Page 11 of Dhampira

No. Too expensive.

My vision swam, the faces of the crowd sliding over one another. Brightly colored jerkins and fur-lined cloaks joined the roiling sea. The nobles of Sausberg, come to buy a “pet” from Nocta. Tears pricked my eyes. Mama had warned me not to cross the Feyline. But maybe the bigger monsters lived in Ghedda. Laughter rang out somewhere to my left. When I tried to turn my head, the room tilted.

“Be quick about those chains!” Cyprio barked from somewhere behind me. A second later, rough hands fumbled at my hips. Metal clanged. More fumbling at my thighs.

The ache eased. Fark stepped into view. His dark eyes met mine briefly as he unclasped a third chain from my waist. The nausea receded. A light, buoyant sensation filled me.

I tried to shake the hair from my face and found that I couldn’t. Sometime between the storeroom and the platform, they’d put a collar on me. It held my nape to the post. My wrists were still lashed behind my back. I’d kept my nightgown, thank the gods, but my robe was gone.

Fark smirked, showing a missing molar. He shoved my hair behind my shoulders. “Enjoy the view,” he said, then stepped away.

My vision was sharp now, and I stared over a crowd that was smaller than I initially thought. Or maybe it was just that the space was so large. Beamed ceilings soared overhead. Barrels and crates were everywhere. Enormous windows lined the walls of what could only be a warehouse. The smell of rotten fish drifted on the air.

The Kingsway. Cyprio’s warehouse was on the banks of the river.

“Gentlemen!” he boomed, striding from behind me and stopping just short of the edge of the platform. “And ladies,” he added, smiling toward a pair of women in rich gowns and pearl-studded headdresses. The taller of the two, an older noblewoman with tight gray ringlets arranged like a doll’s, raised a pair of jeweled binoculars and studied me through them.

I jerked away my gaze. It landed on a man in the rear of the crowd. As soon as I saw him, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed him before. He towered over the men in front of him, but that wasn’t what made him stand out. Whereas the others wore the rich velvets and silks of the nobility, this man was swathed head to toe in black. Black gloves covered his hands. A black cowl rested over his head, casting his face in an impenetrable shadow. Even with human blood lingering in my veins, I couldn’t make out his features. The men in the crowd shifted, brushing shoulders. By contrast, the man in black stood still as a statue.

Awareness tingled over my skin. His eyes were hidden, but they seared me all the same. My heart thumped painfully.

Anyone but him. Whatever happened, I couldn’t let him buy me.

Cyprio spread his arms as he addressed the crowd again. “I know you’re all eager to begin, so I won’t delay.”

“Then shut up and open the bidding!” someone called from the middle. Laughter rippled through the crowd.

The man in black didn’t move.

Cyprio grinned. Fark lurked just behind him, his dark eyes moving from the nobles to the big double doors at the far end of the warehouse.

The woman with the binoculars lowered them and turned to Cyprio. “The girl looks too docile to be a dhampir.”

A man behind her snorted as he folded his arms. “Have a lot of experience with dhampirs, do you, Duchess?”

She rounded on him. “No, Lord Prestus, but I guarantee I’ve fucked far more women than you, and pleasured twice as many. It’s a pity your cock only works half the time.”

More titters ran through the crowd. The lord’s face grew a mottled shade of red.

“Cunt,” he muttered.

The duchess smiled thinly as she faced Cyprio. “Lord Prestus offers an excellent suggestion. Let’s see everything this dhampir of yours has to offer. Strip her.”

“No!” I shouted, the protest bursting from me before I could stop it. I jerked against the post. The collar dug into my throat, gagging me, and I coughed as I forced myself to stand still.

“In good time,” Cyprio said. He motioned to Fark, who turned and bent over a small chest I hadn’t noticed before. When he faced the crowd once more, he held my mother’s black dress in his hands.

Murmurs and gasps rose from the nobles, several of whom went on tiptoe as they angled for a better look. The dragonstones glowed red under the beams of sunlight that slanted through the warehouse’s windows.

Triumph spread over Cyprio’s features as he surveyed the crowd. He glanced at the duchess as he raised his voice. “As you can see, the dhampir comes with a piece of Nocta. This gown is one of a kind, just like the girl.”

My gaze locked on the man in black. He was as still as ever. No one paid him any attention as they struggled for a closer view of the dress.

“Now, you asked for proof that the girl is a dhampir,” Cyprio said. He strode behind me. Abruptly, my hands were free, although thick manacles still circled my wrists. Before I could fully appreciate my newfound freedom, something clicked like a latch being turned and suddenly my neck was no longer pinned to the post.

I rushed forward. Metal clanked, and the collar bit into my neck as I was yanked backward. Spinning, I took in the length of silver that still stretched between my collar and the post like a leash.

Cyprio appeared from behind the post and drew a length of thin, bright cord from his pocket. More silver. He’d fashioned a whip out of it. My insides quivered, and my heart thumped like a drum. The cord ended in a polished wooden handle no thicker than Cyprio’s finger. Face impassive, he drew back the whip.