See the danger.
This man is dangerous in a way I don't have words for yet.
His lips curve.
Just slightly.
Like he knows exactly what I'm thinking.
Like he can read every terrified thought racing through my mind.
Like he's already won.
"Continue, please," the auctioneer says.
I tear my gaze away.
Finish the turn.
Face forward again.
But I can still feel his eyes on me.
Can feel the weight of his attention like a physical touch.
Like he's already touching me even though he's ten rows away.
My heart is racing.
I don't know if it's fear or something else.
Something I don't want to name.
Silence.
For a horrible moment, I think no one will bid.
That I'll be the first girl tonight to be rejected, to be sent back to whatever fate awaits the ones nobody wants.
Then—
"One hundred thousand." A voice from the darkness. Older. Somewhere to my left.
Not his voice. Someone else.
Relief and horror flood through me at the same time.
Someone wants me.
Someone is willing to pay for me.
But not him. Not yet.
"One hundred and fifty thousand." Another voice, different section. Younger. Closer to the stage.
The auctioneer's face remains perfectly neutral. "Do I hear two hundred thousand?"
"Two hundred thousand." The older voice again.
