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Savage, each breath stretching his uniform jacket, he snarled, “And what were you thinking, entering a bar full of unmated males?”
I was thinking I might never have to see his face again, that the only thing I’d need fear was the beautiful wild waiting for me. Instead, I whispered, “I needed to find someone.”
Voice a demonic pitch, I swear he went a bit more insane. “Who?”
I had no answer clever enough to give. Not one that wasn’t going to see him snap my neck before I might advocate for my friend.
Shouting, he demanded an answer. “What man, Lorieyn?”
I’m not sure when my back hit the wall, but I found myself cornered. “Someone who could help me.”
“What could another man give you that I have not provided?” And then it seemed to dawn on him. My dress, the cosmetics on my face. The fact that my hair was styled like one of the women in my magazines. I had been trying to entice male attention.
The drum in his chest hitched, breathing suspended.
The room was deathly quiet without that noise, tomb-like, only my labored breathing to be heard.
He never broke eye contact with me. “General Thayer, you may leave now.”
General?What could possibly be worse? Maeve was going to lose her mind, everything, if that man got his hands on her and spoiled her future.
And it was my fault.
An unexpected voice of reason, General Thayer seemed to come to my defense. “She can’t possibly understand what she was trying to do, Cyderial. She’s a child.”
Answering General Thayer but glaring at me, Cyderial grew icy. “She’s a fully grown woman. The same age as Maeve.”
Thayer countered, “So… she was curious?”
A muscle twitched in Cyderial’s cheek, the man taking in my dress and lips once more. “This wasn’t curiosity. Her scheme was planned to achieve a specific outcome.”
Yes, it was. Chin ticking up a notch with the last of my tattered dignity, I made no secret of my intentions.
The stranger’s dark scoff wasn’t comforting in the slightest. “What could she possibly want? Chaos in the streets? Lovesick boys banging at the academy door?”
I was a resentful young woman who wanted a great deal. One who had been forced into the position of fighting for what I desired.
Cyderial lost my attention completely, so I might snarl at his guest, “I can’t go into the fog unless I have been ruined.” The look of horror on the stranger’s face fed me to continue. “You have all the power, and we have none. Condemn me if you want, but I’m not sorry for wanting more than life in a cage.”
Golden head tilted, the stranger tutted at me and shook his head. “Tonight, you saw what happens when stupid girls leave their cage, didn’t you?”
I had seen much in my stolen time exploring the city—beautiful things that made me think there might actually be hope of a pleasant life outside these walls. I saw couples walking without fear. And then I saw the truth. “I saw men who couldn’t control themselves get to do as they pleased, wear what they wanted, and not be treated as if their very existence were shameful and dangerous.” The remainder of my rant was for General Cyderial, my attention and anger all his while it was my turn to glare. “So what if I want to wear a dress and explore the city I’m supposed to lay down my life for? There is nothing wrong with being feminine! Nothing to hide about what we are or the things we’re naturally drawn to. The academy forces us to live a lie. To dress like men. To act like men.We are not men!”
General Cyderial somewhat softened. “Lorieyn, if I let you wander, there would be wars fought in the streets over you. Two males are banging at the academy’s doors after a few minutes in your presence. By morning, one of them will have killed the other. A preventable loss of life.”
I had no idea men would act crazy just from hearing my song. That wasn’t exactly taught in the academy! “What of my life? I refuse to be accountable, when men in power fail to explain the details of mating to females. Even the humans don’t know!”
Jaw jumping, Cyderial ground his teeth. “I’ve answered every question you’ve asked.”
“Half-truths and generalizations! Women deserve to know how our bodies work and what you’re going to do to us.” Gesturing at the giant, I sent him a sneer. “Maeve is terrified right now, because this idiot stuck his tongue in her mouth and she doesn’t understand why.”
The idiot offered a response that almost sounded like an apology. “It takes a truly powerful man to be able to control themselves in the presence of their unmated female. Even I had Maeve against the wall with my hand up her skirt within moments of hearing her song. If anyone other than you had approached, I would have killed every man at that bar. Old friends, brothers, my subordinates… all of them.”
If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed an adult so incapable of self-control. Men really were feral. To Cyderial, I said, “Sir, I calculated the odds, ran as much surveillance as time would allow, and waited until there was low occupancy at the bar. I didn’t think anyone would notice me, let alone get hurt. I just needed to findonemale willing to ruin me who wasn’t an academy boy you would murder. And like I said, Maeve was only trying to bring me home. When she couldn’t, she stayed to keep me safe.”
He wasn’t buying it.
It would seem General Cyderial understood far more than I’d hoped. “Things did not work out as expected, and you only returned to the academy to keephersafe. So that you could lie for her.” The general let out a careful breath, bones in his hands cracking when he tightened his fists. “If not for your loyalty to Maeve, you would have wandered the streets until a male agreed to mutilate you, assuming you didn’t get caught by a suitor and bonded in his frenzy.”
