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“Holy…”

Krush casts an alance at me as one of his suitoresses swishes her rear at hi flash of sht crevice beyond There is very little in the way of subtlety here These korabi brides are willing to do anything to get their king

He is only feigning interest I can tell because I knohat he looks like when he is really interested I aht call the desirable Several of the accomplished in the academic arts

Jealousy and female competition thicken the air I am not the only woman in possession of a crush on Krush The looks so one anotherend of one of the the room

It turns out that eration, or a projection There is more than lust and avarice in the air There is murder

One female comes to replace another at the front of the display I do not kno he is able to tell one from another I am astounded by the feminine reat panoras

I glance up at Krush to see what he is thinking Is he enchanted? Is he beco them out for a place in his harem? Or has he already selected one ill be his bride?

At the edge of my vision there is a flash of steel, just barely visible, and then a high-pitched scream One of the dancers has taken her jealousy out on another and slashed her viciously across theback and forth once, twice, three vicious tiasps of scores of scandalized korabi

Krush leaps from the throne, and rushes to the aid of the slashed victim I stay where I am, chained to his seat, left to watch as he tends to the wounded woman with an easy authority Krush has seen action He is one of the few korabi who volunteered to go off-world and fight in distant star wars I see the expression of an entirely focused soldier on his face as he rips the cape fro

She looks at hiratitude The cut was not playful, orto hold one of his potential brides together The scene is horrific, and absolutely chaotic There is enues faints The competition was not supposed to become physical, but apparently there is soh I can’t say I understand how this helps her cause She’s on the run now

“Capture the one with the knife!” Krush calls out

By the tiht to issue the edict, the slasher has escaped in the crowd

“Don’t worry,” he says, brushing the woht Nothing you need has been punctured Your wounds are superficial”

She grips his hand, her blood solden skin

I should be horrified Instead, I am jealous Stupid lucky stab victim Krush is so attentive to her, so concerned about her I wish he would look at me that way

These are the thoughts of an objectively bad person, but I've never really had the chance to develop the personality traits of a good person Saving the othersto be the last one out of Megaris was probably brave But right now, I am consumed with envy I want to look away, be anywhere else than here But I am chained to the throne I can’t escape the chaos I have to look at all the running korabi legs and watch Krush kneel next to a fe more than to be his

“I’m cold”

Those are the only tords I hear from her

It is plain toHer injuries are not superficial Her blood leaks across the floor in a slow but steady pool She is dying, and nobody is saving her Krush is applying pressure to the wound, but he has neglected to notice that she has been run through The wound is notfrom the back

I stare, unheard when I try to tell the to me They lift her up to try to take her to a hospital There is a wet sound and a heavy ians which used to be inside her body slide out through the artfullyThis was an evisceration An assassination