“We’ve long theorized that the Collective has some special relationship to gravitium,” Beta interjected, his voice thoughtful. “It’s what attracted us to Magisteria in the first place.”
Dr. Nagalan nodded eagerly. “I theorized that if I could reinforce that pattern with an actual drive, I might be able to place him in an indefinite hyper-spatial suspension. Lock him between dimensions, so to speak.”
“That’s why you told me to—” I stopped, unable to finish the sentence.
“Yes,” Dr. Nagalan said gently. “I needed him at peak arousal, at the exact moment when his quantum signature would be most vulnerable to the resonance pattern. I’m sorry for the deception, but there wasn’t time to explain.”
I looked down at Omega’s prone form. Even unconscious—or whatever this was—he still looked impressive. Powerful. Dangerous. But now there was a stillness to him that hadn’t been there before, as if he’d been frozen in time.
“It clearly worked,” Beta said, and I heard something like relief in his voice.
We all stared at Omega for a long moment. My master, lying apparently helpless on the laboratory floor. I felt the bond between us, but it was different now—muted, distant, as if he were calling to me from very far away.
Then Beta turned to look at me, and something in my insides twisted.
The expression on his face made me start to tremble. It wasn’t anger, exactly. It wasn’t even disapproval. It was something else entirely—a kind of stern assessment that seemed to see right through me, past all my defenses, straight to the core of what I had become.
I looked at Alpha and saw the same expression mirrored on his features. The two brothers stood there, identical in their blue-skinned magnificence, both regarding me with an intensity that made my breath catch.
“Jendra,” Beta said, and his voice carried an authority that made my knees weak for entirely different reasons than Omega’s cruelty had. “This is going to be difficult, but Alpha and I have concluded that you need real training, if you’re going to be free of Omega.”
I could feel my heart rate speeding up by the second.
“I’m going to provide it,” Beta continued, his blue eyes never leaving mine. “The firm hand you so clearly need.”
The words should have terrified me. Should have made me want to run. But instead, I felt something else—something that mighthave been hope, or relief, or perhaps just the recognition that Beta was right. That this was what I needed.
Movement at the laboratory entrance caught my attention. I turned my head and saw her—Sala, Alpha’s wife, the woman whose demonstration with her husband had started all of this. She wore a simple dress that somehow made her look both elegant and submissive at the same time.
“Sala will help you prepare for your punishment,” Alpha said.
My jaw dropped. “Punishment?” The word came out as a squeak. “But I just… I did what Dr. Nagalan asked… I helped trap Omega…”
“You summoned him in the first place,” Beta said, his voice gentle but implacable. “You created a threat to the entire galaxy because you couldn’t control your desires. And then, just now, you submitted to him completely. You degraded yourself in ways that, deep down, you know you need to be punished for.”
“But you gave me permission!” I protested, even as heat flooded my face.
“We gave you permission,” Alpha confirmed. “Yes, but…”
He didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he looked intently at me. I felt an incandescent heat rush to my face. I turned to Beta, who wore a nearly identical expression.
“But what?” I whispered, though I already knew the answer.
“Look inside, Jendra,” Beta said, his voice gentler. “You know what you need. This is the beginning of a journey toward becoming who you really are.”
I let out a sob. I felt my mouth twist into what must have looked like an almost comical little-girl pout. I did know it. I had been a very bad girl. But I wanted Beta to tell me I didn’t have to pay the price. He lowered his chin a little, but said nothing, and I had to drop my own eyes.
Because I did know what I needed. I had kissed and licked the anus of an evil being I had created. I had worshipped him in the most degrading way—not because I was trying to save anyone, even myself. No: I had done it, really, because I was a naughty, dirty girl who had wanted to know what it felt like to have her face between her master’s buttocks. I needed to be punished for that.
The shame was crushing. I wanted to argue, to defend myself, but what could I say? Everything they were saying was true.
“You need discipline,” Beta continued. “Real discipline, not the cruel domination that Omega provided. You need to learn the difference between healthy submission and self-destruction.”
“I don’t—” I started, but my voice broke. “I don’t want to be punished. Please, I just want to go home. I want to go back to Hippolyta and forget any of this ever happened.”
“That’s not possible,” Beta said, and there was genuine sadness in his voice. “You’re entangled with Omega now. Even in suspension, he maintains a connection to you. If you tried to leave, if you tried to return to your old life, you’d be a danger to everyone around you.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” I asked, tears beginning to stream down my cheeks again.
