Page 47 of Broken Princess
The man finally took his hand off my back as Liz sashayed over to me with an appraising look in her eyes. “Perfect,” she said. “I’m so glad we went with this dress in the end. Aren’t you?”
I looked down at the white satin bodice of my gown as my hands reflexively moved to smooth the flowing skirt. “It looks like a wedding dress,” I muttered.
She snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. The white is to make you look more innocent and virginal,” she said. “We’ve found that while the buyers expect the girls and boys here to be trained, they still want them to have the appearance of purity. Girls in white command far higher prices than those in red or black. I figured that out myself after watching just four of these auctions when I was training to take over from my uncle.”
“Good for you.”
Liz’s eyes narrowed. “If you weren’t about to go out on stage, I’d slap that sullen attitude right out of you,” she said. “You should feel grateful for tonight’s event. The money we get for you will go toward the betterment of our country.”
“That’s a nice way to phrase your plans for a coup.”
She tut-tutted. “Oh, Willow… did Jamie teach you nothing?” she asked, tilting her head to one side. “You won’t last very long if you talk to your new owner like that.”
I lifted my gaze to hers in a defiant glare. “Good.”
I wasn’t sure where this sudden fit of rebellion and bravery was coming from. After Jamie took me to that torture chamber on my first day here at the mansion, I thought I was broken, and I switched off my old stubborn attitude. Went blank.
Now it was back. I was back. The same girl who refused to break for Logan was standing in my shoes, refusing to break yet again. I honestly preferred the thought of death over complete subservience to a slave-master, and that wouldn’t change, no matter what was thrown at me or done to me.
Even though Logan had been the first person to try to break me, I had a feeling he’d be proud to see me now, standing here with my head held high despite the fact that I was about to walk into a lion’s den.
It was because of him that I learned to be so resilient. It was in all of his attempts to destroy me that I found my secret strength and ridded myself of my old anxieties. Dark and twisted as it was, I would always be grateful to him for that.
I was also grateful for the fact that I was able to experience love and desire for the first and only time with him. We didn’t have long together, but we burned bright and hot anyway, and that light and warmth wouldn’t dissipate just because we were apart.
Now I knew exactly where my bravery was coming from. Him.
“Time to go,” Liz said, turning to a nearby table. She picked up a black and red mask with tall, curved horns and put it on before motioning toward the steps leading up to the main stage. “This way, darling.”
I marched up the steps behind her and went to my spot on the stage, marked out by a red X on the dark hardwood. The curtains swung open, and a bright spotlight switched on above my head.
A thousand pairs of eyes locked onto me. Hungry, lecherous, delirious eyes.
Liz dipped her head in a deep nod aimed at another masked man on the edge of the stage. He stepped up to the central podium with a microphone and held his arms out wide. “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this very special auction. We’ve had quite the turnout tonight. Every seat has been filled.”
The audience clapped and cheered enthusiastically, as if this were the introduction to a comedy show. I gritted my teeth and schooled my face into a blank, unfeeling mask, refusing to let any of the soulless assholes see a single flicker of emotion. Fuck them. They didn’t deserve anything from me.
“You all know how this works,” the man with the mic went on as the applause died down. “So without any further ado, let us begin. We’ll start the bidding at ten million dollars.”
Black and white paddles lifted and dropped along with the auctioneer’s gavel as the audience made their sick offers. Fifteen million. Eighteen. Twenty. Thirty. Thirty-eight. Fifty. It went on and on, the number jumping higher and higher as the rich bastards tried their best to outbid each other.
I watched and listened with my head held high, still refusing to show any emotion. With every smack of the gavel on the podium, my mind edged a little further away from this mad, terrible place, detaching me from reality. I felt like I was floating in a ball of light above the auditorium, watching as another tall girl with auburn hair stood on the stage awaiting her fate.
A moment later, one bellowed word dragged me back down to the pitch-dark depths of my reality.
“Sold!”
