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)
Still puzzling me out, General Aegir seemed completely confounded. “Mating is natural.”
“Natural to a man who knows what’s happening and why. It’s terrifying to females kept ignorant about their bodies. It makes you assailants, aggressors… not kind men who want to love them.” Hearts picking up in rhythm, I ground my teeth. “Females suffer. Males force females to be ignorant yet are willfully ignorant themselves. If you have to drug a response, it’s not genuine.”
Before one of them might say something I’d never forgive, I added, “I’m not trying to insult you, but I will not subject any daughter I may bear to a male who believes such behavior is acceptable.”
Silence fell between us, the painful sort that fostered secrets and nurtured unspoken disagreement.
Cyderial began to pet my arm, a low rumble offered gently.
Uneasy, I asked Aegir, who seemed most reasonable, “Is it true many mated female hybrids refuse to bear young?”
Nodding, he said, “Yes.”
“Tonight, strangers begged me to give one of you my daughter, in the hope you might make the world a safer place. So that they too might know their daughters would not be abused or neglected. They will not give hybrids natural-born children until changes are made.”
Arms over his chest, General Aegir remained unsmiling. “State in specifics what it is you desire.”
Forcing a smile, I said, “Support me in allowing older unmated females of age to learn about their anatomy, the expectations of mating, the male’s ability to influence them, and the physical act itself.”
With unblinking, fixated stares, all three males kept their silence.
The fact that female education was so threatening… it was madness.
A far deeper fear began to take hold of me. “If the humans did not demand females be trained to serve, would we even be allowed education? Do you think so little of us?”
Aegir held up his hands as if to gentle me. “You misunderstand.”
Blood running cold, I would have backed away if not for Cyderial’s mass at my back. “Can you explain it to me? Right now, I’m starting to fear that hybrid males are a terrible threat to our kind.”
“I would give my mate anything she asked for.”
“But only after she was unwillingly in your control.” I had never really thought on it much in the past, but now I wanted to know. “Why are there no female generals? This corruption in thought is due to an imbalance. You have ignored women for so long that you do not think their opinions have value.”
“We are muddying the waters of this conversation by reaching outside of the original point. These are complex topics—”
“I disagree. I am finding a great deal of clarity. Equality is simple. These issues are so much deeper than males’ desire for control. Without a mate, you have had no reason to consider females at all. If they do not sing, they are an afterthought.” It all began to make sense, and it was so very sad. “The women here tonight are begging me to give you a reason to care, because you have power but no consideration. This is so much deeper than manipulating females’ access to information. Are we purely ornamental to you?”
Cyderial did enjoy dressing me, styling my hair, demanding I arrive with a large belly so his friends might see. Would he have supported another female had she made reasonable suggestions? Without a mate’s opinion, he may not have been capable of it.
Leaving males in power was dangerous for us all.
But giving them my daughters might mean my girls could suffer. Cyderial claimed they were worthy, but I was not so sure.
It was an impossible position to be in.
“You may have some point that we do not consider other males’ mates. It is not in our nature, nor is it our place to do so. Not unless something can be learned that may be beneficial to the keeping of a woman of our own. It is the mated male’s duty to ensure his female is content. Unmated males serve, we work, we bleed, and we do this year after year—alone.”
So, we were not ornamental. It was worse. We did not exist to them. Not without a song. “This would be beneficial to all unmated females. Such benefits would pass to you through happy mates that may grow to love you without violence and manipulation.”
And that was the key to tempting these males’ attention.
They did not care about the greater good of females. They cared only about their female.
With everything to lose, I made a wager. “Let me prove it. General Thayer has heard the song of my exceptional friend. She will graduate in two weeks. If the three of you and Thayer agree, I will teach her, personally, what to expect when he comes for her. Together, we can all observe the outcome. You may be surprised how a female will act if she has not been abused by a man who believes his violence comes from a place of love.”