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“I can find some very pleasurable ways to punish you.”

She shivered.

“There’s the Great Library,” Vero called out to them.

At the end of the waterway ahead, Dakota saw a large cylindrical building rising up. The tower was several stories high, with long, narrow windows. Plants tumbled down the sides of it like a waterfall of green.

Dare helped Dakota climb out of the boat and onto a small dock. They walked down the path toward the main arched entrance of the library. She saw a few people moving in and out. Men in similar outfits to Dare and Vero, all of them with at least one or two women walking silently behind them.

Dakota decided she hated Sulla.

They walked inside, and it took her a second to adjust to the dim light. Like every library in the galaxy, there was a hushed, deferential feel. You knew you were surrounded by knowledge. And here, it felt like knowledge so old it made her bones ache. The place reminded her of the Institute museums she’d worked in. She might have been banned from visiting them, but she still snuck in from time to time.

In the Sullan Great Library, circular shelves rose high up to the domed roof above in concentric circles. The shelves were filled with books and glowing data crystals in the shape of cubes and pyramids. As she looked upward, she wondered how anyone reached the books at the top of the shelves. She didn’t see any ladders.

Then she saw something small whizzing along the outside of the shelves. She moved closer and saw a retrieval system that ran along the shelves. A small metal basket zoomed along an embedded track, stopped at the book or crystal it needed, the item was knocked into the basket, and then it whizzed its contents down to the ground.

“Welcome to the Great Library of Sulla,” Vero said. “Dare, come with me and we’ll talk with the head librarian. He can help us find the information you’re looking for.” He glanced at Dakota and the women. “Stay here, and remember not to touch anything.” A small smile at Dare. “Women are forbidden from touching books and data storage crystals.”

Dakota’s jaw clenched. No, they couldn’t risk the dangerous situation of letting women read, learn, and possess knowledge.

As Vero strode toward some nearby desks, she couldn’t resist raising her finger in a universal sign of displeasure. She glanced up and saw Dare looking at her with a faint smile. As he moved to join Vero, she turned and saw the two women watching her, wide-eyed. Something told her they’d never flipped their master off before.

Dakota wandered closer to the shelves, looking at all the fabulous books on them. She tilted her head back, taking in the extent of the towering shelves. It made her wonder just what kind of things were stored here, and how the planet could be so ignorant as to enslave one half of their species and take their choices away.

She looked over at Dare and saw that he, Vero, and another man were bent over a desk, looking at a large, glowing sphere resting on the surface. The librarian was running his hands over it. She saw things moving across the sphere, and she guessed it was some sort of reference system. He was murmuring quietly to Dare.

From behind her, Dakota heard a small, pained moan. She turned and saw that the curvy woman was clutching her belly. The taller woman was helping her, an arm around her shoulders.

“Are you okay?” Dakota whispered.

The curvy woman’s head snapped up. She nodded. “I’m fine. We shouldn’t talk.”

“They’re busy at the moment.” Dakota tilted her head. “What’s your name?’

The woman wavered for a second. “Keena. And this is Arda.”

“I’m Dakota. You don’t look very good, Keena.”

“I…recently had surgery.” Keena lowered her head, her blue hair hiding her face. “I’ll be fine.”

Dakota blinked. “Surgery? Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“Yes.” The taller, dark-skinned Arda said fiercely. Her hair was a slightly darker blue, and cut short against her well-shaped head. Her dark skin was gorgeous, almost luminous.

“My master had need of me,” Keena said.

Disgust stormed through Dakota. That Vero would call on a still-recovering woman to entertain him while she was recuperating was low. The man was scum. She thought back to the way Dare had cared for her after she’d hit her head. He should have thrown her in the brig, and instead, he’d helped her.

She saw Keena clutch her side. “Let me see.” Dakota moved so that her body would block the men’s view if they glanced this way.

The woman protested, but Dakota ignored her and lifted the hem of her gauzy shirt. There was a fresh scar across her soft belly. It was red, and looked tender and sore.

Dakota hissed. “You should be in bed.”

“I’ll be fine.” Perspiration had broken out on Keena’s brow.

“What happened?”