Then his silver gaze lands on me. “Particularly our human liaison, Eve Eden, who has begun processing the human competitors in accordance with the new IGC guidelines. For that, she has my thanks, and she is the reason the receptionist table has such fine wine tonight.”
When he says my name, I feel everyone’s eyes on me.I want to disappear. I still feel sick for having to check-in the Imperial trainer and his slave earlier today. She was such a beautiful human woman who had been dragged in, almost completely naked, with a collar. And she hadn’t been allowed to speak to me in anything but Imperial. And I had to talk to her as if I didn’t care, as if my heart wasn’t breaking into a thousand pieces at seeing her.And now Rafe is honoring me for my cruelty.
I stand and muster a look of gratitude. “I don’t deserve your praise, Sovereigns.” Then I bow. They raise their glasses and I raise mine, making eye contact, then we drink. I can’t help but think about the number of times I have stood here and drank something else they gave to me in a different goblet. Inwardly, I question myself how drinking their semen publicly felt more right than this.
The wine is dark, rich, a mouthful of ripe fruit laced with spice. It’s delicious, better than anything I’ve ever tasted, but that makes me hate it even more.
The hall ripples with small applause as I set the glass down empty and then sit down to try to stop the room from spinning.
Lira leans close, refilling my glass before I can object. “This is an honor, Eve. At least have another. It’s a Reima Two vintage, so expensive that only the Sovereigns would drink it on an ordinary night like this.”
“I’ve already had one glass,” I say.
“I don’t think you understand. You and I may never have wine like this again. You need to have at least two glasses.”
I can’t say no to Lira. She’s myonlyfriend, and she’s done so much for me that I accept another glass of wine. And my eyes wander back up to the High Table, to Rafe and Lorian. Their eyes are on me. Watching me to see if I’m going to break.
And I am wondering the same thing myself.How many humans will I have to see brought in on leashes before I lose my mind?
Again, I think of my shift when I checked in an Imperial trainer and his collared human, forcing myself to ask if his “Starshine” understood the risks of competing. But I broke protocol and looked her in the eye when I asked the question—and Starshine agrees to the risks involved in the Championships?It angered the trainer, but Lorian has taught me that, with the Ascendant Alliance behind me and just by being human, I can play by a different set of rules than everyone else, and because humans are new to the galaxy as “free people,” I will set the standard.
So that’s what I’m doing, or rather, the little I can do. It’s the only way I might be able to survive this with my sanity intact.
But in the end, I know that I’m no different from the naked collared humans. I’m performing too. Smiling, bowing, drinking what I’m given, while humans are paraded here to die for spectacle. The Commander on theIgoand Cal said I could make a difference, but I feel chained to the Sovereigns.
Lorian rises and ends the High Table with a prayer.
As Lira and I walk out together, I tell her, “I’m required to go to maintenance for an environmental check at Fifth Chime. Is that odd?”
“Maintenance works all hours, so I shouldn’t think so. It’s inconvenient for you though.”
I don’t tell her I find it difficult to sleep thinking about all the human pets in the hotel. But her answer makes me feel better about the maintenance check. I don’t want to be abducted. So we say goodnight and part ways at our respective doors.
The maintenance level hums with machinery, and the air smells of metal and oil as I walk through corridors I’ve never seen before, following the glowing arrows along the wall until I reach a narrow service tunnel marked with warning glyphs about atmospheric testing.
A man waits there in Celestial Spire coveralls with tools at his belt. He has grey skin and black hair like the Reima Two men I see every day, but something in the way he holds himself is different.
“Madame Eve, thank you for meeting me. I didn’t know if you’d come. We’ve been trying to get a message through to you for weeks, but security has been tight. But when Cal reached out, we knew the window was open. That kind of access doesn’t happen by accident,” he says, and the sound of his words shocks me so much, I nearly drop to my knees.
My translator clicked off.He’s speaking English, rough but clear, with an accent stretched over words I haven’t heard in months. And he mentioned Cal.
“I’m Huck. I work for Terra Ka. Do you know what that means?”
Oh Jesus.I glance back down the tunnel to make sure we’re alone. My mouth is dry. “Yes,” I say.
Everyone at the Spire talks about Terra Ka like they are terrorists.
Noticing my fear, he says, “Don’t be afraid. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to offer you a choice. During the Grand Championships, we can get you out. You and some of the other human pets. Real freedom. Not this gilded cage.”
Freedom.The word is like a beautiful advertisement to a tropical paradise I’ll never be able to afford.
“I have a kind of freedom here,” I say, but at the same time I’m picturing myself at the reception desk, smiling for Imperials while humans with collars are led into the arena.
“Gael the Returner sent me himself to offer you this opportunity,” Huck says. “He knows what they’ve done to you. Fitting you with a Venus Lock to subject you to their very own kind of humantraining. It’s torture.”
I don’t deny it. It is a kind of torture, but I don’t want to tell him that I also enjoy certain aspects of it. So instead, I say:“I signed a contract. I can go home when it ends.”
“No, they’ll never let you leave. You’re too valuable to them. I mean, just look at you. A beautiful, young, intelligent human woman who suffers here because it’s less suffering than you did on Earth.” His voice softens. “Yes, we know about your difficult childhood. And the Sovereigns know too; that’s why you were chosen. But listen, Eve. We can offer you real freedom, something you’ve never had.”
