Velvet // n.h

As I stand along with the hoards of screaming women in front of his mansion, I reassure myself that whatever I'm doing is for my family. That I didn't choose this. The woman beside me took off her corset and threw it up in the sky. I move my eyes away from her now exposed chest but then many follow her lead and some even take off their dresses. As the screams suddenly doubled, I knew he was there, up in his balcony. Knowing that I wouldn't be chosen anyways because of the dress on my skin, I look up at him. His eyes roam over the crowd hungrily before settling on mine. I panic and the thought of looking down crosses my mind but I don't. He looked confused, not used to having slave women wearing clothes to please him, and taps on the arm of the soldier standing behind him with the back of his hand. In the next few seconds the doors to the palace open and four soldiers make their way through the desperate women. Towards me. They circle me and start walking towards the palace.

As the doors closed behind me, I knew that there was no way of escaping from the clutches of The Prince now.

--

It's 1647. People are dying because of the terrible famine that struck Mullingar. People are rendered jobless and poverty is inevitable. At such a time the only way one can make money is by pleasing The Prince, Prince Niall Horan, at night . The number of women, which at one time were just 6-7 are now in hundreds. One of them is 19 years old Maeve Buckley, a mother of one and married to a cobbler. All she wants from giving herself to Niall Horan is some silver to keep her family running.

But maybe, what she gets is something more than just shiny metal.