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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 foryourbenefit, remember? He couldn’t care less about my comfort.”
Gritting out, “Please makemethe 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.”
Cyderial went from languid to divergent, interjecting immediately, “I don’t think that’s a good—"
“I didn’t ask you what you thought!” she barked. Throwing me a wink after a moment of tense silence, she added, “Lorieyn, tell him you want two glasses of wine served with our midnight snack.”
The strange woman just interrupted a fully ranked general, and he held his tongue like an admonished pup. Deeply intrigued, I looked away from my scowling captor and gave the glittering waif my full attention. “Who are you?”
“My name is Miranda.” There was nothing pretentious in her introduction. Just a factual statement of “One of the first hybrid females born in Risa Colony.”
Then she was at least four hundred years old! Beautiful, ageless, and absolutely perfect in every female way… and Cyderial’s superior on every level.
A hybrid of her age and experience could literally snap me in half like a twig.
I had shown her my claws and been unforgivably rude. Had we been in an academy setting, I would be a bloodstain on the floor right now.
But she treated me with kindness at my obvious embarrassment. “We did not know then what we know now about mating urges or the madness of the song. You don’t have to suffer what I went through—ten years of being bullied by a well-meaning male who could not control his impulses. Nor do you need to be afraid of me. Let me counsel you on how to handle a mate of his temperament.”
Drinking her in like she might actually be able to save me, I managed a soft order at last. “Cyderial, I will have a glass of wine, as will Miranda.”
Beautifully smiling, she gave me a gentle pat. “Well done, my girl. Come, let’s see about that hot bath.”
* * *
There had beenbaths when I was very little, in the sink of my mother’s small apartment. Though I understood the concept and had even recognized the raised tub in Cyderial’s bathroom, I would have never thought to actually use it.
Already sweating, I confessed to the strange woman, “I am too hot for a hot bath.”
Adjusting the settings so steaming water might pour out, Miranda said, “I know it seems counterintuitive, but it doesn’t really work that way. If you prefer, I can fill it up with cold water, which mightfeelhelpful, but the heat will have a soothing effect on your nervous system and subsequently buy you more time. The cold will actually stimulate it, and your symptoms will progress at a faster rate. Absurd, isn’t it?”
Well, that was solid information. Shaking out of the soiled dress, I asked, “What else can you teach me?”
Nudity between females was a way of life, but this was the first person to view my body since I had been opened. There was a vivid seam between my legs now, but she kept her eyes on my face as she helped me into the tub.
Old Miranda was right. Sinking into steaming water was really very comforting.
Yet the entire tenor of the woman altered the second she had me in the water. Lathering soap between her hands to work it into my arm, there was a sudden urgent quality to her low-spoken secrets, as if she suspected he listened at the door. “He won’t tolerate my keeping you to myself for much longer, so I want to be plain with you, child. There is no breaking the bond. I tried everything when I was in your shoes, all it led to was suffering. You may not have wanted this male, but ultimately females cannot choose based on personal preference. Nature demands the strongest mates.We are made from this planet and must follow the rules of this world.Our ranking system requires a great deal of violence between the men. One does not earn the title of General only from excellence in the field. Cyderial had to physically defeat every other male vying for the position. Thousands. He still takes challengers once a year. Not all of the males eager for rank walk away. Before it was outlawed, humans used to make a sport of it. He was very popular, filling up stadiums so they might watch that man tear apart his peers.”
