The demis up there didn’t belong here.
They would have come in on the barren transporters parked outside. Up until now, the ones from Vita had been granted absolute protection under my father’s rule. With him gone and my lack of power, it had turned to open season.
I didn’t know what the other kingdoms’ excuses were, but it was a sickening sight nonetheless. They were being treated like the human cattle, herded into the sovereign’s personal abattoir.
A total of fifteen minutes passed before the guard returned and waved us forward to follow him. We were taken up the grand staircase opposite the one all the others remained on.
With one guard at the front and another covering the rear, there wasn’t an opportunity for us to discuss a plan of any kind. We went down a narrow hall lined with the same dark wax candles as the floor below.
Approaching a sole arched door just as elaborate as the double set in the main hall, our lead guard placed his hand on the door and turned to address us. “Once we enter, do not speak unless spoken to, do not comment on what you see, and, if you want to remain in good standing, do not cower before my king.”
I was somewhat taken aback by his callous tone.
I knew how to conduct myself in the presence of those I didn’t particularly care for. Wearing a mask was a must if you didn’t want to be destroyed by court politics.
He turned away and opened the door, leaving us to follow him once more. The room we entered was large with a cathedral-like ceiling. Four horizontal chandeliers cast luminescent beams of light down the center of the room. The rest of the large space sat in absolute darkness, ready to swallow whomever set foot within its depths.
My eyes went to the front of the room and the mask I knew how to wield so well was immediately slipped into place.
Two thrones as tall as they were wide sat side by side, made of thick wood, bones, pelts turned to leather and cured skin.
Another set of chairs not quite as large but still a sight to behold were crafted into the wall as well.
I couldn’t see the king from where I was standing, but I had clear view of the severed heads impaled upon spikes that lined the backs of the thrones.
It was morbidly grotesque.
Each preserved face frozen in agony or terror had been branded right across the forehead. It was a sight that let others know just who they had been when living—the first-generation vampires, the ones responsible for creating the lethal war machines that overthrew both them and the human government they’d made a short-lived alliance with.
I slowly pulled my gaze away from them, aware that Jacinda and Scarlett were less than a step behind me. No one came to greet us. There wasn’t any explanation or instruction given.
We were left standing between the two guards, bearing witness to what was currently occurring. One of the groups from the main hall stood a few feet in front of the shut doors, huddled together.
A blonde and a redhead were standing in the center of the room, trembling beneath the unforgiving light. When a deep voice spoke from the darkness straight ahead, their obvious terror intensified.
“We'll keep the vampire hybrid; send the blonde to the auction.”
At once, two different guards came forward to lead the young women off in separate directions. Somewhere hidden in the shadows was another door; the sound of a muffled sob was cut short as it opened and closed, the demis vanishing to the other side.
The tic I’d worked hard to get rid of resurfaced once again and I reached for the skirt of my gown, only to remember that my wrists were bound.
The chain that held the shackles together went taught, causing a clank to echo through the room. It went so quiet you’d be able to hear a feather hit the floor. From the impenetrable darkness, I felt eyes upon me. I didn’t dare breathe too hard in case that carried just as loudly, slowly expelling the air from my lungs.
I shouldn’t have reacted, but I’d been rightly caught off guard.
Auctions weren’t sanctioned and were considered a black market practice. To sentence someone to that kind of fate was a torture within itself. My silent outburst was thankfully ignored. A second voice spoke from the dark, this one colder than the previous.
“Bring the next pair forward.”
A different set of guards swiftly followed the order, pulling two more demis from the gradually dwindling group.
The chandeliers highlighted their exotic features—one curvy and the other slim with dark skin and heads of blonde curls. They were beautiful hybrid seelies.
“Are you kin?” the same man who had given the previous order questioned.
A slow shake of the head came from the curvier woman.
“What a shame,” he replied wistfully. “Well, it can’t be helped. Take the right and dispose of the left.”
I watched the same guards from before moving to do as they were told, wondering to myself if ‘dispose’ was literal or another way of sentencing someone to the auction house.
The demi who’d just received the harsher sentence laughed bitterly as a guard took hold of her arm to steer her out of the room. Her bright blue eyes sent a scathing glare into the darkness.
Before her lips even parted, I silently pleaded for them to stay closed, sensing that whatever she had to say wasn’t worth the trouble it would bring her. Of course, my hunch was correct.
“You sit on a throne you have no right to and watch others do your dirty work. You’re all pathetic, no better than Palmetto bugs that thrive in this sinkhole you call a kingdom.” Her words were sharp and direct, coming fluently with each step she willingly took alongside the guard.
Some royals let insults and disrespect bounce off them with no second thought. Others reacted out of anger or to make an example of whoever did the deed. I didn’t know this sovereign well enough to guess what their reaction might be until witnessing it.
“Wait,” the one who initially spoke commanded. There was no specific emotion notable in his tone.
The woman tried to speak again, but this time the guard silenced her aggressively with a gloved hand over her mouth.
“I would feel pity for you, but your life has less value than the roaches you spoke of.” He paused as if to allow his words to sink in. “I want you to remember each of those words. You’re not going to say many more after you lose your tongue.” His cool tone took on a hint of amusement.
The guard suddenly swiped the woman’s legs from beneath her, forcing the demi to her knees. Another guard, surprisingly a female, approached and took the struggling woman’s face in her hands. There was a sickeningly loud crack followed by an agonized scream as she crushed a portion of the demi’s lower jaw.
I kept my features schooled, motionless and incapable of stopping the silent command from being carried out despite anger pushing me to object.
It was all over so fast.
The female guard shoved gloved fingers into the demi’s mouth and grasped her tongue, tearing the fleshy organ free and hurling it to the marble floor where it landed with an audible splat. Blood and crimson-tinged drool pooled down the ruins of the woman’s once beautiful face.
The male guard delivered a heavy blow to her temple, causing her to slump into silent unconsciousness. She was simply dragged off, her jaw hanging too far to the right and leaking blood, her fat tongue abandoned on the floor.
“For fuck’s sake,” Scarlett whispered to herself.