Only the women stand still, clad in sheer white silk as they look around nervously. A woman named Lannia rises from her naked crouch, tearing the glittering mesh muzzle from her face and casting it aside, careless of her nudity as she grabs a knife from someone’s sheath and uses it to cut his throat.
“Kill them!” she yells.
Together we will rise.
I wipe my blade clean on my skirts as I dart through the crowd. A glee that is both vicious and powerful beats in my chest as mayhem ensues. Lannia’s not the only female who takes her revenge.
But not all the men have fallen.
Rhykus turns toward me, yanking the sword from one of his warrior’s sheaths. He gestures sharply, gathering those few of his men who didn’t consume the mead, barking out swift orders before he starts toward me.
“This way!” I yell, gathering the women toward me. “We need to leave. Now!”
They scurry past me, safer in numbers, heading for the meeting place by the gates of the manor.
I search for Kari in the melee, but her clan chief is dragging her in the opposite direction.
“No, you don’t,” I growl, going after them.
Flipping my newly acquired knife, I catch the tip of it, then fling it toward him.
It strikes true, driving straight through the back of his neck, severing the spine. It has to be the knife, for even my best steel wouldn’t have done that. The Mekoi clan chief goes down like a puppet with its strings cut. Kari sprawls to the carpets in a wave of white silk.
“Get up!” I yell at her, pausing by the Mekoi chief’s body to fetch my knife. “We need to get out of here.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Rhykus appears out of nowhere, grabbing Kari by the hair and hauling her to her feet, where he sets his sword to her throat. A sinister smile forms on his thin lips. “You are becoming quite the inconvenience.”
“My apologies for disrupting your filthy operation,” I snarl.
“Don’t move,” he tells me, then gestures to the men at his heels. “Bring her to me. Alive. We’re going to have another auction once this mess is cleaned up, this time for her death.”
I meet Kari’s horrified eyes, knowing Rhykus won’t give me a second chance. There will be no cell. No more chances to escape.
Our eyes meet, and I see the same recognition in her face, followed swiftly by a decision.
“Run,” she cries, driving her elbow back into Rhykus midriff. “Zyla,run!”
I promised to save her. But I can’t survive against five heavily armed guards.
Rhykus won’t kill her. I recognised that look in his eyes earlier. We’re merely flesh and coin to him. But some livestock is more valuable than others, and after tonight’s loss he will need every bride he can get his hands on.
He won’t touch her.
He won’t harm her.
The men in the auction went wild for her pristine, unmarked skin and virginity.
“I’ll come for you,” I promise her, searching wildly for some sort of exit as the guards approach me.
Instead, my gaze locks on something else.
And I smile.
“Grab her,” Rhykus says coldly.
Turning, I grab the nearest candle from its candelabra, snarling at Rhykus. “Fuck you.”
“No!” He reaches toward me as if he thinks he can stop me by sheer force of will.
