Page 116 of Coal Hearts

Cold snow settled on my shoulders.

You idiot, he doesn’t have any money.

He’s a public servant. He doesn’t have anywhere near that sort of cash.

Oh God...even if he bid and won, he wouldn’t be able to keep up the ruse.

Not unless he somehow transferred the promised funds to Victor.

How much longer until back-up arrives?

Surely, there was protocol to these things? Even if Victor’s scrambler had stopped Henri sending out a message, his team should have a Plan B, right? Something to fall back on in case they didn’t hear from him?

My fingertips tingled with lack of blood as I struggled in my hooked manacles. The urge to run ached in my legs, desperate to get far, far away.

Pressure built in my temples. The brightness of the sun made me feel faint. The lack of food and drink, the nonexistent sleep and safety...it all swirled and settled like suffocating fog.

“Six hundred thousand!” a tall man shouted. An exotic girl bowed at his feet.

Henri shot him a scowl.

Victor clapped a hand against his tumbler. “Excellent. Great bids, my friends. Just to make the deal that little bit sweeter...whoever wins can fuck her immediately. Right here. Right now.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Why do you think she’s strung up like a sacrifice?” Crossing the bridge and marching up the steps toward me, he ran his tongue over his bottom lip. “Tied to a maypole, standing on wood. We could burn you like a witch. Bleed you like a hog. Or...fuck you like the succubus you are.” He pressed a doting kiss on my cheek.

It soaked into my system like venom, killing me from the inside out.

Swaying into me, Victor stroked my hair, his eyes almost wistful. “You truly are a stunning little thing, Ily. Tell me...what sort of name is that? Short for something? A nickname, perhaps?”

The urge to spit in his face overwhelmed me.

But then, I caught Henri’s shutdown stare over Victor’s shoulder, and everything he’d asked of me in the library returned.

Don’t fight.

Whatever you do...do not fight.

So...even though it cost me my dignity, even though I ignored every instinct, I didn’t.

I bowed my chin.

Became tame.

Played broken.

“Seven hundred thousand!”

I gasped as my eyes ripped to Roland’s beady ones.

No.

Literally anyone but that sadistic prick.

“Eight hundred,” Henri growled, stomping onto the bridge.

“Not another step. You stay where you are.” Victor moved to my side. “No one is permitted up here until we’ve found our champion. Tell me, boys. Who has the biggest hard-on for this delicious little creature? Does anyone else have deeper pockets than my new friend here?” He raised an eyebrow, scanning the jumble of men.

“Eight hundred and fifty thou!” a Middle Eastern man yelled.

“Getting closer.” Victor nodded solemnly. Flicking me a look, he sighed. “And what do you think, Ily? Is that a good figure or too low? Who would you pick to fuck you?”