“We’re here,” Antones announced from the front.
I thanked the True for it. Lukain and I were about two seconds away from spouting off words we’d regret, our anger taking hold.
Lukain stood and shoved his way out of the carriage before the wheels had even fully stopped turning.
The auction took place in an old rundown building tucked away from the main road and smashed together with other buildings. The Bronze tried to bear down on illicit activity and flesh trading but there were simply too many black market specialists and too few lawmen to make a dent in the proceedings.
The frequency with which Lukain attended these bidding venues showed me how fruitless the Bronzes were in exacting any sort of meaningful change in Nuhav.
We were in a southwestern tenement. Homeless, vagrants, and redcloud addicts surrounded the streets of the two-story building. A small family sat by a flickering trash-fire nearby, huddled together for warmth.
Guilt filled me as I entered the loud main room of the structure with Lukain and Antones.I’m “one of the lucky ones,”as Helget would say. Having a place to sleep, food to eat, people to speak with on a daily basis.
Everything was not perfect. I was a slave to a half-vampire who could be an absolute ass at times. But I couldn’t forget what he had done for me, either.
The volume of the main room blared and barreled over my thoughts as we entered. It was a stuffy, enclosed space with exits to the left and right that spit out into alleyways or connected with other nearby shops. A staircase rose to the second level near one of the exits.
My eyes scanned the room to spot danger. There were a lot of tall, older men here, scrunched together. Foul breath and body odor were the prevailing scents, mingling to create a nauseating stench that gave me a headache.
At the front of the room was a stage with a bowed middle, the wood cracking underfoot. Circled around the stage was a group of twenty bidders. I noticed a lot of gray hair, overweight men chatting to each other in loud, drunken voices, and a few scared women passing drinks around.
These are the leaders of Nuhav’s underground gangs? A grotesque bunch if I’ve ever seen one.It was the polar opposite of the refined nature of the lords and ladies at Manor Marquin—refined at least until the blood started spilling.
Each man here reminded me in some way of Dimmon Plank, who likely attended these monthly auctions to bolster his number of Diplomat children or to sell off his wares like he’d done with me and Jinneth.
A speaker stepped onto the stage, hauling three girls behind him. The girls were roped together by their wrists. Anger ignited when I saw their shivering dispositions, their young, dirtied faces, and the sheer fear in their big eyes.
The oldest couldn’t have been more than fourteen. The youngest, maybe ten summers.
“Right, right, let’s get to it, y’bastards. I’m hopin’ for an early night.” The speaker’s brash voice hushed the gathering. He lifted the arm of the youngest, shortest girl in the group. “Got three good’ns here. Young thing might look frail now, but those hips? She’ll be stout and sturdy in three to four, ready for whatever purposes y’lot might have.” He sneered in an ugly, knowing grin.
A few of the men in the crowd chuckled.
“How y’know that, Pukren? Tested the goods yourself, have ye?” one man called out.
“Hoy, shut your fuck-trap!” Pukren answered, eliciting more howling laughs from the gathering.
Lukain, Antones, and I stood near the back. Lukain stared ahead, arms crossed, face serious and unreadable. I had a hood pulled over my head to hide my hair and features. So far, no one noticed I was a woman, or noticed me at all.
The auctioneer’s sweaty pate and his disgusting sales pitch made me sick to my stomach and furious.
Lukain glanced over. “You’re the one who wanted to join, little grimmer.” When I scowled at him, I noticed his gaze had moved past me.
Once he faced the stage again, I followed where his eyes had been but saw nothing amiss—just a doorway off to the side.
The speaker Pukren continued his lewd speech. “The tallest o’ the bunch got legs on her, don’t she? Perfect for daily chores or nightly duties. She’s childless, ready to work. We’ll start her off at three coppers.”
Three copper coins?!It was a pittance. It was disgusting, and I couldn’t believe Lukain and Antones could keep a straight face here.
I had to remember this wasnormalfor these people. Despite the kindness Ant had shown me during our walks, and the seemingly gallant behavior Lukain occasionally exhibited, thesewere awful men. Wretches of society who preyed on the weak and destitute, offering a false promise of a better life.
I noticed my mistake in coming here. This flesh-house was something I wouldn’t be able to get out of my mind for weeks.
“Eight for the whole lot,” cried out one man in the audience, raising a paddle. “I like the middle one. Nice and plump.”
I wanted to break his nose and worse.
Pukren snorted. “Then y’have to do lot better than eight for that, Radigan, y’cheap bastard!”
