The Twisted Throne (The Bridge Kingdom, #5)

by Danielle L. Jensen

He didn’t know her name. Yet God help him, the vision of her suspended in the water, hand outstretched toward a shark three times her size, would be burned into his mind until the end of his days. Entirely fearless, a woman whose equal he’d never met in his life.

“Fortunately for you, Ithicana is more comfortable with violence than pomp,” King Aren interjected, and James did not fail to note the way he took his queen’s hand, pulling her close. Theirs was a match much discussed at court, and it would appear that the rumors that the Ithicanian king was deeply in love with his Maridrinian wife were true.

“But it’s far worse if you don’t know how to take care of yourself. Imagine being in such a situation and relying on the men in your family as your only form of protection. Imagine being caught by enemies while you are without those men, and you cannot protect your nieces and nephews because women are not taught to wield a blade. Imagine watching them die because you cared more about propriety and a man’s vision of femininity than the skills it took to face reality. Would you thank them for protecting you then, or would you curse them for limiting you?”

“But knowing your mother bore you because she had to is a burden I wouldn’t wish upon any child. All children deserve to be wanted,

“But men are very good at orchestrating the misery of women.