Page 33 of Kidnapped By the Beast (Beasts of the Kindred #11)

LEXI

Lexi’s arms ached where the Terian officers gripped her, dragging her through echoing stone corridors that smelled faintly of incense and damp moss.

Her bare feet slapped against the smooth stone floor.

She tried to dig her heels in, but it was like trying to stop two freight trains with her body weight—the Terians were strong and they weren’t letting go.

Her mind still couldn’t make sense of it all.

This is insane. Totally insane. One minute I’m shopping for a bra, the next I’m getting hauled to alien court on prostitution charges. What the actual Hell?

They hauled her around a final corner, and suddenly she was stumbling into a vast chamber that made her catch her breath in awe.

The Hall of Judgement rose up around her like something out of an ancient cathedral—if cathedrals had been designed by alien architects with a taste for intimidation.

The walls soared high overhead, carved from pale violet stone shot through with veins of glittering silver.

Pillars lined the sides, each wound with vines that glowed faintly in the dim light, shedding an eerie greenish illumination.

Between the pillars hung long banners embroidered with Terian script and stylized depictions of handcuffs and whips.

The air was thick with the sharp, resinous tang of burning incense. At the far end, raised above the rest of the hall on a platform of polished obsidian, sat a Terian male who must be the Magistrate.

His seat was less a chair and more a throne—massive, with high sweeping arms carved in the shape of entwined serpents, their jeweled eyes glinting red.

The back soared so high it nearly brushed the vaulted ceiling above him, forcing anyone who looked his way to crane their neck, a clear reminder of their insignificance before his authority.

The Magistrate himself was swathed in heavy robes of deep amethyst trimmed with threads of gold.

The fabric shimmered like oil when he shifted, pooling around him in rich folds.

Broad golden cuffs encircled his wrists, etched with shifting runes, and a heavy chain of office lay across his chest, its pendant shaped like a pair of four interlocked eyes.

But it was his spectacles that caught Lexi’s attention.

They were crafted of fine silver filigree, holding four oval lenses that covered both sets of his eyes.

The glass glimmered faintly, magnifying his gaze until it felt as though he could see right through her.

All four eyes fixed on her with unblinking contempt, enlarged and distorted by the lenses as the officers dragged her in front of him.

Lexi’s heart began to pound even harder as she stared up and up and up.

Oh my God, this can’t be good! Why is he staring at me that way?

Because the look the Magistrate gave her through his magnifying spectacles was anything but friendly. His long fingers tapped against the carved arm of the throne as the officers dragged her forward. The sound echoed like a gavel.

“Let the accused approach,” he commanded, his voice deep and resonant, rolling through the chamber like distant thunder. “Let us hear her crimes.”

Lexi stumbled as the officers yanked her into place, directly beneath his gaze. The dais was so high above her that she had to tilt her head back until her neck ached just to meet his four bespectacled and extremely unfriendly eyes.

“What is this case?” the Magistrate demanded. “Give me the details, quickly!”

One of the officers bowed deeply.

“Your Lordship, this off-worlder woman is accused of false advertising and cock teasing. She put on a green breast cover and lured a poor, unsuspecting male to her. But when he simply asked to buy her wares, she attacked him with a snood!”

“A…what?” Lexi mouthed, blinking.

Then it clicked.

Oh my God. The lava-lamp-bong thing. That’s what they’re calling it? A snood? She almost laughed at the ridiculous name, but one look at the Magistrate’s stony face killed the urge.

He leaned forward, all four lenses of his interlocking glasses flashing as they caught the light. His four eyes narrowed behind the lenses.

“A grave charge. Baiting and violence.”

Lexi opened her mouth, desperate to explain.

“Wait—no! Please, Your Honor, you’ve got it all wrong—”

“Silence, off-worlder!” The Magistrate’s thunderous voice cracked through the echoing chamber.

The words seemed to vibrate in her bones.

“I do not know how you conduct yourself on your primitive planet, but here on Bio-Terius Centra, luring innocent men with your body and then striking them down is a crime!”

Lexi’s stomach dropped.

“But you don’t understand!” she cried, her voice breaking. “I didn’t know green was your…your hooker color, okay? Nobody told me! I haven’t even been here a week! I didn’t mean to ‘lure’ him!” she protested.

The Magistrate’s four eyes blinked slowly, magnified and cold through the spectacles.

“A likely story.”

“It’s the truth!” she pleaded, twisting against the officers’ iron grip on her arms. “I swear. I wasn’t trying to trick anyone—I just liked the color! Look at my eyes!” She jerked her chin up, hoping the green would back her up. “I thought it would match my eyes—that’s all!”

“Pathetic,” the Magistrate said coldly. His deep voice reverberated from the carved stone. “Every harlot has her excuse. You are no different.”

Lexi’s heart fisted in her chest as panic and rage tangled inside her.

Oh my God—he really thinks I’m lying. He’s not going to let me go!

The Magistrate raised one long-fingered hand, his golden cuffs glinting in the dim light. With a swift, cutting motion, he passed judgment.

“I sentence you, harlot, to one hour in the sexual stocks with a officering device implanted in you in the public square. Perhaps public discipline will teach you not to attack innocent men who merely wished to partake of what you so clearly offered.”

Lexi’s knees nearly gave out.

“The sexual what?! What does that even mean? Please, you can’t—”

But before she could finish her sentence, the officers hauled her backward.

“Enough talk—you’ve been sentenced,” one growled harshly. “You can’t take any more of the Magistrate’s time.”

“No—wait! Please!” She struggled, but their grip only tightened as they dragged her through the doors. “I didn’t know! You have to believe me! I’m not a prostitute—er, harlot! I’m not—”

The heavy doors slammed behind them, closing them out of the vast chamber. And Lexi, heart hammering, realized she was being dragged toward something that sounded a whole lot like public sexual humiliation.

Oh God. What have I gotten myself into?

And how was she going to get out of it?