Empire of Shadows (Raiders of the Arcana, #1)

by Jacquelyn Benson

Halfway through the second week, the food ran out. The converts harvested strange plants and killed animals that Salavert felt certain were forbidden in Leviticus. He stoutly refused to sully himself by eating them… at least, until he got a bit hungrier.

He realized that he had indeed been called to this unholy place by God—but the instrument of redemption that he had been chosen to deliver was not prayer. It was death.

With horror, Salavert wondered whether martyrdom at the hand of a female would even count in the eyes of God.

At that tender age, it had never occurred to Ellie that the life she wanted was an impossibility—that no amount of intelligence and determination would ever overcome the handicap of her gender.

Marriage would mean the end of any occupation for her besides managing the household—a fate even less desirable than being eaten alive by a boa constrictor.

Ellie was also aware that her efforts, if successful, might very well force the world to finally accept her as an archaeologist and scholar—and why not? She had all the training and education required for the job. That she was excluded from the field purely on the basis of her gender was the rankest injustice.

Ellie had little desire to be shut up with a bunch of colonial administrators. They were all likely to be Englishmen, and Englishmen were prone to thinking that they knew best what a woman ought to be doing with herself. They were usually quite happy to impose those opinions on any female unfortunate enough to be in their vicinity.

Nothing was ever that easy for a woman trying to blaze her own path in the world.

In her experience, men were often particularly ungracious when confronted with the reality that a woman might be as well informed as they were on a subject—or better.

Even though Bates had proved himself to be a decent fellow—protecting her from Jacobs without a question—he was still a man. He would have been raised all of his life to see women as fragile beings in need of protection… if they weren’t simply to be exploited. Centuries of cultural conditioning couldn’t be overcome on a whim—not even if he meant her well. Meaning her well could easily turn into sticking her on a boat back to London.

“I don’t like pretending to be something I’m not,” he finally replied, his tone short. “I don’t like looking for ways to take advantage of people. When I get to the end of my day, I don’t want to worry about what connections I should be making or which of my friends might be out to get me. I just want to take off my boots and watch the sky change for a little while.”

there are other features of a marriage which most men seem desirous of acquiring.” Ellie’s mouth firmed into a grimmer line. “After all, the relationship has been structured to accrue all the possible benefits to them at the expense of the women involved.”

“I think it will be better when the purview of academic knowledge is open to the entire globe instead of just a single class and gender in a tiny corner of it,” she declared firmly.