No answer.
Panic started to build in my chest. Had he left me? Had he decided I was too much trouble, too dangerous, too broken to bother with? The thought made my stomach clench with terror.
I scrambled out of bed, ignoring the slight ache in my body—not from punishment, for a change, but from sleeping long and deeply in the same position. My feet hit the cool floor and I rushed toward the living area, my eyes scanning desperately for any sign of him.
“Beta?” I called again, louder this time.
Still nothing.
I moved through the suite frantically, checking the bathroom—empty. The discipline room—also empty, though the sight of the implements on the wall made me shiver. Back through the living area, and then I noticed a door I hadn’t really registered before, slightly ajar.
Through it I saw what looked like old-fashioned bookshelves. A study?
I approached the door slowly, my heart pounding. Through the gap now I could see warm light, hear the soft sound of someone working at a terminal. I pushed the door open.
Beta sat at a large desk, his massive form bent over a holographic display. Data streams and diagrams floated in the air before him, complex equations and charts I couldn’t begin to understand. A star map, also, with individual volumes of space linked to the charts. He was so focused he didn’t immediately notice me.
Relief flooded through me so intensely I felt my knees go weak. He hadn’t left. He was here. He was…
Working on something, plotting a course, maybe, to what looked like the other side of the rim.With me? For me?my wayward mind asked, with a thrill of helpless affection. My shame overtook that selfish hope immediately, though—why would my master do anything for me, the girl who had almost destroyed the galaxy?
I watched him for a moment, taking in the concentration on his face, the way his fingers moved through the holographic datawith practiced ease. Then, without consciously deciding to, I sank to my knees just inside the doorway.
The movement must have caught his attention because his eyes lifted from the display to meet mine. His expression shifted—surprise, then something warmer.
“Jendra,” he said quietly. “You’re awake.”
“Please,” I whispered, the word escaping before I could think. “Please, Master. Whip me.”
Beta’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Now?”
“Yes.” I clasped my hands in front of me, the posture of supplication coming naturally now. “I can’t bear waiting any longer. I can’t bear thinking about what I’ve done without… without paying for it. Please. Teach me a lesson I’ll never forget.”
He stood slowly, moving around the desk to approach me. His presence loomed over me, and I kept my eyes downcast, trembling.
“Tell me why you deserve it,” he said, his voice taking on that stern quality that made heat pool in my core despite my fear.
“Because I freed him,” I said, my voice breaking. “Because I betrayed your trust. Because after everything you did for me—claiming me, disciplining me, making me yours—I still chose to go to Omega. I endangered everyone. The entire Federation. I…” A sob caught in my throat. “I don’t know if I did it because he commanded me or because some terrible part of me wanted to, but either way, I deserve to be punished for it.”
“And what do you hope to learn from your punishment?”
I looked up at him then, meeting his blue eyes. “That actions have consequences. That submission means obedience, even when it’s hard. That I can trust you to hold me accountable because you care about me, not just because you want to control me.”
Beta studied me for a long moment. Then, to my surprise, a small smile touched his lips.
“You’ve thought hard about this,” he observed.
“I couldn’t think about anything else when I woke up,” I admitted. “It was like… like my mind had worked through it in my sleep.”
He reached down, his hand cupping my chin, tilting my face up. “I’ve been preparing a curriculum for you,” he said, gesturing to the holographic display. “Lessons about quantum consciousness, about the Collective, about the relationship between human minds and interdimensional energy. Everything you asked to learn.”
My breath caught. “You were… you were going to teach me?”
“Iamgoing to teach you,” he corrected. “But first, yes. Your punishment.”
“Thank you, Master,” I whispered.
“Stand up.”
