Rafe sighs. “She cried and threatened to report us to the Reima Two Board of Morality. I blamed you for everything.”
“That's fair. And yes, I got the disruptors. Don't worry; they're undetectable. We need them, Rafe. Terra Ka could pull anything at the Championships.”
Silence, then Rafe exhales sharply. “We’ll talk about them when I'm back. Everything else under control?”
I know what he's really asking:Did I tell Father about another broken engagement?“All fine. Father suggested we take a human pet.”
“And you told him it is technically illegal now if we are to believe the new law marked by Lara of Terra Ka, right?”
“Yes, but he chooses to ignore that law and believe the seventeen others that still classify humans as property.”
Rafe's tone cools further. “Our legally hired human is inbound. I will not risk any complications, Lorian. Whatever our father put into your head, forget about it.”
“Yes, yes,” I drawl. “I'd never sacrifice the Ascendant Alliance's reputation to satisfy my own curiosity.” I run a finger along the edge of the disruptor case. “Almost never.”
He mutters something dismissive about my “inquisitiveness,” and then says, “There’s someone we haven’t asked yet, Zira from House Serath.”
“And there’s a good reason, Rafe. She’s one of Reima Two’s most powerful matriarchs.”
“She’s the right age, brilliant, ruthless, and famously unmarried. She’s the kind of woman who measures power in UCs, not love. She would be…”
I cut him off. “No. Stay out of her bed, Rafe.”
“Unfortunately Lorian, her bed may be exactly where webothneed to be for the future of the Ascendant Alliance. I want you to consider it.”
“Iamconsidering it, and she’d have us both on leashes to do her bidding.”
He hesitates, then abandons what he’s going to say and instead says, “Fine. We’ll figure something out.” Then ends the call.
I stare at the lights of Alba once more, then make a reluctant decision to go back to retrieve Autumn. I hate myself, but I can’t help myself either.
She follows me to my chambers without question, her bare feet silent on the stone floors. But tonight, for the first time in years, maybe ever, I find myself actually seeing her instead of simply using her. This broken creature, who once had a different name, a different life, and different dreams of her own before Father molded her into the perfect pet.
I should be disturbed by these revelations, but they only make me hunger more for the challenge that awaits in the form of Eve Eden.
I imagine myself giving our clever new receptionist what Father never gave Autumn.
A choice.
9
NEURAL FIRE, LORIAN
Once we reach my chambers,Autumn drops to her hands and knees before I can even gesture for her to do so. But this kind of behavior, once pleasing, no longer satisfies me. She’s only following a script written by my father. And I want more from her tonight. I want something from her that my father hasn’t yet discovered.
I bypass the bedroom and enter the bathroom. I check to make sure the servants have prepared my neural bath, and once I’m satisfied I command Autumn, “Position three.”
Immediately she kneels on the stone floor, her back arched, her hands clasped behind her neck, and her thighs spread deliciously wide.
I don’t take my eyes off her as I undress and lower myself into the charged water. It’s not long before I begin to feel the neural enhancers from the bath synchronize with the implants along my spine, heightening every sensation.
Minutes pass silently with only the sound of the water echoing off the bathroom walls. I’m just waiting for her to do something.
Then she does it. She makes a slight adjustment, shifting her weight.
I surge from the water like lightning. “I didn't give you permission to move.”
She freezes, trying to correct her mistake.
