I was still in the crosshairs of that dark and intense gaze. I couldn't tell if Commander John Chase could see in my eyes, in the half-light of the room, the horror and shame that now filled my thoughts and heart; and if he could, what did it do to him? 

He took a deep breath.

"Don't you know what to say, princess?" asked Chase.

I sighed in the face of the inevitable.

"How can I look into your eyes without seeing the blood you have spilled?"

"And who did I ...