"The Authority will not tolerate this.”
"Of course they will. We are already on course for Dinavri territory. If they do not blow the ship out of existence in the next hour, you are lost forever.”
“You're willing to die to take me? You don't have anything else you’d rather be doing? You have nothing else to live for?”
He smiles, his teeth sharp and yet uneven, his eyes narrowed to two golden slits of vengeance. This is a beast who has come to devour me at all costs. He has risked his life, the safety of his world, everything he has, and everything he might yet be, just to take me.
This is the act of either a madman — and I know Sithren well enough to know he is not mad — or someone so hellbent on vengeance they have decided to bear all and any consequences. That realization sends a chilling stab right through me. He's risking it all, and that means my chances of talking my way out of this are close to nil. Not entirely zero, though. There's a still a chance I’ll find some way to escape.
I make to get up. He pushes me back down, with just enough force to put me back in my place.
“You are mine. Mine for as long as it amuses me to have you. Mine until your debt of shame is paid.”
He slithers. He hisses. He looks at me with a glittering predatory gaze, and I know to my very core that I am about to suffer greatly. Sithren is not going to be content with hurting me. That would be too easy. I caused him public shame, and he is going to humiliate me in turn.
I am not easily embarrassed. There is no place for modesty in the Authority spy corps. But what he intends to do with me will not only find and test the boundaries of what I am capable of withstanding — it will obliterate them completely.
I have to escape as soon as possible. Ideally before the torture begins. The longer he has to act upon me, the more likely it is that he will break me. I may be strong, but I am sensible enough to know that I can be ruined. Everybody can be. All it takes is enough time and the right pressure.
This is a creature well versed in breaking all species of women to his will without them ever feeling the shattering of their spirits. His harem is full of satisfied souls who spread their thighs and drink his seed and would give their very lives at a moment’s notice if he commanded it. I thought they were sedated, given some kind of chemical agent to bend them to his will. But he has no need of drugs.
I cannot afford to underestimate him. Not even now as he draws close, scales gleaming across impressive musculature. Everything about Sithren speaks to power. Everything in me must scream with resistance.
I say nothing more. Anything I say can, and undoubtedly will be used against me. There is no small part of me hoping that the Authority does take a nuke to this ship before it leaves their space. I’d rather be dead than at his mercy.
I count every second as it passes. It’s not just to keep track of time. It keeps me calm. Sithren makes no effort to secure me. He doesn’t bind me. He just watches me with unmitigated satisfaction.
“I suppose it is too late for an apology.”
“Oh, far too late.”
“Hm.”
Fifty-nine minutes remain. These could be the last of my life. It’s strange how pedestrian it all seems. Sithren cannot take his eyes off me. He's staring as if he can’t quite believe what I look like. He's never seen what I look like before. My disguise kept me safe from him, but there’s no disguise now. There’s just me. My female form without any scaled protection. I am wearing my dress uniform, but for how much longer? He's sure to strip it off me soon. He will want me naked. He will be curious, and he will want to see me.
“Take your clothes off.”
I barely hide a smirk. He may be my captor, but I can read him like a book.
I don't mind being naked. It will distract him more than it distracts me. It will make him substantially more stupid, driving blood away from his centers of reason and putting it toward circuits of instinct.
“I have to stand up to do that. Is that permissible?"
“Yes. And do it slowly.”
I stand and reach for the zipper at my neck, drawing it down even more slowly than I imagine he wanted. Sithren wants a show? He’s going to get a show. His last show.
There’s a small pistol in my cleavage. Always is. I do not go anywhere unarmed, not even safe places like Authority Academies. One never knows where the enemy’s spies are. I know better than anybody that nothing can be trusted. Not the walls, not the sky, not the postal boxes. Spies will use anything and everything to gain advantage if they can.