Page 55 of Kidnapped By the Beast
His face must have given the other male a fright because the merchant pointed down a darker row of stalls without a word, his hands shaking.
Brandt straightened, his jaw tight.
“Come,” he snapped. “We have to find her before something bad happens.”
If it hadn’t already.
T’linga hurried after him, but he barely noticed. He was already following the faint thread of Alexandra’s scent into the shadows, his heart hammering.
Please, Goddess. Don’t let me be too late. She doesn’t understand what danger she’s in. She’s so fragile, so breakable—and I should have protected her. This is my fault. I wanted to see her beautiful and bare for me. I told myself it was necessary, but it wasn’t, not really. And now she’s alone in a place that would eat her alive if it could. Please help me find her!
28
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.”
