Whispers ripple through the tiers. Rae, still wearing the collar, tilts her head toward me, her eyes gleaming with triumph.
“Approach,” Rafe says.
It is a punishment in itself that I thought I was finished,I think as I walk back up to the Sovereigns' tier. Each step up the tier feels heavier than the last. My torn uniform hangs in tatters from the earlier punishment, fabric sliding off my shoulders. The Cohort is waiting, faceless helmets glowing red.
I glance toward the Sovereigns. Lorian leans back casually. I wonder if he’s daring me to name him as the one I committed this act with. Rafe’s gaze is cold, fixed on me like I’m a problem to be solved.
“Eve,” Rafe says. “You will confess and repent, or the punishment will continue until your body is broken enough to teach others what words cannot. The Eclipse Kiss is a desecration of the sacred order.”
I’m stripped of what’s left of my uniform, and the shroud is put over me again. It shocks me until I cry out.
“Repent.”
I shake my head, tears spilling hot down my cheeks. “I… I can’t.” I don’t know if I’m supposed to say it was with Lorian, or if everyone understands that I was giving a blowjob to one of the Sovereigns because they aren’t standing here with me? But I’m not going to be sold to Kamos over a blowjob. No fucking way, so I am keeping my mouth shut. I will endure this like I’ve endured everything else in my life.Even if it kills me.
The shocks intensify, crawling over every inch of me until I’m convulsing on the floor, naked and sobbing. Everything seems surreal now.
“Repent.”
“I can’t.” I make eye contact with Lorian. His face is serious now as he watches me. Then we both look to Rafe as he raises his hand, and the Cohort seize me by my arms and drag me up onto the dais itself, forcing me forward until my face is pressed against the cold black stone of the High Table. My ass is raised high, my body fully displayed to every witness.
A Cohort guard produces a rod glowing with blue energy.
“Repent, Eve Eden, or you will receive the rod,” Rafe says.
“I do not repent,” I say, looking at Lorian, and it occurs to me through the pain, I might as well be sayingI love you,Lorian.
The first strike lashes across my back, sending a crackling arc of pain into my flesh, and I scream, the sound echoing through the hall.Another strike. And another. The shocks make my body buck and spasm against the table. But I will not admit what I did to prove my loyalty to Lorian. Let them whip me and think this is all I’ve done to break their rules.
By the fifth lash, I can no longer feel my legs. By the seventh, I’m sobbing into the stone, my cheek wet with tears and saliva. By the ninth, I’m certain I will faint.
But I don’t. I endure every strike.I love you, Lorian.
When at last the rod falls silent, Rafe gestures for me to be released. I collapse to the floor, trembling uncontrollably. My body is marked with glowing red welts and it no longer feels like my own.
It feels like a tool I’ve used. A device to prove that I’m not afraid of their punishments. Because that’s all they are, punishments. Dr. Veil can fix all of this. It’s all transitory. They just want to shame me, but I’m already shamed for being born human. I can go no lower in the eyes of the galaxy. My status is almost higher for being punished in the same way any other staff member would be punished.
I smile deliriously at my thoughts.
The hall is utterly silent.
“Her penance is rendered,” Rafe declares. “Let every staff member remember this night. Defilement will not be tolerated. Blasphemy will not be excused.”
The Cohort drags me back down the steps because I can’t walk; my naked body hangs limp between them. They dump me in my chair at the receptionists’ tier, where I slump forward, my face in my arms, and my whole body shakes.
It’s over. For now.
“You’re so strong, Eve,” Lira says under her breath and I think I hear the other receptionists agree quietly.
Did Lorian purposely plan this?
39
NO ONE IS ABOVE THE RULES, RAFE
Eve slumps at the receptionists’tier; her naked backside is streaked with glowing red welts. Her body trembles, barely held together by will alone, and she thinks it’s finished.
It isn’t.
