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

by Jacquelyn Benson

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.

“Just one little arrest,” Ellie offered cheerfully, “which they aren’t even pressing charges for. It’s not as though I was denying half the population of the United Kingdom one of their most basic and essential civil rights, consigning them to a life of virtual slavery thinly disguised as ‘domestic bliss’ and forbidding them from any meaningful or profitable employment.”

Constance paused with the eclair momentarily forgotten halfway to her lips. Her eyes glittered with excitement. “Is it about a man? Do tell me that it’s a man.” Ellie stiffened with alarm. “Gracious, no!” she exclaimed. “What on earth would I want to do with one of those? No.

“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.”

“You love telling men when they’re wrong about things,” Bates returned cheerfully. “Only when it happens to be true!” she retorted.

“Children,” Ellie echoed darkly. The word sounded like a curse. “You, ah… not fond of kids?” Adam offered carefully. “Children,” she asserted as she warmed to the topic, “are another weight added to the chains of marriage. They trap a woman in the most intolerable of circumstances, depriving her of any slim hope she might have had of intellectual freedom or achievement.