"Not all," I admit. "We didn't plan to fall in love with you."
The admission echoes through the courtroom.
Rafe doesn't contradict me.
Eve closes her eyes. When she opens them, tears run down her cheeks. "I'll need time to?—"
"Your time is up, Madame Eve. Choose now, or the court will choose for you,” the Chief Arbiter says impatiently.
"I..." she begins. Her choice, the word that will define her next seven years, hangs unspoken in the air. Above us, the news feeds explode with updates:
SOVEREIGN DIRECTORS DECLARE LOVE FOR TERRORISTReima Two's Most Eligible Bachelors Choose Human Criminal Over Traditional Marriage
HUMANITY ON TRIAL: Eve Eden Must Choose Labor or SlaveryIGC Offers Precedent-Setting Sentence for First Human Terrorist
ASCENDANT ALLIANCE STOCK PLUMMETS AS DIRECTORS PURSUE CONVICTED HUMANBoard of Directors Calls Emergency Meeting
The galaxy watches, waiting for her answer. And I realize that regardless of what she chooses, everything has changed. We've publicly claimed a human terrorist as ours. We've admitted to loving her.
Whether she chooses us or death, Eve Eden has already destroyed our carefully constructed world. The question is whether we'll rebuild it together, or whether I'll have to break her out of Kel Minor before the week is over. Because Father was right about one thing, I've never been good at letting go of what's mine. And Eve Eden, terrorist, naked and humiliated, is absolutely and irrevocably mine and Rafe’s. She just needs to say the words to make it legal.
PART IV
CHOICE AND OWNERSHIP
54
YOUR CHOICE, EVE
The wordchoicesits on my tongue like poison. Or salvation. Or both.
I stand naked in the defendant's sphere, and I make them all wait. The Chief Arbiter has given me two choices: hard labor in a mine or seven years as the Sovereigns' property.
I let the silence stretch.I want all these aliens to see that I’m not going to break down over this. I don’t regret anything I did. They can try to humiliate me by shaving my head, hurting me, or taking away my clothing, but I still saved twelve humans and an unborn baby. And I even did it for Briar, my childhood bully.
My eyes finds Rafe and Lorian in the gallery. They came. Flew across systems to watch my trial. The smart play would have been to distance themselves and to let me burn. But they didn’t.
"Madame Eve," the Chief Arbiter's compound eyes are filled with impatience. "Your decision?"
I shift in the sphere, the movement making me aware of every bruise and indignity I’ve suffered here."I need clarification," I say. "The servitude option. What exactly would it entail?"
The Chief Arbiter's tentacles writhe with annoyance. "Standard ownership protocols. Your owners would have complete authority over your person. Housing, clothing, and activities—all at their discretion. You would have no legal standing as an independent entity until your time is served. Any credits or possessions would transfer to them. Any children born during your servitude would be their property."
"And basic sentient rights protections?"
"Minimal. Protection from permanent maiming or death. Required medical care. Adequate nutrition." The Chief Arbiter manipulates his interfaces. "Though enforcement depends entirely on your owners' compliance."
"I see." I let another long moment pass. In the gallery, trainers shift restlessly. Aefre looks ready to leap from his seat and strangle me himself. "And after seven years?"
"Full rights restoration. You would be free to pursue employment elsewhere, though references from your term of service would likely be required. And you would not be able to return to Earth under any circumstances."
Seven years. It might as well be seventy. But the alternative is hard labor.
Then I hear Lorian from the gallery, "Your Honor, might the interested parties address the defendant?"
And the Chief Arbiter allows it.
It doesn’t take long before Rafe and Lorian are standing in front of me. I’m so overwhelmed with emotion I can barely hear them. But I get the gist of it; they’re promising me they’ll be good masters.
