Women In Battle

Orion~

I shouldn’t have said anything. She’s gone from being the perfect partner to staring at the floor for the past few miles. People are starting to notice her lack of interaction, and she’s driving me crazy.

Aren’t women supposed to react differently to this when a man asks for their hand in marriage? Sure, I’m no saint, but neither is her family, who have coincidentally been lying to her for her whole life. Shouldn’t she be putting in some effort to get on my good side now that I spared them?

That’s what my mother did with my father when their marriage was arranged. It’s clear she’s the perfect match for me and everything I could possibly want in this sort of arrangement, but she’s disgusted. I don’t understand what I can do to make this better.

Women all over the country would fall over themselves to be in her position, and she’s acting as if she’s been sent to the stake. I’m not one to question my own choices, but I’m running out of ideas here. It’s not like I can magically make myself into a better person, and I wouldn’t want to anyway.

I see the outline of the training building up ahead and direct her toward the entrance. Women aren’t usually allowed in here, but as my wife, nothing will be off limits. She’ll be my equal, even if she doesn’t want to be.

The sounds of sparring echo off the walls as we enter, and I see her lift her head to look around. Those bright green eyes go wide, probably never seeing this stuff before, and I feel quite smug to be able to introduce her to it.

“Who’s the woman?” One of the younger family members says out loud, and my attention snaps from that of Emma, to the man with a death wish.

“Refer to my future wife like that again, and I’ll have your head.” I deliver my warning through my teeth, and the complexion of the man and few others pales considerably.

“Sorry, Sir.” All eyes turn to us now, and we are greeted by their universal sign of respect. I don’t understand why this always seems to disgust Emma, after all, she is a leading figure now, and it is what she deserves.

“I’m not your wife yet, Orion, he can talk to me how he pleases.” She sighs as if tired of the whole day already before adding, “Where are the women?”

Emma looks up at me now, and my brows furrow in confusion. I mean, why would we have women here? What sort of establishment would I be running to put them in harm’s way?

“You do hire women, don’t you?” She asks with disbelief, and I narrow my eyes, seeing that this is likely going to end up in another argument.

I lead her back out of the training room, as they can’t work with my watching over them anyway. It would be disrespectful for them to turn their backs to me, and I usually let Donovan run the training sessions as part of his role as second.

Once we’re surrounded by trees and nature, somewhere I’ve noticed she feels more comfortable in, before I dare to answer her. “No, we don’t hire women in this role. We need strong men.”

Rather than a reply, I just receive a glare and know that I probably could have skipped the last sentence. I’m not used to being questioned by anyone I can’t discipline, and I wonder if she were more open in the bedroom whether I’d be able to punish her there instead.

“I should think with a leader so...” She struggles to find the best word, and I’m more than happy to jump at the opportunity to fill in the blank myself. No doubt it’s something less than flattering that she has in mind.

“Charming? Handsome? Authoritative?” I tilt my head, waiting for her answer, and boy does my girl deliver.

“I was thinking more along the lines of destructive, but if you want to continue making love to yourself by all means, go ahead. If you're still insisting on this whole marriage thing... you'll be doing a lot of that going forwards.” She smiles sarcastically, and my jaw actually hurts from grinding my teeth so hard in reaction.

When will I learn to expect that sharp tongue of hers? She only seems to get more outspoken the more I'm with her. But unfortunately for her, I'm not the type to stay down for long.

“If I knew you were into that sort of thing, Princess, I'd have put on a show for you last night.”

I'd have crawled over broken glass if it meant I'd get something other than scorn in return.

Ignoring my comment, she continues. “What I was saying is that I should think that with a leader so destructive, you'd want all your women to be able to defend themselves from your many enemies.”

I catch her emphasis on ‘many enemies’ and almost see her point, the key word being almost. We have no need for women to protect themselves, my guards are strong, and my security is infallible. A woman or child has never been harmed inside this family, and nothing will dare to change that fact.

“We protect our women. Training is not needed.” I keep it to simple points, hoping to give her less to latch onto, but my Emma is a clever little thing.

“There will always be a threat to your women if your men are anything like their leader.”

She gives me no time to respond. Instead, she stalks away from me in the direction of our home, leaving me speechless and hitting me where it hurts.

Is that really what she thinks of me? Does my future wife see me as a threat to her?

I’ve done some bad things, but I’d never raise my hand to her. I can’t; that’s built inside of our whole moral code. I could set the very world on fire, and the only person I could never harm would be her now that the deal has been made.

Bringing her here and enforcing this is more difficult than I thought. I’ve been blessed with a woman made of fire, and I don’t know what I can do to get through to her.

Hell, if I let the women train, will she give me a chance? No, that’s ridiculous, I’d never change my family to satisfy a woman. Even if she is meant to be my other half.