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She hated it as much as I did. “What is the epitome of a perfect mate?”
Honestly, I didn’t know. “Many females do not react well to being opened and bred. They rebel, grow violent.”
“Of course they do!”
I could not agree more. “Of course they do. The men currently assume this is female nature and lock their mates away for years. Many women are kept in captivity and raped day and night until they choose to submit. Even those who submit may still be kept away.”
Cocking her head, she studied me. “But you were not locked away.”
“Cyderial is different. He resisted and focused on studying everything he could find about how to please a mate. You see, the men have journals, manuals, in-depth information they keep from us. Full of techniques teaching how to control us, knowledge on sexual pleasure, about our anatomy. Furthermore, Cyderial knows me. And on some level, I suppose I knew him.” I could admit that now, even if the knowing of him had been terrible. “I am the first who has been let out after being mated without a lengthy tenure locked away. This has drawn a great deal of attention to us. Other males, including your Thayer, desire what they perceive between Cyderial and myself. Males want affection in place of violence. They want eager sexual partners instead of a dazed woman who lies beneath them and waits for it to be over.”
Maeve cocked a perfect brow. “You do these things?”
Nodding, cheeks going pink, I confessed, “I enjoy sex and do not intend to deny myself pleasure, when the rest of my life is... concerning at times. I wanted the fog; I worked very hard to achieve my goals. Now, I’ve been dropped into a world I wasn’t prepared for, and I’m owned by a man who is obsessive in his care for me. As for affection, I tolerate his and find that many times I do enjoy it.” My current situation was not going to alter. I would belong to Cyderial until the end of time. “I am mated. I am addicted. And was blessed with great advice from a very old female. Miranda spoke of regret. Though I feel it sometimes to the point I can’t breathe, it is a waste of time. Nothing can be changed for me. In centuries, nothing has changed for her or the others like her. But I can change things for you, for other unmated females.”
With a disdainful snort, Maeve said, “All you have to do is give obstinate men your baby.”
“And deliver you to General Thayer, Maeve,” I added softly.
Tenacious, she sneered. “If I refuse?”
If she refused, I would be able to set down an insupportable weight. I would not have to grow heavy with both guilt and a baby who would be taken from my arms. And nothing would change. “If you agree, you will be the linchpin in forcing our males to support women in having access to knowledge about their bodies—and we might be able to create a world that benefits all of our daughters in a very important way.”
“It won’t work.”
Unsure if I felt relief or disappointment, I closed my eyes and let out a breath. “Okay.”
“It won’t work, Lorieyn, unless every other hybrid female gestates a daughter at the same time,” she said with cold, calculating authority. “The mated males will be forced to consider what their daughters will have to deal with, and the unmated males will want to please what might be theirs one day.”
My dear sister was truly a politician at heart.
How dearly I loved her.
Resolved, a flare of anger burning in her heart, Maeve demanded, “Will the mated females agree to this?”
Nodding, astounded at such an outrageous and brilliant concept, I felt my hearts skip a beat. Miranda would see that every last female supported this endeavor, which meant, at the end of it all, it wasn’t Maeve who had been cornered into something terrible; it was me.
I would be forced to birth a child. I would do this for my sisters. And it broke my heart.
I started to cry.
But a woman like Maeve, born and bred to bring positive change to the world, didn’t flinch like I had. Determined, she retook her chair, pointed at me to retake mine, and began asking me everything she could think of on the topics of mating, sex, pleasure, males, and how to survive them.
The short remaining minutes were not enough time to cover half of what I’d learned.
When Cyderial came to take my friend away, I pulled her to me and hugged Maeve so hard I may have cracked one of her ribs. I could not be coaxed away from her until my mate began to thrum and sweeten the air. Even then, I was sobbing when she was ordered out.
And he was kind to me.
Kind and gentle.
Until he grew rough and perfect.
15
A week had passed since I was allowed to see Maeve. A week in which I had plenty of time to process all we discussed.
To wonder if she fully accepted her role in this endeavor.
