Every Lehiroh male guard in the room stepped eagerly forward. "You!" she chose one. The male came forward, leering. As if on a mutually arranged signal, all four of Bell's mates lunged forward ripping themselves loose of their guards and charging the volunteer tormenter. As they rolled on the floor, guards converging from all sides to put a stop to it, the Rashion made confused noises deep in his throat.

Despite the fact that a Rashion had attacked her with what seemed intent to kill, Krinata wanted to gather the poor creature up in her arms and soothe its pathetic cries. She wondered if the training methods were so brutal that the dimwitted creature was terrified of failing a command.

At last, peace was restored. The woman consulted the trainer and sent Bell away, pulling Krinata out in front.

Suddenly, Krinata wondered if that screenboard contained an account of Jindigar's defenses of her. If Nodrial were as thorough as a Duke should be, and if he were actively cooperating with Zinzik now, those two incidents, at the wedding and in the stripsearch barn, were surely on record.

Jerking her off balance, the guards positioned her and methodically removed her clothing. Zinzik held up a hand. "Stop. Let me admire this." He rose and sauntered down the steps, circling Krinata, eyes drinking in every detail of her human anatomy. He poked her belly, pinching the sparse roll of fat there, feeling the hard muscles tensed against him. He ignored her tiny breasts, for they did not spell female to him. Other Lehiroh would consider him a pervert if they interested nun. He ran his soft hands across her back as if she were a pedigreed animal for sale. He noticed the scars Arlai hadn't had time to remove from her upper arms.

"Not bad," he declared. "She seems to have survived a remarkable number of adventures relatively unscathed. Surely there's a human present who'd like to play with her?"

There were a great number of them, but Zinzik chose a very, very large human male, asking, "Don't you think she might be too small for you?"

"Humans like it that way, Excellency."

"She might not."

"Does that matter?"

"Of course not. She's yours."

All during this, Zinzik was balanced on his toes, ready to dance out of the way if Jindigar should somehow get loose of the four guards now on him and charge forward. Jindigar was staring devoutly at the artwork decorating the ceiling.

The immense human handed his weapon aside, and began to shed his light armor. Jindigar still refused to acknowledge what was happening. Zinzik approached the Dushau warily. "I'm not going to stop him, you know."

The Rashion still fretted confusedly at Jindigar's feet. Did the Dushau have such mental control that he was emitting nothing the Rashion could read? If so, Krinata hoped he could keep it up. She hoped he didn't care a bit for her because if she were the cause of his mental breakdown and death, she couldn't live with herself. Then she saw Trassle and his wife trying to protect their offspring from the sight. What am I going to do?

She looked at the hulk now stripping in a businesslike way. He was already showing signs of enthusiasm. She had to do something, and soon. Though they had the upper hand, she'd begun to develop a genuine contempt for Zinzik and all those he'd brought to power. If it would get Jindigar home and save his Archive and his sanity, she'd gladly endure worse than this, or even die. He was worth all she had and more. Zinzik and what was left of the Allegiancy weren't worth the cost of destroying. But what can I do to help Jindigar? It was the first time in her life she'd been a totally helpless victim, too scared to think.

She caught a glimpse of Zinzik watching her. Disgust welling, she squeezed her eyes shut until she saw red. Oh, Jindigar, what am I going to do?

Suddenly, eyes still closed, she saw Zinzik reflected in a decoration on the ceiling, and simultaneously, she saw him directly. She had read descriptions of Lehiroh male excitation but had never seen it. Now, she recognized it with the total familiarity of an Emulator's identity with the species. With a shudder, she recognized his attitude as characteristic of a practice she considered a perversion.

Trying to shake the fantasy while cursing her imagination, Krinata forced her eyes open and looked at the Emperor. The strange split perception remained overlaid above what she could see. Her own eyes brought her no suggestion of what her imagination told her. Those odd echo visions shifted, as Zinzik turned to the Lehiroh woman who had set this up. From his glance, she imagined Zinzik often had the woman set up such tantalizing sights for him.

Unable to tolerate the vision, she eyed the hulk again. He was watching the Emperor familiarly. He'd done this before, and was awaiting a signal. She had no doubt the Emperor's contrived shows usually went to conclusion.

Even with her eyes focused on the brute, she was aware of Zinzik teasing his Lehiroh female. And she perceived the Emperor's wakening pleasure from the other's pain. She began to understand Zinzik, and thus what must come next. Her part was to be terrified and be brutally overpowered. That would hurt Jindigar, who would also be aware of the pleasure Zinzik took in her pain—as if Zinzik himself were raping her.

Instantly, she knew what she had to do.

But she couldn't. She twisted to glimpse Jindigar. He was still staring at the ceiling, at Zinzik's image? Frey had crept up beside him, his eyes fixed on the throne. As her gaze lit on Jindigar, he turned midnight eyes on her. They widened a bit; the vaguest hint of a shocked recoil struck her. Abruptly, the overlaid awareness snapped off.

The sudden emptiness almost took the starch out of her knees. Alone in that echoing void, slammed into the stark reality of what was about to happen to her, she caught her breath, and faced what she fervently hoped was the ultimate test of her life. Did she have the nerve? For Jindigar? Yes. Of course I can do it. I have to. I'm alone in this. Jindigar can't help me. He can barely help himself.

On Zinzik's cue, the brute began his assault, grabbing her hair and pulling her head back to tilt her face to his. Everything in her said, Bite his lips! And she almost did, but then swallowing her gorge, she summoned a smile she hoped was seductive, and forced her body to melt into his grasp,

It had been a long time since she'd had a man, and while her mind squirmed and screamed, her treacherous body noticed how awfully good masculinity could feel, how enervating it could be to the will. His clean, brown skin was soft, tufted with sharp curly hairs. A clean man-scent engulfed her. But suddenly, as if recalling where he was, he tightened his grip painfully. "The Emperor wants you to resist, woman. Put up some fight!" He shoved her away and hit her across the face.

She went sprawling, stifling a yelp, gathering all her courage and refusing to scramble away and run for it. The deck was hard and chill, but she gathered herself into a seductive pose, noting with horror that hitting her had roused him more. She smiled. "I see you're ready. Come on and tumble." Can I go through with this?

The brute stalked after her, readier than ever. Any symptom of arousal she had felt was washed away in sheer terror. Gritting her teeth behind her smile, she raised one hand to fondle him intimately, trying to seem admiring and welcoming while she'd rather emasculate him.

In the moment she knew she couldn't go through with it, in the moment she faced her crumbling courage and knew she could not stifle her scream if the man grabbed her arm to pull her to her feet, Zinzik cried, "Enough!"

The brute looked up, wounded. He was throbbingly ready to do his Emperor's bidding. Bewildered, he asked, "No?"