WARHAVEN

Thirteen

I could not stop the tears from flowing down my face as I realized the magnitude of what was happening.

Gerald was there in a moment, grabbing my bicep, and pulling me forward. The male announcer looked at me and smirked.

"And, ladies, and gentlemen, our last female of the night. Female 150, 20 year old virgin. 5'4 and 135 lbs. She's quite the looker, what lucky friend of mine would like her to be theirs?" The announcer's voice boomed.

Gerald guided me onto the large stage and placed me on a gold circle in the middle of it.

A warm, blinding spotlight hit me. I was shaking but I kept my head held high. I hid my nerves and did not lower my eyes. I made eye contact with several men and women.

Red eyes everywhere, only red. It was clear there was no one else who descended from other factions. I did my best to stand tall and make myself look strong. No one wanted a strong female. They wanted easy — submissive.

I observed the dining hall, it was filled with about 50 tables with eight chairs each. The tables were decorated to perfection with long, draping tablecloths, a white base, and a soft green one draped on top of it. Nothing was out of place. Each table was specifically decorated with a massive ornate centerpiece made of flowers of all different colors, each was soft.

But the kicker was the people seated at them. Every single person in here was absolutely gorgeous. They all screamed money, wealth, power. Every man was dressed in a finely tailored suit. Every woman had a specifically designed gown just for her. The amount of assets and coin in this room... It was earth shattering.

The walls surrounding the dining room were so high I thought they would touch the clouds. Two of the walls had massive archways with curtains draped so high it looked like they went on forever. They were blood red. Within each alcove was a bed. And a rape.

A scream, a moan, a plea for life.

I tried my best to drown it out, even though it made me want to cry. I looked up and hanging from the ceiling, was the most massive chandelier I've ever seen in my life. It was absolutely breathtaking.

The jewels that hung from it were either milky white, or dark red. The soft light bounced off of each jewel. From here, they looked to be about the size of my hand. I couldn't imagine how large they were if I actually got close enough to touch them. Some of the red jewels cast a dark red hue over the room, although it was not overwhelming.

I was too distracted that I had not even realized that the bidding had started. Men from all over the room were throwing out prices.

250,000 to the left.
300,000 in the front row.
500,000 somewhere in the middle.
and 600,000 in the back.

The price was climbing at a constant rate. It made my blood boil. Being sold.

My nostrils flared and I looked as fierce as possible as I started looking directly into the eyes of the people in the front row. I tried my best to look intimidating.

I saw so many faces of men and women decorated in jewels. The man who bet 300,000 on me, was sitting there with a splitting grin on his face. I can almost smell the lust coming off of him.

He gave me a little wave and I beared my teeth slightly. He chuckled loudly and puckered his lips at me. He took a deep drink of his golden chalice, and I swear I could see in real time, his eyes darkened, an even deeper red than I thought possible.

The bets were up to 930,000 coin. I looked away from the man, onto the next. My breath nearly caught. There, sitting in front of me, was the most devastatingly handsome man I've ever seen in my entire existence.

I almost fell to my knees, right there in front of everyone. I ignored my intuition, telling me that he was not a good person, he was attending something like this.

He was massive. He had to be about 6'7, 300 lbs of pure muscle and power. He shifted in his seat and met my eyes. His whole body went completely still, at least I thought so.

Something about me could not take my eyes off of him. I wanted to analyze everything about him. How could I feel so drawn to someone who would be a part of such acts of violence?

He stopped the conversation he was having with the man to his right, leaning forward, putting his elbows on his knees, clasping his large hands. He never looked away from me.

His eyes were so dark, I thought they were black, the more I stared, I realized how deeply red they were. His jaw seemed to tick as another attendee yelled behind him, "1 million."

I never let my eyes leave his, although I still took in the breathtaking beauty of him.

His long, rather messy, auburn hair was shoulder length. The top layer of his hair was pulled back, leaving the rest of it to frame his face.

He had a rather large beard, although it was nothing like the Healer's. It was well-maintained, there were no straggling hairs. He was a work of art. And I thought to myself for just one moment, that maybe it wouldn't be so horrible if he picked me.

I swallowed deeply, realizing how messed up it was for me to accept something like this situation. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. I couldn't hear anything that did not pertain to him.

His eyebrows were furrowed, and he never dropped eye contact with me. The bidding had gone to 1.3 million between two older looking males, who paled in comparison to the one I was staring at. They had started to argue and approach one another.

The mysterious man released a small grin that lifted the right side of his mouth. And then he spoke.