But my hateful stare was ignored, and the gazes of the others present were fixed on my neck, or rather, on some kind of ‘garrotte’ that I couldn’t see. I reached out with my hand to touch the thing that was making it difficult for me to even turn my head.

“Don’t you dare touch,” the president warned and froze himself, exhaling nervously.

The gray-haired man sitting next to the head of the country rose heavily from his chair, grabbed his cane placed next to the armrest, and walked slowly toward me. I tensed, for it was a first for me to be completely naked in front of so many people. And I hoped it would never happen again.

I cringed as the face of the man with the stick approached, his breath immediately stirring my hair. My nose tickled, as the stranger reeked of sour tobacco and whiskey.

I was just about to move away when the man grasped my chin painfully, tilting my head back until my ears barely cracked.

“Don’t fidget.” He was busily examining my ‘piece of jewelry’, which I only now realized was very heavy.

Nothing happened for a couple of heartbeats, it was like everyone was frozen, waiting.

“What is it, Klaster?” Rizor Cirkul couldn’t take it anymore.

I bit my lip, trying to endure the discomfort and the pain by thinking about anything to keep the physical sensation out of my mind – like the fact that I’d seen this old man somewhere before.

The familiar stranger looked up at my face, met my gaze, and his hand trembled. A moment later, the pressure on my chin eased, and then it was gone.

“This is it. The latest development, a model called the Siri-22,” he exhaled intermittently.

And it finally dawned on me where I’d seen this elderly gentleman.

Klaster Asanor was the Minister of Defense, a friend and an advisor to President Cirkul. He appeared in the news almost more often than the president himself, but mostly in the tabloids, endlessly covering the scandals of the prominent family he was part of.

“I see. We’ll talk at home. Let’s wrap it up.” The president stood up, giving a sign to the guards.

Instantly, the room was filled with fragments of radio chatter, the music had long ago been turned off, so the noise in the lobby only increased, the party continued. And it wasn’t matter that there were no main faces.

“We will go through the back door…”

I listened to the voice of the head of security, not daring to take my eyes off the floor, not knowing at all what I should do.

My attention was distracted by the green patent-leather shoes that appeared right in front of me. I looked up to see a familiar blue-eyed guy with shoulder-length blond hair standing over me.

He stared at my face for a few seconds, then grinned at his own thoughts and threw his coat to me.

“Follow me.”

I could barely get my hair out of the buttons of the clothes that had fallen down on the top of my head, and I looked at the guy with indignation.

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He didn’t pay any attention to my displeased look, turned around to see if the others had left, and then just wrapped me in this coat, took me by the elbows, lifting me up.

“Hurry!” he muttered impatiently in my ear.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“You will,” he paused for a moment. “Either in my coat or completely naked. It’s your choice.”

He had already grabbed my new clothes to get it, so I had no alternative but to quickly slip my hands into the sleeves and tiptoe toward the exit because the floor was freezing.

I jumped into the black Jeep without resistance, it was really chilly outside. The night and spring had apparently had a fight tonight, and the first one was back to the frozen temperatures. But my hope of ‘getting warm’ had about two seconds to live before I sat comfortably in the leather seat. The skin on the inside of my thigh felt cold, I shivered, and then flinched when I was pushed slightly.

“Move over,” said my escort.

I turned my head to the right, meeting the indifferent gaze of a guy with black hair, who I guessed was having a birthday party today. He was sitting there like a living statue, with headphones in his ears, not showing the slightest interest in what was going on inside the car.

“To where? There’s no room here...”

But my objections were not heard, and I was painfully grabbed and pulled away from the seat. I landed on someone else’s lap, and it took me a moment to realize that I was in the hands of the same blond guy – my palm had accidentally touched his thin silk shirt.

The gray-haired Minister of Defense sat down on the left, made himself comfortable with his cane, and slammed the door.

“Let’s go,” he said, closing his eyes and relaxing.

“To the nearest stadium,” the president instructed, and then turned on his phone.

He was sitting in the front passenger seat, just a few inches from me, and for the first time in my life I wished I had some kind of cool superpower or the magic of creating metal out of the air, for example. The vein on Cirkul’s neck throbbed with blood so invitingly, as if begging to be cut.

The lips of the guy that held me touched my right ear and whispered, “don’t squirm.”

“I can’t. It’ uncomfortable! And stop pawing me...” I tried to elbow him in the ribs, but to no avail. I was only pressed harder against his chest.

“Kai, shut her up, or I’ll gag her myself using a belt,” the president said menacingly.

I glared angrily at the top of his head, but either he was immune to mental curses since childhood or he was so thick-skinned that nothing affected him, but the man didn’t even look away from the phone screen. Meanwhile, Kai, whose keys in his pocket were hurting my back, put his palm over my mouth.

I couldn’t resist the temptation to bite the skin of his ring finger. But instead of shouting and screaming, he laughed softly, giving me ticklish goose bumps.

“You’re quite a dog, my Barg bites just like that. Should I get you a muzzle to go with your collar?”

I zoned out, trying to understand what he was talking about. Which collar?

My hand reached for my throat, which was being squeezed by a weight. Oh, this one? I wish I could figure out what kind of collar this was. Where to find a mirror?

Even though it was dark outside the car, there was no reflection of the interior in the windows, they were covered in a matte, bulletproof material. I couldn’t even see where they were taking me, and the depressing atmosphere inside was unnerving.

I closed my eyes, concentrating only on the warmth and touches I was ‘lucky’ to find myself in today. This is the first hug I’ve had with a living person in about ten years.

After about five minutes, it felt a little pleasant, my body was warm, and the guy’s measured breathing, tickling the skin at the base of my neck, was soothing. And when the car finally stopped, I didn’t want to go outside, where it was cold and dark and unknown.

We found ourselves in the middle of a huge open stadium. My feet ached with chill as soon as they touched the damp grass. I closed my lids, letting my eyes shift to night vision. The glow of the moon on the field was gradually joined by the gleam of flashlights from telephones and wristwatches.

As soon as I could see better, I looked around, hoping to find the answer to the question, “why the hell was I brought here?” There was nothing reassuring: men in black, a couple more jeeps in front of and behind ours, and darkness swirling beyond the edge of the light. Couldn’t we have gone somehow less crowded? Was it necessary to pack the second tier into one car?

Without a word, Kai pushed me forward, and then grabbed my arm and dragged me after the president, the other silent guy, and the minister. We only stopped when the lights of the guards lost all sense for us to navigate them.

“So? Who will go check first?” The awkward silence was interrupted by the president’s voice.