“You’ll have to take your clothes off. In front of everyone.”
“What?” I nearly choked on the last bit of the cookie. “That’s a joke, right?”
Please let this be a joke.
Alarmingly, after everything I’d seen of this place, what he’d just said seemed entirely possible. Dread gripped my heart with icy fingers.
“What are they going to do to me?” I asked, swallowing hard.
“They’ll look at you.” His casual tone sent a chill down my back. He obviously didn’t think what he was saying was wrong.
“Why?”
Wyck had saved me before. Every time someone had tried to assault me, he’d put a stop to it. Was it because he’d been saving me for this?
“Because seeing you naked would excite them. And excitement feels good.”
“Why should I care about them feeling good?” I raised my voice. Fear made it sound squeaky. “And who are they, anyway?”
“The crew of the Dark Anomaly.” He pressed his hands into the wide metal stripe of the threshold, leaning into it as if for support.
Something was bothering Wyck. Sadly, it didn’t seem to be the subject matter of our conversation.
“They’ll want to see you naked, and they’ll want to watch you come.”
“Co... What?” Horror and shame rolled over me in a suffocating swell. “You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s just—”
“You can do it yourself,” he said without a shred of humor in his tone. I couldn’t fool myself; he wasn’t joking. “Touching I mean. Or like the captain said, you can choose one of the males to touch you instead.”
“In front of everyone?”
“Yes.”
It was simply ridiculous, except that he spoke of it earnestly.
“Do you even realize how absurd you sound?”
He glanced my way but quickly diverted his eyes again, staring back at the metal in front of him. I couldn’t see his expression clearly, and it unnerved me.
“It can’t happen.” I breathed faster, as the room suddenly appeared to be short on oxygen. “You know it’s wrong—you can’t even look me in the eye when you say it.”
What was up with that? What was so fascinating about that wall that he wouldn’t take his eyes off it?
“I’ll bring your dinner soon.” He shoved away from the wall. “Tonight, you’ll rest. Tomorrow, you’ll do what you’re supposed to do if you want to stay alive.”
“Is that a threat?” Fear shook through me. “Is it a live-or-die thing? Are you going to kill me if I don’t disrobe and let one of you touch me? Is that it?”
He finally leveled a stare at me. Heavy and cold, it made my skin crawl.
“I won’t have to kill you,” he said gravely, his every word falling into the room like a stone. “There’re plenty of others who will if you don’t give them what they want.”
“And you’ll do nothing to stop them?” I asked, my voice low and thin. I could have guessed the answer already—he didn’t care.
“I hope it won’t come to that,” he said evasively.
“You hope? Why do you even think I’ll go ahead with your plan?”
“If you have any brains in that head of yours, you will.”
“Brains are the last thing required for what you want me to do,” I muttered, glaring at him. “I’m not going to do it.”
“You will. If you want to live.”
He held my gaze with his, his yellow irises especially bright and unnerving.
“Or you’ll starve.” He suddenly snatched a cookie from my hand.
“Hey!” I leaped back, hiding the remaining two cookies behind my back.
Turning to fully face the room, he kept his gaze on me. His gloomy expression had smoothened out, giving way to calculation and...interest.
“You’ll get to eat only after you cooperate.” He suddenly looked annoyingly pleased with himself.
“Are you serious? You’re going to starve me until I comply?”
He shrugged. “Whatever worked for a madhi, should work for a human, too, I imagine.”
“Did you starve your pet, too?”
“Starve? No. I used food as motivation to train him. Lesh proved to be smart enough to learn quickly what’s best for him—to do as I say. He never starved.”
“So, you’re hoping to force me into obedience, too?”
He shrugged.
“I can only hope you’re as smart as a mahdi?”
I seethed with resentment at the indignity of it. He stared straight at me now, but I remembered the signs of his unease ever since he’d entered this room. I stepped aside, and his gaze followed me, as if glued to my face.
“How about these two?” I waved my hand with the two remaining cookies