“They're looking at you,” Lira whispers.
I look up to find both of the Sovereigns' gazes fixed on me from the High Table. The possessiveness in their stares is unmistakable, and everyone in the hall can see it.
Heat floods my cheeks as I remember what else they've been monitoring between my thighs.
The Sovereigns' gazes seem to intensify, as if they can read my mortification from across the room. It’s obvious they’re talking about me.
I decide to focus on my glass of wine.
“How did your private meeting go?”
I drain my wine glass, desperate for something to dull my warring emotions, then answer Lira, “They are going to personally oversee my training for the next one hundred and fifty days.”
“That’s an honor,” she says. “But how doyoufeel about that?”
I pour more wine into my glass. “Nervous,” I say before taking another sip.
“Any woman in the galaxy would trade places with you in half a heartbeat,” Lira says, and the truth is, she's right.
I've fantasized about exactly this over and over again in the countless romance novels I’ve read, powerful men who know my secrets, who want to own me, who see something in me worth claiming. But fantasies feel different when they become reality. When the stakes are real. And these stakes go way beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
“Are you alright?” Lira whispers. “You look flushed.”
“I'm fine.”
Then movement at the High Table catches my attention. Rafe has risen now, and a holographic display has materialized near him.
“Before we conclude this evening,” his deep voice fills the hall, “there are disciplinary matters that require public resolution.”
All around me, staff members sit up straighter, and all conversation ceases entirely.
“Han Cor and Sera Na, maintenance and communications respectively,” Rafe reads from his display. “Caught engaging in an Eclipse Kiss in staff quarters. Second offense for both parties.”
I don't recognize the term, Eclipse Kiss. Two beings at different tables stand, one grey-skinned like the Sovereigns, the other with the pale blue skin I'd seen among my receptionist colleagues.
“What's an Eclipse Kiss?” I whisper to Lira.
Her cheeks darken slightly. “Oral pleasure. Mouth to... intimate areas. You know what I mean; she put her mouth… on his penis and… swallowed.”
I stare at her. “That's against the rules?”
“It goes against the Imperial goddesses,” Lira explains quietly. “Sovereign Lorian makes it a rule for all employees out of respect for his Imperial heritage. The Sovereigns don't go looking for people breaking rules, but if you're sloppy enough to get caught...” She gestures toward the two terrified beings now walking toward the space between the tables and the High Table.
“Approach for Public Penance,” Lorian commands.
They walk forward with terror written on every line of their bodies.
Two of Lorian's Umbral Cohort step from the shadows, each carrying a device I don't recognize, a metallic rod about the length of a human forearm, with a tip that pulses with blue light.
“Han and Sera,” Rafe's voice is emotionless. “You were warned once about violating moral conduct codes. The penalty for a second offense is Public Penance followed by neural recalibration.”
“Strip,” Lorian orders. “Kneel. Confess your transgressions to the goddesses and beg their forgiveness.”
The two accused remove their clothing with trembling hands, their shame visible to every person in the hall.
I feel embarrassed to watch, but Lira whispers, “You can’t look away or you’ll be punished too.”
So, I force myself to watch as they drop to their knees on the cold floor, naked and exposed.
