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"Lash me," I tell him, handing over the leather whip.
Jason's face goes gray.
"Excuse me?" The tone of his deep voice is husky, tinged with something dark.
"You heard me."
"Princess," he says slowly, menace in his timbre. "You've never done this before."
"That's because I've never had forbidden thoughts before."
Obviously shaken, Jason turns to Malcolm, whose face shows more emotion than I've ever seen in all his time with me.
"I know this is protocol," Jason begins.
I cut him off. "It is in The Manual. When a chosen one has thoughts, dreams, or feelings that run counter to the prophecy, they must be driven out with violence."
"But Princess -"
"With blood," I say fiercely.
He looks at Malcolm, who doesn't move. Not one twitch. They don't know what to do.
I've given them an impossible dilemma.
Their job is to make sure no man ever touches me. To keep me pure.
But I am not pure. I have impure thoughts.
And this is the only option now.
Jason clears his throat.
"Protocol says that you must confess."
"So you are trained in it."
"Of course I am," he snaps, a thin sheen of sweat on his brow, the gray eyebrows above his blazing blue eyes shining in the light. I waver inside for a split second, feeling bad that I'm doing this to him.
Jason has done nothing wrong.
Only I have transgressed.
"Princess," he says carefully, methodically, setting the leather whip down as if its very touch burns his hands. "Have your thoughts and feelings strayed beyond your true destiny?"
"Yes."
"Confess."
"I have impure thoughts about a man."
"A man?"
"Yes."
"Sexual thoughts?" The words come out of him reluctantly. Suddenly, I understand.
Jason would never betray me. Ever. He is not attracted to me. To him, I am a daughter figure. Maybe even a granddaughter figure.
