Page 106 of The Delta's Rogue
Only time will tell.
We reach the vanity, and I drop my towel to the floor, leaving myself naked again. It doesn’t disturb me. Not anymore. I notice none of it. The temperature, the eyes on my body, the feeling of being exposed… The shame of it all no longer exists for me.
Brenna helps me into the robe—first one arm and then the other—and guides me onto the cushioned seat, her fingers already combing through my hair to dry and style it with her magic.
“One week left,” she says as a coiled curl falls in front of my shoulders.
I raise my brows at her reflection. “One real week?”
She pauses as she combs through another section of my hair. The strands hang suspended in midair, stretching from my scalp to her fingertips. “Yes.” She drags the word out, lowering her voice to just above a whisper. “I told you they lift the time magic after they schedule all the auctions.”
My shoulder lifts in a half-shrug. “Sure. You said that. But…”
The next curled section of hair drops down my back, warming my skin through the translucent fabric of my garment.
Brenna meets my eyes for the first time in days. “What reason do I have to lie to you about that?”
I shrug again. I can think of several, but I voice none of them, and we fall into silence again.
One week. Seven days. One week until my fate is decided, until I find out for sure if I made the right choice to trust Brenna. Seven more days of enduring this prison disguised as an opulent palace.
Goddess, I hope I can last that long.
On the surface, it’s a girly girl’s dream: playing dress-up, luxury spa treatments, a soft-as-a-cloud bed with more pillows than necessary, being waited on hand and foot. It’s how they get their prisoners to cave so easily. They tell the girls it’s all a gift, that they’re lucky. They’re so convincing, even I sometimes forget that I’m in danger. That they’re all sharks, circling around a school of unsuspecting minnows and waiting to attack at exactly the right moment.
The last section of hair falls into place, framing my face. Brenna shakes out my tresses, loosening the pattern into soft, glamorous waves. The ends of the strands tickle my back through the thin robe, and Brenna steps away to examine her handiwork right as the door opens and Amara enters.
She saunters towards us, a self-satisfied grin on her face and a sheen of excitement in her cold eyes. She wears a dress, as always—a deep plum color today, but this dress is more elegant, more glamorous, and more extravagant than any I’ve seen her in before. It’s dotted with gold, matching the eagle pendant she always wears no matter what other jewelry she adorns herself with. The neckline is cut low, and the dress hugs her hips and thighs before flaring out into a skirt with a slithering train. The flecks of gold that glimmer in the light and grow in number and intensity the further down the dress they go add to the snake-like effect of the skirt hissing across the floor.
Out of habit, I rise to my feet and spin to face her, hands behind my back, ensuring I emphasize my assets as she’s trained me to do. The posture leaves my nudity displayed for her through my robe’s sheer fabric.
Amara gives me a once-over as she circles me, her ever-critical eyes examining my body, my hair, and my pose.
“Oh, my sweet girl!” She cups my cheeks in her hands, pride bubbling from her. “You are stunning!”
I force what I hope is a grateful smile onto my lips and dip my chin to her in thanks.
“And just in time, too!” She spins on her heel and waltzes towards the door, leaving as quickly as she arrived. “We need to take you to the staging area for the auction.”
“The auction?” Brenna’s voice wavers with confusion as she takes a hesitant step after Amara.
“Yes.” Amara glances at us over her shoulder, her hand hovering above the fingerprint scanner, the same gloating smile painted across her face as when she first entered my room. “Circumstances have changed, and our dear Anaís is being auctioned tonight.”
I stare straight ahead,unblinking and unseeing. My heart stutters, and my palms sweat. Knees shaking, I stand straight and tall, even as nausea pools in my gut, keeping my reaction hidden the way I’ve trained myself.
“Tonight?” Brenna voices the question before I can.
Not that I should question Amara anyway. That’s a surefire way to receive a punishment.
“A new, high-profile customer with very deep pockets and connections to clubs all over the country is attending our auction tonight. We need to put our best foot forward to impress him and his associates.”
Goosebumps ripple across my skin. The fabric of my robe scrapes over the innumerable miniature bumps, snagging against them like silk brushing over unsanded wood. I resist the urge to shake my head.
I can’t have heard Amara right. I’m supposed to be auctionednext week. Brenna told Sebastian it would be next week. She just reminded me while she washed my hair that there was only one week left.
Unless Brenna lied to me. Unless she’s been lying to me this entire time, as I’ve begun to suspect.
She knew this was happening tonight. There’s no way she didn’t. Amara is cruel, but she would have warned Brenna about the change of plans. She would have ensured Brenna had me in tiptop condition for this auction. She wouldn’t have risked me being anything less than what she deems perfect.
