The attendant is coming by for the missing ingredients for Eve’s Devotional Drink. I’m switching the staff corridors to green. I want everyone to watch her drink it in the hall.
23
THE SUMMONS, EVE
I waketo the pale gold light of First Chime spilling across my walls, Imperial Time 00:00, the Earth equivalent of 6 AM. The air carries the sharp bite of star anise and citrus, and the three harmonic pulses of the Chime sound around me to make sure I’m awake.
Above my bedside table, the holographic display materializes, its green script sharpening into my name.
“Good morning, Eve Eden,” the computer’s neutral voice announces. “Reminder: At Fourth Chime, Imperial Time 11:00, Earth equivalent 5 PM, you are required to attend your formal audience with Sovereign Directors Rafe and Lorian in the Executive Conference Chamber. This meeting was confirmed at 23:47 last night. Please confirm your understanding.”
“Confirmed,” I answer.
Then another announcement:
“Protocol Notice: Both Sovereigns are in residence. High Formality Observance required. Attendance: Mandatory. Location: Staff Dining Hall for the first meal.”
I sit up quickly, clutching the sheet against my chest, remembering the note from last night.Sleep naked.I swallow hard, telling myself that Sovereign Rafe can’t be upset with me. I did as he said. I took off my pajamas and used his device to sleep. And it did help. I didn’t wake up again.
I take a quick shower and then dress in my uniform. I notice with some alarm that my most sensitive areas feel slightly sore, as if the Venus Lock had been rubbing me in the night. I blush as I remember the dream that woke me. The one with me in the garden with the Devil. And I remember with clarity taking the companion collar from the serpent.It was a dream, that’s all.
In the corridor, I follow my line on the wall to the formal Staff Dining Hall. I can’t help but notice that the bottom of the wall now glows green instead of blue, and I swear it’s brighter.
When the Sovereigns are not in residence, we are allowed to eat where we want, and I’ve been meeting Lira in the small canteen near the receptionists’ rooms for meals.
So as I walk in, I’m awed by the Staff Dining Room. It reminds me of a medieval high-tech great hall; all the tables are tiered and every seat marked with small, glowing sigils. The highest table blazes with light at the top of the hall, but its chairs are empty. No Sovereigns. I feel disappointed at not being able to see them in person. Especially after receiving the note from Sovereign Rafe last night.
Hadn’t the message said…
Lira catches my arm gently from behind. “Formality is absolute whether the Sovereigns are physically in the dining hall or not,” she whispers. “Follow my lead.”
I nod and lower my eyes as we move to the receptionists’ tier.
The meal begins in silence. Plates glide into place, delicate alien fruits, Silver rolls steaming, bowls of iridescent broth. Then, instead of tea or water as I requested, an attendant places a crystal goblet in front ofme. “A gift from the Sovereigns,” he says loud enough for the whole hall to hear.
I look up at their empty table, then back at the drink. It glows faintly gold, streaked with silver.
I glance at Lira, confused.“What is this?” I whisper.
“You must drink it,” she says under her breath. “It’s a sacrament from the Sovereigns: the body consuming power, the lesser taking the greater into themselves.” When I still hesitate, she adds, “It’s safe; it’s like starfruit.”
The whole dining room is silent, and although I’m staring at this strange drink, I can feel the weight of everyone’s gaze on me, waiting. My cheeks are on fire as I lift the goblet carefully and bring it to my lips. The liquid is thicker than water, smooth and heavy on my tongue, sweet with something like pear, but carrying a faint metallic tang I can’t place.
It slides down my throat in a few swallows.
When I put the goblet back on the table, no one meets my eyes, but I can feel the awareness radiating from every other person, like I have just done something that means something to them but that I don’t understand myself.
I sit very still and clasp my hands in my lap. Whatever was in that drink is inside me now, and I try not to let my imagination run wild with what it could have been or what it might have meant.
RAFE
From the private chamber above the hall, I sit with my brother, watching her. She lifts the goblet with both hands like a chalice, still so obedient.
“She doesn’t even hesitate,” Lorian says beside me.
I watch mesmerized by our new human employee as her pink lips close around the rim of the Devotional goblet and she gently tips the vessel back to let its contents slide down her small throat.
I watch with satisfaction as her cheeks flush pink when she lowers the empty goblet and puts it back on the table, then looks around the hall at all of her colleagues’ eyes on her. She knows she missed something and she’s trying to work it out.Endearing.
