Kinshield's Redemption (Book 4)
the wearer from notice. When we do not wish to be noticed, we put them on. Wearing these for most of our journey, we avoided several such patrols.”
    Such amulets would also keep a Cyprindian army from being noticed as they marched on Tern. Edan shuddered and tried to cover his uneasiness with a smile. At his earliest opportunity, he would send word to the lordovers in Delam and Calsojourn, and to his father, the Lordover Lalorian, to send armsmen to keep an eye on that ship. “I see. Tell me, Emissary Kaoque, are you married?”
    “Yes, I have one chosen wife and two brood wives. Between them, I have eight sons and a daughter.”
    “How does brood wife differ from your chosen wife, if you don’t mind my asking?”
    Kaoque smiled broadly. “My chosen wife is the woman I selected. She is from my own city, and I fell in love with her many years ago. A brood wife is a woman given to me as a gift to bear my children.”
    “Does your chosen wife bear no children?”
    “Oh, yes, she does, but there are no requirements for her children. She can bear sons or daughters as she chooses. It is a great responsibility to have a brood wife, for she is expected to bear at least five sons before she is allowed a daughter.”
    Edan raised his eyebrows. “How do you ensure a baby is born male?”
    “Before the fifth son, any females are culled, and she is properly impregnated immediately afterwards.”
    “Culled?” Edan asked, appalled. The notion of killing babies because they were female was abhorrent.
    “Females cannot become warriors,” Kaoque explained. “They are too weak of body, mind, and spirit.”
    Edan glanced at the four First Royals standing guard near the door. Taria rolled her eyes, but none of them made any comment. “Perhaps that’s true of your women,” he said, “but here in Thendylath, women can choose to take up arms.”
    “We have noticed that women here are more manly than womanly. Our women are not permitted to dress or act as men.”
    “I see,” Edan said. He didn’t want to insult his guest, but he found the strict gender roles old-fashioned. “In these modern times, our women have more freedom to choose their own paths than they once had. Some prefer to guard and battle and have trained many years to do so.”
    “How do they engage their enemies when their bellies are swollen with child?” Kaoque asked. He looked genuinely perplexed. “Do they carry their suckling infants into battle?”
    “They typically don’t marry. Like their male counterparts, they dedicate their lives to their roles as battlers.”
    “But they are weak!” Kaoque argued.
    “Perhaps they can become stronger than you realize.” A year ago, Edan would never have thought he would find himself arguing on behalf of women battlers.
    For years, he’d harbored resentment that the woman betrothed to him had fled, preferring to take up arms and fight malefactors and beyonders than to live as his wife. His resentment stemmed not because he felt women should submit to the wishes of men but because he’d been smitten with the woman his father had chosen for him, and he’d thought she liked him too. All those years, he’d questioned himself, wondered whether all women found him so objectionable or just her. It was Gavin Kinshield who’d convinced him that the Lordover Tern’s daughter had simply pursued her own dream rather than submit herself to living someone else’s, and Edan had made peace with her choice. How ironic that her choice later brought her into his life at Gavin’s side. He could almost believe they were meant to be together, if not as husband and wife then at least as friends.
    Kaoque shook his head. “I cannot imagine a woman besting one of our warriors. Tokpah would gladly enter a contest of strength against any such woman, should one find the courage to challenge him.”
    Tokpah stood resolutely silent. Edan assumed he didn’t understand their language, for Kaoque usually addressed him in a foreign

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