He tried, she thought. He really, really tried. He didn’t just give in immediately—he really didn’t want to hurt me.
She could feel deep remorse coming from J’are through their link and knew that she was right.
At last, however, the battle was lost. Imani watched on the screen as the sentience leaked out of the big Nightwalker’s pale green eyes and the chase was on. She watched herself climb a tree, saw J’are stalking her, catching her…
“What is this?” Judge Thoughtgood interrupted sharply, staring at Imani. “Some kind of strange game the two of you were playing?”
“No, your Honor,” Imani said quietly. “It was no game.”
“Keep watching, your Honor,” Lady Bittlebum said quickly. “We’re coming to the good part now.”
They were all silent for a moment and Imani felt her cheeks get hot as she watched J’are’s rough seduction and her own reaction to the big Nightwalker. She watched herself pull down her top to bare her breasts and take off her panties and spread her thighs for his tongue.
And then, worst of all, she watched as she got to her hands and knees and spread her legs for him, giving him what he wanted—what they both wanted—so desperately.
“This is what you call the ‘good part?’” Judge Thoughtgood interrupted again. She turned to Lady Bittlebum, who had a satisfied little smile curving her thin lips. “Mistress Bittlebum, may I inquire as to why you have brought obscene pornography which violates the highest law of our planet against male penetration into my courtroom?”
“Why, because, your Honor…” Mistress Bittlebum put a hand to her chest and pasted a shocked expression to her face. “It shows that this brute cannot be trusted! This was recorded in a room at my own home—you can see how he acts when he doesn’t think anyone is watching! Why, he chased down his own Defender and forced himself on her!”
“J’are did not rape me,” Imani made her voice crack like a whip. “Did you see me use the remote to his pain collar? No, you did not,” she answered her own question. “I could have stopped him at any time, but I didn’t.” Which was true and she knew it.
“Oh, please, Councilor Williams,” Lady Bittlebum spat incredulously. “We all saw just now how you ran from him, how he caught you and held you down and—”
“He did all that because it was his instinct. Because you locked us in the simulator room—which was built by my client’s adopted mother in order to simulate his home world—and then drove him crazy by setting it to the bonding setting—the breeding setting,” Imani said. “You knew that when the three moons converged overhead he would be helpless to stop himself—helpless to keep his feral side from coming out.”
Judge Thoughtgood frowned at Imani.
“Regardless of why or how it was done, that was still a vid of male penetration of a female, Councilor—which we Yonnites find wrong and repugnant.”
“I understand that, your Honor, but you must make some allowances for different cultures,” Imani said, keeping her voice calm and her face impassive. “In my culture, males regularly penetrate females—it is part of a normal relationship between them.”
Judge Thoughtgood raised her eyebrows.
“So you don’t believe that you were wronged in any way and you don’t wish your client to be executed?”
“No, I don’t,” Imani said firmly.
“Yes, she does!” J’are shot up from his chair. “I should be executed for what I did!” he said, staring at the judge. “I should be skinned alive and eviscerated—I would welcome the pain.”
“J’are—stop!” Imani grabbed for his arm and tried to pull him back down. “It wasn’t your fault—you weren’t in your right mind!” she exclaimed.
“You see? Do you see?” Lady Bittlebum crowed. “Even the Nightwalker knows he deserves to be put to death!”
“No, he doesn’t!” Imani insisted.
Watching the vid of herself with J’are had given her a strange feeling—and a new understanding of the events that had transpired between them. She was still upset with him but she had seen the way he fought with himself, seen how he had tried to hold back the change.
“Sit down!” she sent through their mental link. “I mean it, J’are! I didn’t expose Mistress Bittlebum just so you could throw yourself on the mercy of the court and get killed for your trouble!”
“I forced you and ruined your life—I should die for it,” he sent back.
“No, you shouldn’t! Now SIT DOWN!”
Imani sent her last words with the force of a mental shout. At last the big Nightwalker sank back into his seat, though he still looked upset and she could feel the waves of self-recrimination coming from him.
“Are we going to continue now, Councilor?” Judge Thoughtgood raised an eyebrow at her.
“Yes.” Imani cleared her throat.
“Really, your Honor, after that outburst—what more do you need to hear?” Mistress Bittlebum interrupted.
“Mistress Bittlebum—when I want to hear from you, I’ll ask,” the judge said sharply. She waited until the other Mistress sank back into her seat, red-faced and fuming at the rebuke, before turning back to Imani. “All right, go on Councilor Williams. Please tell me why I shouldn’t have your client executed for committing such a vile offence as penetration?”
“Because it’s not against the law in his culture—or in mine,” Imani said quickly. “Here on Yonnie Six, allowing yourself to be penetrated by a male is the worst thing a Mistress can do. Though I know for a fact, that some of them do it anyway—in the privacy of their own bedrooms,” she added.
“Well…” Judge Thoughtgood cleared her throat. “There have been…rumors from time to time. Proceed.”
“On Earth, where I come from, male penetration of a female is the norm,” Imani said. She turned to look at Lady Bittlebum. “Mistress Bittlebum made a critical mistake—she thought she could shut me up by shaming me. And while, I admit, it’s not pleasant to have a courtroom full of people watch me having sex,
