The transport journey from the Spire to Alba feels eternal. Every moment is torture as Rafe and I sit in silence with Tribune Jin Kol's satisfied smirk burning into my peripheral vision. The sadistic bastard is enjoying every second of this.
After some research, I have come to realize that this has nothing to do with Eve, per se. It’s more about his original revenge for how Gael made him look when he facilitated Lara becoming the first human to claim galactic citizenship. So now Jin Kol wants to make sure that Eve never does that, that we never see her as more than a prisoner or a pet, so that she won’t think to claim it. It’s a hypocritical stance for a man who claims publicly to stand for humans as equals, but Jin Kol is a politician after all.
“Tell me, Tribune,” I begin lightly, “what really happened with Lara, Gael the Returner’s wife?”
He looks at me sharply. “That record is public. Surely you’ve read it.”
“Oh yes, I’ve read it, but as is the case with most public records, it’s too polished,” I reply. “Why don’t you tell me your version, off the record, of course.” He just stares at me, so I continue, “A human who should have died at the Fertility Goddess’ Temple became the first to be recognized as a galactic citizen under your seal. Since then, you’ve spent the last few years pretending it was all about reform, but now that I’m personally involved, I think it's more about revenge. That you don’t care about equality for humans. But what I can’t figure out, is revenge against whom — Gael? Kamos? Lara?”
“As I said, it’s all in the public record.” His smirk is gone.
Good.
“The sanitized version is in the public record, but not what really happened. Don’t mistake me for a woman recording the laws. I’m a man of the galaxy,” I push, making eye contact with Rafe. He doesn’t like where I’m going with this, but he isn’t going to stop me. “It looks like you were made to look like a fool more than once regarding Lara, although it’s all cleverly hidden behind legal language and diplomacy in theofficial record. First, Gael married Lara, then Kamos bought her at Gala, and then, she did the impossible. She escaped Kamos’ palace with teleportation tech for Terra Ka. And then,youhad to give her citizenship, and now she’s disappeared to wherever Gael takes his prizes. It’s not a good look for you. You don’t even have your trophy, and what a trophy she would have been? As I recall, you favor blonde humans.”
“I was upholding the new law. Where Lara goes, as long as she’s not breaking the law, isn’t my concern. What’s Lara to you?”
“Nothing,” I say. “I’ve never even met her. I’m just trying to figure out why you hate our Eve so much.”
I watch as Jin Kol adjusts his jewelry, thinking.“Be careful, Lorian. I can add pain and suffering to Eve’s punishment schedule today.”
Rafe interjects, “Please excuse Lorian; he’s not slept well.”
“Come now,” I say. “I know you like human women. I know that you were denied by Denise and Yasmin last year at the Championships. That must have added salt to your wound about Lara.”
“You misunderstand, Lorian,” Jin Kol says.
“Do I? When you had the chance to find Yasmin, you didn’t take it. I also readthatin a report. Why?” I ask.
Surprise crosses his face for an instant. “That’s classified.”
“So it is, but it’s still true. You let Yasmin go. So why does Eve bother you so much? She acted only with compassion for her fellow humans.”
“You both allowed her to act above her station. To dress as a Reima Two woman. To act as a Reima Two woman. To be your equal.”
“Yes,” I say. “We trained her to become that person so that she could act as our liaison.”
“And it’s not right,” Jin Kol says, surprising all of us.
“Ah, I see now. This is about sex. If human women are truly free, then they can deny you sex, and despite your political posturing, you’d rather human women still be kept on leashes, but Lara madethatimpossible by claiming citizenship. And Eve reminded you of that and more?—”
Jin Kol gets out his IC and expands it. He then adds six more lashes to Eve’s upcoming punishment.
“Tribune—” Rafe begins, but I cut him off.
“Go on, add more lashes. Dr. Veil is with us, and we have the right to bring our prisoner back to life to serve her sentence if she dies today. And I think Eve would want to know the truth too. To know this is all about your base desires. How many times have you watched the video of Gael and Lara fucking at the Fertility Goddess’s Temple?”
Jin Kol adds more lashes to Eve’s punishment on his tablet.
I can’t stop now. “I know it was you who sent Lara to that temple and abandoned her. No doubt hoping she would be killed.”
Rafe looks at me and shakes his head.
“This isn’t justice,” I say. “You want to use your position to fuck humans all the while pretending to be their savior.”
“Lorian, you forget the Court still holds authority?—”
“Authority? There’s no way a judge is going to review our conversation and do anything but agree with me.”
