Amai's skin goes sheet-white where it's not masked by paint, beads of sweat forming along her hairline. Her heart is thudding so fast she feels like she might be sick. No -- no. This must be some nightmare. She must wake up soon. And how could Lapis possibly know about what they -- no, what Lady Diya had been doing with the ba? Her tongue feels thick and heavy in her dry mouth, and Amai tries fruitlessly to swallow a few times before managing to speak again.

"You -- you don't understand," she manages, her voice breathy. She backs away from Jasper instinctively, quailing, but only hits the station chair she'd been sitting in just moments ago. "This is a political nightmare, and I can't -- " Her head swivels around the room, eyes wild, as though looking for escape where there is none. She's paralyzed. If she tells Diya or anyone with no hard evidence in hand, the blowback from accusing the Handmaiden of illegal gene trafficking would damage more than her career. But if she tells Sei about the incubations, experiments in which she was complicit, how can she ensure she won't get dragged down with that sinking ship? She shakes her head frantically. "I don't have a choice."