A war was coming, even if I was the only one who could feel the rumbling under my feet.
Dragging myself back to the present, I focused on the dais before me.
Despite it being their turn, the werewolves had forgone this shipment, which meant it was now ours. As emissaries of the Crown Prince, Anthony and I were alone in the front row. Behind us were a dozen or more of the vampires who opted not to inhabit the Empire and stayed on the mainland interspersed among humans. They acted as go betweens for the King and the human government.
I nodded at a few that I recognized, and they tipped their heads in return, even as my mind ticked back to the girl with the golden eyes.
I was going to have to get laid when I got home. I knew it had been a while, but I’d been busy, and sex had been the last thing on my mind. Apparently, my dry spell needed watering if I was so hard up that a ragged street rat caught my attention. I snorted at myself and adjusted my dick as it stirred to life.
The manager of the auctions had learned his lesson the hard way to keep the supernaturals apart, and the vampires were often given the best of the best due to our deep pockets. From the looks of the women I’d seen in the pens, though, I had serious doubts that had happened today.
Perhaps that was why the werewolves forfeited their turn?
Once we were seated, the auctioneer nodded toward Anthony and then addressed the crowd.
“You all know how this works. We’ll introduce the first specimen, let her show her wares, then you bid.”
And then it began.
I refused to wonder who would end up buying the honey-eyed woman. Perhaps Raven. He liked his women on the exotic side.
I’d been to auctions before, before they segregated the supernaturals, but it had been at least five years, and it looked like nothing had changed.
Someone grabbed a woman from the side of the stage and tugged her to the front. She resisted, flailing her arms and letting out little shrieks as she fought back, which only made the vampires around me excited. They missed the thrill of the chase, and they lapped her fear like kittens drank warm milk.
The auction attendants dragged her to the center of the small platform that served as a stage.
Terror filled her brown eyes and her heart beat louder than the rest of the women. Faster. Closer.
Anthony’s eyes burned bright and he licked his lower lip, his tongue playing with the tip of one fang.
Before he even made a bid, I knew he’d try to purchase her. And he’d use her first, before he put her back with the group, before the ship reached landfall. That was, if he didn’t kill her. It wouldn’t have been the first time. But I suspected he’d be more careful on this trip since I was along.
Which again begged the question, why had he really asked for me to come on this trip?
He was purchasing her for the kingdom, and Anthony liked to pay for as little as possible from his own pocket. He wouldn’t want to reimburse the King for a dead human.
“What’s your name?” the auctioneer asked the woman as two other workers held her forearms to keep her from running.
She stared wide-eyed into the crowd, blinking in the light shining upon her. She didn’t answer.
“Okay then,” the auctioneer grunted. “We’ll just call you Daisy.” He turned his attention to the audience. “Daisy looks to be in her early to mid-twenties but she appears to have given birth to at least one child. Could be good for any breeding programs ya might have going on.”
“Let me go!” The woman tried to pull loose from the two men, to no avail.
The auctioneer walked over to her. “Her body strength appears to be subpar, so you won’t get much manual labor out of her, but she is a looker.” He grabbed her chin and held her face up so we could see, her long brunette hair hanging like a curtain down her back. Then, he grabbed the top of her tunic and ripped it down the middle. Both men pulled off the remnants then held her arms as she tried to cover her naked breasts.
“She’s got nice tits,” the auctioneer continued. “So she’d be good for fuckin’ or food. Or perhaps you’d like her for both.”
Anthony was practically salivating, but he remained quiet as others started to make their bids.
“Two hundred,” a man called out.
“Three hundred.”
The bidding continued and then began to slow. The auctioneer called out, “Do I hear twelve hundred? Going once, going—”
“Thirteen hundred,” Anthony said in a clear voice that sounded as smug as he looked.
“Fourteen,” a low voice behind us called. That was Raven.
Anthony opened his mouth to continue bidding, but I grabbed his arm and squeezed in warning.
“No more,” I muttered through gritted teeth.
His gaze flattened in fury and he opened his mouth to defy me, but something in my expression must’ve stopped him because he swallowed hard and nodded.
“Fine, then. I was thinking we could have shared her on the long journey home.”
The asshole had no concept of what constituted a long journey. “It’s only two days to cross, Anthony. And we’re not to touch the females until they’re claimed, after the Harvest Games are complete.”
His brow lifted. “The Harvest Games haven’t started yet.”
“A technicality, as you well know. The women are not to be touched. Understood?” I stared him down until he looked away.
“Spoilsport.”
Our conversation over his attempted misuse of royal funds would wait until we were on the ship and away from outside ears.
The auctioneer handed Daisy off then brought out the next woman. Her name was Becky and she was a hairdresser.
“Amelia was saying we need someone who can do updos for the other girls,” Anthony mused. “Especially in light of the Harvest Games coming up. This one would be useful.”
I looked away, already bored of this conversation and unfathomably irritated by the name of what once had simply been called the Testing. If the kingdom was devolving with opulence, the annual Harvest Games was the biggest one of them all. Mocking the humans once more, as if a woman fighting for a place in our world had any chance at true freedom.
Anthony bid on Becky, and won her.
A parade of women crossed the stage, almost every single one of them exposed so the purchaser knew what they were getting. Some tried to cover themselves, their hands splayed wide, but some stood proud with their chins up and their skin pebbling with the cold.
Rather than pay attention, I let my mind wander from the return trip. If it had been the Vanators that had attacked, were they working with another supernatural group? Perhaps they had joined forces with the werewolves in order to fool us?
The vampires were at the top of the hierarchy, and everyone coveted our place. We negotiated on behalf of all the territories with the humans. Whoever it was that had come after the boat had equipment that would have taken a large budget to obtain. It could have been the Shifters to the east of our kingdom, the tensions there were rife with animosity just waiting to spill over.
Finally—thankfully—only one woman was left.
The girl with the golden eyes.
Two men dragged her out and my blood stirred again in a way I didn’t like. They didn’t bother trying to remove her clothes as they led her to the front of the stage. Her eyes flashed with pure fire as she stared them down. Her hands curled into fists, and I tried not to laugh at her defiance.