“What?” He blinked at my reasoning.
“You said that rape is an appropriate punishment for a whore,” I pointed out. “But if I were a whore, I'd be used to having sex with disgusting men like yourself and it wouldn't be much of a punishment at all.”
One of the other men chuckled.
“What are you laughing at?” The blond sneered at them.
“She just called you disgusting and she also has a point.”
“Fuck you,” the blond snarled at the other man. “She's a deceiving bitch.”
“Oh, now I'm a bitch,” I noted. “Make up your mind. Either I'm a whore who you want to go lightly on or I'm a bitch who has outwitted you. Which is it?”
The man bared his teeth as his eyes went completely red. He lurched forward. The other men grabbed him and pulled him back.
“Food ready!” one of the Meren—Prix I think—exclaimed brightly in Bleiten. “You take now, Chief's woman.” He passed me the tray and pushed me away with it.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely to him in Vimmari.
He gave me a small smile and started filling more plates.
I took the tray to Braxis, who was leaning back in his chair, watching me with a blank expression. He helped me set the tray down, then removed the plates of food and mugs of steaming beverages before setting the tray off to the side.
“What was that about?” Braxis asked casually.
“One of your warriors disagrees with your treatment of me apparently,” I said blithely. “He was just telling me how he thought I should be punished and I told him what I thought of him.”
I expected Braxis to reprimand me for speaking to one of his men like that but instead, he growled, “What exactly did Granelt say to you?”
I went still, then lifted my gaze to his.
“Amara”—he narrowed his eyes at me—“what did he say?”
“He said I should be naked in chains and servicing the entire ship as a whore,” I whispered.
Braxis' eyes went red—an immediate and complete change. He tensed as if to stand but I grabbed his hand before he did.
“It's not much different than how you wanted to punish me,” I reminded him gently. “They are angry and they deserve to be. I stood up for myself and that's enough. Please, just let it be.”
“I never would have tossed you to my men like a whore,” he protested.
“No, but you tied me to your bed and nearly raped me. Then you brought me to this ship intending to use the Silver Tongue to turn me into your sex slave, which nearly amounts to the same thing.”
“That is... different.” His hands clenched into fists but he sat back in his seat.
“Only by scale and severity,” I said without rancor. “You stopped yourself from going through with it because you're a good man, Braxis, and you knew it was wrong. But even good men can be blinded by hatred. You're starting to see past your anger but your men are still blind and that's okay. It's not as if I'm here to make friends.”
Braxis stared at me and as he did, his eyes shifted back to green. “You... you think I'm a good man?”
Had I said that? Did I mean it? No, of course not. But one thing I've learned is that the easiest way to inspire someone toward goodness is to convince them that they are already good. Show them that you believe it and they might too.
So, with absolute conviction, I said, “Of course, you are. We may have been on opposite sides of a war but that doesn't mean I think you're evil. I know that you fought for your people and I agree that they deserve the things you want for them. All of this began because you wanted equality and freedom for the Reaksarians and those are things I believe in wholeheartedly. Lucifer was wrong not to give them to you, but you were wrong to fight back in such underhanded ways. Does that make either of you bad men? No, it doesn't. It just makes you opponents and I got caught in the middle.”
“But the way I've treated you,” he whispered and swallowed visibly. “How could you think I'm a good man?”
“As I said, hatred can make a man blind.” I smirked and added, “And in your case, absolutely insane.”
Braxis chuckled but his gaze remained soft and when his laughter faded, he continued to stare at me pensively. And perhaps a little hopefully.
