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What had been a cutting glance became a scandalous glare. “Holding our unborn children hostage, have you not thought that might be unjust? Do you not think we deserve to be fathers? Do you not think we deserve to know a full life?”
“Not like that.” Swallowing down bile, I shook off the horror.
As if he realized he had driven me to illness, the male softened considerably. “Small as you are, you are quite fierce. A new generation will be born thanks to you. If anything, many will look to you as a hero for ordering the women to give new life to a struggling species. And as it had been an order, and as you are their queen, those females who denied your will are at fault and deserve what their mates might do to them.”
Mortified at the thought, my face fell. “It wasn’t an order.”
With a dark laugh, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I was standing there as you made your proclamation. The females obeyed, because you gave them good reason to submit to your will. To wield your power, that is what it is to be a leader. There will be a new world order, and our genders may not see eye to eye, but you and Cyderial... you are to set the example. You are to make the women listen.”
I hated the sound of all he said. “And Cyderial, what is he to do?”
It was said as if I were simple. “Worship you. Tear down cities for you. Offer you an entire planet to rule at his side. At his side, female. Remember that. You will serve all, be mother to all, if that is your wish. But you must tolerate the crown in return.”
How foolish I had been to think I would wield power over these men, that I could handle any of that. “I’m a twenty-two-year-old academy failure. You are asking too much of me.”
“We are not human.” That foxlike smirk settled into place. “Our place in the hierarchy is relegated at birth—no different than the vorec. The strongest of us may have scrapped amongst ourselves for rank, but all was decided in the arena decades before you were born. Your mate is unbeatable, and the fact that you have that kind of monster wrapped around your tiny little finger is almost funny.” But this was spoken with a deep sense of envy, Murdoch unashamed to let me know how badly he craved a female of his own to spoil.
21
“I should have known I’d find you here.”
Awakened from a light doze, I blinked up at a man who had obviously bathed so I might not see what he had been up to. Sleepy smile on my lips, I looked him over.
He was unharmed.
Blond hair hanging in his eyes, he smirked back.
The little girls had put braids in my hair and pinned them as they would, making me look adorably ridiculous as I found all the ways I could to occupy their time. But my energy didn’t last, and I was forced to nap often, usually in a pile of kiddos who drooled on me and snored contentment not to have to sleep alone when the room shook.
I was still dressed in Cyderial’s shirt, a blanket serving as a makeshift skirt.
Kneeling to gently remove chubby arms and sleeping heads from my body, Cyderial dug me out of the pile, helping me to my feet.
It had been two days at least, my belly flat and the plug long gone. Yet heat had hardly begun to rear its head. Perhaps pregnancy had something to do with it.
I’d known he’d come before I might suffer, happy to feel him draw me into his arms no matter who saw.
Against his chest, I grumbled, “I’m very angry with you.”
Though I was anything but. What I had been was worried, grateful, appalled, disgusted, bewitched, now so very happy to have my hands on him so I might breathe his scent deep.
Ushering me away from the crowd, Cyderial warned, “I can’t stay for long, but I would like to make you something to eat.”
Out of earshot of the littles, I teased, “If it’s a human heart, I would prefer meat cubes.”
I loved it when I made him laugh.
Less than a month mated to him, and it had become my favorite sound.
My latest guardian, General Aegir, nodded his silver head but did not follow as we passed. I would be handed off to him soon enough, but not until I forced my mate to rest.
Cyderial looked exhausted.
First, a lengthy rut, then his brilliant plan to leave his newly pregnant mate alone to lay siege to the city. Maybe I was angry with him after all.
When the door closed and we were alone in a room I had not seen in days, I said, “You should have told me. I’m your mate, Cyderial. You should have told me what you intended to do. Not forced me to sleep.”
As he reached for my face so he might kiss me, I was pushed against the door and left to bear the weight of a male far more in need than I was.
