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“Are you thinking assassination or kidnapping?” She wanted to make sure his definition of a decisive move was the same as hers.
“Does Jevara strike you as the sort who would accept exile?” Laidon shook his head and released a deep sigh. “I understand why the others are hesitant, but we have no choice but to alleviate the threat permanently.”
“We need tokill him. Some would even say murder. Are you sure you are ready for that reality?”
Laidon’s features hardened, revealing his ruthlessness. “After what he did to Cressita and her friends, I could slit his throat, watch the life drain from his eyes, and I would sleep soundly that night.”
They lapsed into thoughtful silence as they pondered the obstacles awaiting them.
“We need to get close to him,” Laidon concluded. “Really fucking close. He seldom leaves the palace and his security is unrivaled. Opportunities do not come very often, so we have to be ready to strike when it does.”
Pressing back into the softness of the sofa, she studied him. Like most full-blood Torretians, Laidon’s hair combined strands of brown and gold. His eyes were leaf-green and his jawline was shadowed with whiskers. His features fell just short of handsome, which allowed him to move through a crowd unnoticed. Being memorable, like Shalia, was a disadvantage to a fugitive. “As I see it, there are two possibilities. One, we find someone willing to die for the cause and have them ambush Jevara.”
Laidon shook his head. “Jevara is too paranoid to let anyone that dangerous near him. Everything he ingests is scanned for toxins and he wears an energy shield just to walk around the palace grounds. The strike has to take place away from the palace, preferably off world. Accurate information is so crucial. We have to choose the perfect place and time. We will only get one chance to rid the universe of this monster. What was your second possibility?”
Trepidation banded her chest as she thought about what she was about to propose. Was she really strong enough to survive the sort of evil that went on at the palace? If even half the stories were true, she should run in the opposite direction. “There is only one way to get that close to Jevara. Pleasure slaves are irrelevant, invisible. Important conversations take place in front of them all the time. I could—”
“No fucking way,” he snapped, shooting to his feet. “You are not going to become Jevara’s body slave. Absolutely not.”
She crossed her arms and glared up at him. “Accurate information is crucial. You said so yourself. And I’m the only one who can get it for you. Besides, there is nothing Jevara can do to me that I can’t handle.”
“He could slit your throat,” Laidon argued, but already resignation was creeping into his gaze. “You have convinced yourself that you are dark and twisted, but you are not nearly as jaded as you think. There has to be another way.”
“I’m open to suggestions.” She knew there was nothing. She had spent the last month desperately trying to come up with something,anythingthat would spare her this fate.
“He won’t just fuck you, Shalia. He will hurt you in ways you can’t imagine, regenerate your body, and do it all over again. He seldom shares his toys, but he loves to display them, to demonstrate their complete obedience regardless of how badly he hurts them.”
“Better me than someone like Cressita,” she fired back. Then immediately, “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair, but it was accurate. I look much younger than I am. I can—”
“Would you like to hear what he did to the last person he thought was a spy?”
“We have no choice, Laidon.” She pushed to her feet and skirted the table. “Jevara destroys countless lives every day. Someone must stop him and I am uniquely qualified to do this.”
“You will be isolated and helpless.” He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed. “I will not be able to protect you.”
“It’s not your job to protect me.” She took a deep breath and filled her tone with conviction. “If there is any indication that he is suspicious, I will disappear. I have been eluding authorities since I was twelve. Palace guards are no match for me.”
He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair as he often did when he was agitated. “You will be our eyes and ears, nothing more. You promise not to slit his throat while he sleeps? I do not want your blood on my hands along with Cressita’s.”
“What happened to your sister had nothing to do with you, but we’ll save that argument for another day. You have my word that all I will do is gather information.”
He accepted her promise with a tense nod. Once Laidon made a decision, he focused entirely on achieving the goal. It was why the others turned to him so often. “One of the kitchen runners is on my payroll. I went to a great deal of trouble to acquire him and then found out about the toxin scanners.”
“That will give us a way to pass messages, so it wasn’t a total waste.”
“My thoughts exactly.” He crossed to the beverage dispenser and printed two drinks, wine for her and ale for himself. “I know the slave dealer that supplies the palace with pleasure slaves. A generous bribe will ensure that you are delivered to the palace, but he will have no control over what happens once you are taken inside.” Laidon handed her the wineglass before adding, “You are one of the most beautiful females I have ever seen, but Jevara’s tastes can be unpredictable.”
“I’m aware. That’s why I intend on becoming the one temptation no self-absorbed prick can resist.” Shalia grinned with more confidence than she felt.
“And which temptation is that?” He still sounded less than enthusiastic.
“A blushing virgin.”
Two days later Shalia located a cosmetic physician willing to regenerate her hymen. The procedure had been outlawed decades before, but that only drove the providers underground. Within a week, she had been delivered to Mercelon Palace and was selected by the keeper of the pleasure den to serve the emperor himself.
Everything worked exactly as she intended. She was bathed, perfumed, and dressed in a gossamer gown that revealed more than it covered. But instead of being taken to Jevara’s private chambers, she was presented to him during a formal dinner for at least a hundred of his guests.
He told her to bare her breasts and kneel at his side, then continued on with the evening as if nothing unusual was taking place. He fed her from his plate and casually fondled her, but the nightmare really began when the meal was cleared away. Shalia quickly realized that Laidon was right. She was not jaded enough to endure Jevara’s brand of cruelty without losing part of her soul.
