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)
He took me under his arm, tucking me against his side. “You’re splendid. I want to make sure you understand that, my dear.”
Was my enjoyment of pleasure part of the reason he let me leave his house? Was that a secret the other women needed to know? It was certainly something to consider, but first—the issue of even reaching the unmated females. “You promise to support me when I speak with your friends?”
Nodding, he urged me a step forward. “You have some valid points and deserve to be heard. However, I do not think to accomplish more than planting a seed tonight. It may take years of watering to even sprout. Thayer is your best chance at any sort of immediate progress. Even there, you don’t have much leverage. He could walk into the academy right now and take her if he wanted to. Brute force over strategy has always been his approach, if you understand my meaning.”
The colossal male would break little Maeve in half if he ever got inside her, and I didn’t like him in the slightest.
“He will arrive as soon as word gets out that my mate is in public. That should give you some time to settle into this new environment and prepare,” Cyderial said with a smirk, aware of my trail of thoughts.
A new environment indeed. One filled with soft music, a stringed instrument played by a woman with a lilting voice. She had auburn hair in loose waves around her shoulders and the vibrant green eyes most common in our kind. Not one uniform was to be found, no hint of our purpose.
Not one sword.
Slowly, I took in all I might gather. “I don’t recognize anyone.”
“A certain rank is required for admission to this courtyard. No recent graduate’s song has attracted any of the unmated males here. You are the first to draw one of our most powerful males in decades.”
Thoughts that several of these men may have been lonely for ages fostered an unwitting spark of sympathy in my breast. “I wonder why.”
“Some believe it is an act of God,” Cyderial said, patting where my hand rested in the crook of his elbow. “Others blame the humans for destroying the more volatile strains of vorec genetics that created the older generations. Then there is you, hope for all of them. Beautiful and stable. Brilliant. There is a reason they are staring at you right now. But you are mine—because I am the strongest and made myself worthy. Tell them that, and they may mimic my approach.”
Arrogance was not a trait I would have expected from the general I had known as a child. It needed to be checked. “Hiding children away while tormenting their friends?”
Nor was I sure I would refer to myself as stable.
Smirking, not at all rebuked, he growled lowly, “The practice of patience, my darling. The study of technique to help draw out a young virgin. I know how to stimulate every last nerve in your body, and you do enjoy my hands on you. Some of it, perhaps, is intuitive, but the greater study taught me how to do this.”
Dropping my arm, his fingers tripped up my spine, then dug in just enough that tension fell right out of my shoulders.
A hum of noise fell from my lips. “It’s unfair that you know how to make my body do that.”
With a dark chuckle, he said, “You are welcome to practice on me anytime you wish.”
“You practiced on someone?” Voice shrill, my tension rushed right back. All of it and then some as I glared wide-eyed at my mate.
And then I caught myself.
My kneejerk reaction had been unexpected for both of us, Cyderial quick to say, “Do you honestly think a man as devoted as I am could ever touch another woman? I have loved you with every beat of my hearts since I was born.” Utterly serious, he frowned. “Every choice I have made in my life has been with my mate in mind. Even in my academy years, I never crept around in the dark.”
I didn’t owe him any apologies, but the way he looked at me incited a streak of regret for things done in my youth. Things I had done because I was driven to them by this man.
“What were you like when you graduated?” I could hardly imagine him as anything other than he was now. A terrifying force of nature.
His fingers went back to working on my spine, the man thoughtful. “Spoiling for a fight. I know you won’t believe me, but the academy was much worse in my youth. Humans still controlled the inner workings; they conducted experiments on the recruits. It was difficult to survive. Once deemed suitable for service, I left that place and entered my name as a combatant for the arena. My frustrations with life were worked out on the sands. Over decades, I achieved rank enough to access the list, but no hybrid female sung for me. Human females, on the other hand, sought my attentions and earned my disgust. Composure and patience have been learned traits.”