, she grabbed my hand, pulling me back with more force until we were face-to-face. “Don’t be intimated by his rank. He’s your mate now. You own him. Command him to serve you.”
This pantomime may have been cute had it been acted out on another academy girl, but I was not that naïve. “My life is not some game! What is it that you want here? Trouble? Because I’ve had enough trouble to give me years of nightmares.”
Cupping my shoulders in her hands, she gave them a squeeze. “I want to show you that Cyderial isn’t scary at all. Not when it comes to you, at least.”
The silvery-haired waif was starting to seem like the scary one. Incuriously, I blurted, “Have you met him? He’s horrible!”
Laughing, she conceded a bit of the point. “To earn the rank of General required a great deal of sacrifice. Having to endure over a hundred years of loneliness while waiting for his mate to appear may have roughened him around the edges a bit.” She squeezed my hand a bit too hard, her voice congenial. “But see what happens when you order him to serve you.”
Academy students do not issue orders, not unless they want to be beaten to a pulp.
“Try, Lorieyn.” Her arm slipped around my shoulders, the female giving me a chummy jostle. “Don’t be such a baby.”
It was hard to tell if I was starting to like this woman, or if I really wanted to thumb out her eyeballs. The bones in my spine cracked as I stood taller, the wiggle of my shoulders a clear sign I wanted her arm off. “I am very hot, and I would prefer if you stop touching me.”
Her arm did not move, the smile she gave me a bit fierce. “I have just the thing for that, but first… I can’t help you much if you won’t make an effort to try. If in the traumatic early day of my bond a female had told me I could order my mate to get me anything I wanted—that they have an uncontrollable urge to please you—it would have saved me ten years of being locked up in a room after he found me and dragged me off to be raped. Saying no is not enough, princess. Not if they feel it is in your best interest to go against your will. Clear orders that will directly benefit you would be very difficult for your mate to deny.”
With a sudden sense of horror that Cyderial might do the same to me, I grew shrill. “Ten years?”
“There, there, child. Your remorseful mate over there confessed it all when he asked for my guidance.” Cutting a glance at the male, she tutted. “A little glass on the floor, Cyderial? Really?”
He said nothing, intently watching my reaction to this overbearing slip of a woman and her nonsense.
“As you may have noticed, sweet girl, the menfolk can wield a certain control over their women—when it is to entice her sexually or submit her for her safety.” Glaring at him, she added a bit more loudly, “It should not be used after arguments to silence the woman you love.”
And boy, was I still mad about it. “He insulted my mother!”
Telling on him to whoever this female force of nature was felt good! Especially when she agreed with me. “Yes, he made a poor choice while trying to teach you an important lesson. Let’s forgive him for a boyish mistake and order him to be a proper mate. Start simply. Tell him to make you food.”
Sucking in a breath, self-conscious, I looked at my naked toes and muttered, “Make whatever food your guest wants.”
Bracelets tinkling, she threw up her hands. “You’ll have to do better than that. Look, he’s not even moving. The order must be for your benefit, remember? He couldn’t care less about my comfort.”
Gritting out, “Please make me the dish she suggested,” had me sweating.
“It would be my pleasure.” How velvet the words were when they fell from his lips was utterly inappropriate. Especially considering his obnoxious guest and how widely she grinned to see a flush break out over my heated skin.
“Wine too, young man. Something sweet to help her relax.”