With an analysis of her brand.

The Latin class had acquired a dreamlike and sinister quality. While Professor Valdez lectured on the edict of fugitive slaves, her pointer strayed from the blackboard to point out, with devastating academic precision, the SPQR brand on Sabrina's pubis.

"—Notice the use of the term res, 'thing,' to refer to the individual," the professor said. "The branded person ceases to be a person under the law. They become an object, a res, whose recovery is a matter of property, not morality."

Sabrina felt yet another layer of her humanity peeling away. They didn't call her by her name; she was the "thing" marked in the front row.

"—The text specifies that the dominus, the owner, can inflict a castigationem modestam, a moderate punishment. Sabrina, come to the front."

Sabrina's heart stopped, but her legs obeyed out of inertia before authority. Upon reaching the front, the professor observed her with a gelid curiosity.

"—As our exemplum vivum, a castigatio modesta will be applied to you. But first, we must ensure the object of study is fully visible. Lift your tunic, Sabrina. Up to your waist."

With numb fingers, Sabrina raised the silk strips, revealing her belly, her hips, and the triangle of her sex, where the SPQR brand glowed an irritated red.

"—Excellent," Mrs. Valdez murmured. "Javier, Elena... come closer."

The two students approached with a mixture of discomfort and morbid fascination. Under the professor's vigilant gaze, they stood just inches away from Sabrina's intimacy.

"—Analyze the mark," the professor instructed. "Touch the skin. Feel the relief of the letters."

Elena, her face flushed, extended a trembling finger and traced the outline of the "S" branded on Sabrina's pubis. Sabrina closed her eyes, shuddering at the invasive contact. Javier, emboldened by the example and the impunity of the classroom, went further. He placed his fingertips over the "P" and the "Q," pressing the mark, and then, with deliberate slowness, slid a finger downward, sinking it briefly between the lips of her exposed sex.

Sabrina held back a violent gasp, a spasm of pure horror racing down her spine. Her knees buckled, but Mrs. Valdez's gaze held her anchored. The contact was clinical, devoid of eroticism but charged with absolute dominance.

"—Do you see how the tissue reacts?" Professor Valdez explained with total indifference, as if Javier were pointing at a map. "This is what defines a res: the absence of legal boundaries. The capacity to be physically inspected and manipulated by others without their will being a factor."

"—Now," Mrs. Valdez continued, picking up the thick Latin dictionary, "you will hold this weight. Arms extended."

Sabrina extended her trembling arms as Elena and Javier took a step back. With the dictionary held high, the tunic stretched, and her sex still damp from Javier's contact, the SPQR mark remained as an exposed stigma to the entire class—an impossible target to ignore.