Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Naked and shivering, Eos couldn’t see anything but darkness.
The past few hours had been a nightmare. She’d been blindfolded and stripped of her clothes. When she’d continued to struggle—and after she’d taken a good chunk out of one guard’s arm with her teeth—they’d shackled her.
She shifted and her chains rattled. How long had it been since they’d landed on Lucifa? An hour? Two? Who knew?
She shivered again and rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. A wave of embarrassment washed through her.
The women who’d stripped her had oohed and ahhed over her mehndi.
Like she was the star of some space fair freak show.
They’d put makeup on her, brushed her hair out, and rubbed fragrant oil into her skin.
She rubbed at her mehndi on her wrists. She was in a building in the depths of the city that covered the small planet’s surface.
She smelled something that reminded her of incense and music played in the background—a discordant clash of sounds and instruments that was foreign compared to the gentle strumming of the Vedian sitari.
Slave owners must like headache-inducing music. Suva. She pressed a hand to the base of her throat, felt the wild fluttering of her pulse. Think of something else.
Dathan.
Anger was much better than fear. It poured into her in a hot rush. He should have been better prepared for something like this, or at least fought the slavers. Nope. Instead, his half-assed plan was to let her get taken and save himself.
Was he coming for her? She swallowed. Could he even find her? A door opened and Eos stilled. Damn, she wished she could see.
“Hmm, my girls were right. You are unique.”
A cultured feminine voice. Eos had heard many accents over her years of travel. This woman sounded experienced and in control, and there was a hint of the central planets in her voice. What the hell was she doing out here?
Eos sensed the woman circling her. Heat burned her cheeks. She was being studied like prize livestock in the Galactic Trade Guild yards.
“These markings are stunning. Vedian, right?”
Eos remained silent.
“It doesn’t matter.” Amusement was ripe in the woman’s tone. “They’ll increase your price at auction, which is all I’m interested in.”
A hand slipped off Eos’ blindfold.
She blinked at the gentle lamplight. Her gaze focused on the woman in front of her.
Hair colored a dark brown was piled artfully on her head.
She wore a printed silk gown that clung to generous breasts and fell to the floor like a fluid waterfall of blue.
Eos suspected the woman was older than her, and she’d clearly spent a small fortune on treatments to keep the lines from her face, and her figure plump and curvy.
Her faded blue eyes gave away her age. She’d seen far more than any person should have to and it had left scars.
“Who are you?” Eos asked.
The woman lifted one painted brow. “Does it really matter?”
“I want to know who the hell is selling me off.”
The woman pulled a slim metal case from a billowy side pocket of her gown.
She slipped a long, thin cigarette from it.
A pastime that had gone out of fashion years ago.
One of the muscled guards at the door stepped forward to light it.
She puffed in silence for a few seconds and blew a cloud of chemically enhanced smoke toward the painted ceiling. “You can call me the Countess.”
“I’m an astro-archeologist with the Institute of Hist—”
“Stop.” The woman held up a hand. “It doesn’t matter.
I’ve heard every variation of whatever you’re about to say.
You’re someone important. Someone out there cares, they’ll pay me money.
” She sucked on the cigarette again. “None of it matters to me. Believe me, at the end of the day, out here, no one cares who you are. And no one will come for you.” The Countess’ face tightened for a second.
A flash so brief, Eos thought she’d imagined it.
“Even if they do come, they’ll decide you’re damaged goods.
Who knows what we’ve done to you already? ”
Eos wrapped her arms around her middle. “No one will come for me.” She didn’t matter to anybody.
She was nothing and had nothing. She’d dedicated her life to Star’s End, to her mother’s dreams, but she was only just starting to realize that maybe those things wouldn’t fill the hole inside her. “Is that what happened to you?”
The older woman strode to a small dish on a side table and stabbed out her cigarette.
“All that matters is what’s going to happen to you.
Some of my best buyers are in the house this evening.
Your auction is going to happen right now.
” She waved a hand in a move so naturally regal it took a moment for her words to sink in.
“No!” Eos backed up until her back hit the wall.
Then the guards were there, each taking one of her arms.
They half dragged, half carried her into the hall. Her struggles were futile, but she didn’t stop fighting. She’d had her world ripped apart before.
Now it was happening again. Now the point was driven home that no one truly cared about her, no one loved her. The Institute wouldn’t come for her. She’d disappear like she’d never existed.
They carried her into a room and the fight drained from her in a flash. It was packed with people. Mostly men. Some with half-naked women sitting in their laps or at their feet. Some of the women were naked except for metal collars and chains.
These collars were nothing like the exquisite torqs of the Eiran metalworker. They were heavy, bold, and spoke starkly of domination and control.
Everyone in the room was focused on the small stage in the center. Eos was pushed in that direction and then lifted onto the dais.
Lights shone down, highlighting her nakedness. She wanted to run, she wanted to scream, most of all, she wanted to cover herself up. And she knew it was wrong, but a part of her wanted Dathan—his hand holding hers, his big body shielding her from the crowd.
She lifted her chin, staring out into the shadowed gathering. She wouldn’t let anyone steal her dignity. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to be afraid.
“Good girl,” the Countess drawled. “They like spirit.”
For a second, Eos’ confidence faltered, but she stiffened her knees. She’d find a way out. Somehow.
Were Dathan and his brothers already headed for Star’s End? Had she already become a distant memory?
“Let’s start the bidding, gentlemen and ladies.
” The Countess moved in a swirl of patterned silk.
“A fine and unique beauty up for grabs. I don’t need to list her many features, they are clear for all of you to see.
Especially her stunning mehndi.” The slave madam’s voice lowered. “Turn around and show them your back.”
Eos stared stubbornly ahead.
A sigh. “Barrick?”
A guard stepped forward and forced her to turn. The crowd tittered.
“Five hundred thousand e-creds,” a rough male voice called out. “She’ll look fine in a collar.”
“A thousand diathyst gems.” A smooth masculine voice with a cultured accent.
The audience gasped. Eos knew the rare gemstone was highly prized on the outer rim as a powerful energy source.
“A million e-creds.”
More gasps.
Then a deep voice cut across the room. “Two million e-creds.”
Then a frenzy of voices filled the room, but all Eos could hear was the Countess’ delighted laughter.
Dathan forced his face to remain calm and disinterested. The crowd around him threw bids out left and right, but he kept his cool.
Inside, he was seething.
Thank God he’d found the House of Taarn so quickly.
What if she’d already been sold and taken off world before he’d found her?
His hands curled around the arms of his chair.
Luckily Lucifa was easy enough to find, but it had been pure chance that Nik had stumbled across a transmission advertising the auction.
Dathan focused back on Eos. They’d stripped her. He knew he shouldn’t look at her like this, but he couldn’t tear his gaze off her. The bright lights cast her golden-brown skin glowing, and her hair had been brushed to a smooth fall of dark curls tossed over her shoulders.
But God, her back was stunning. The floral markings he’d suspected were there traveled from the curve of her lower back, up her spine and spread out across her delicate shoulder blades. He wanted to trace them, follow them with his lips.
Jesus, Phoenix. She’s up for sale and scared out of her wits. He could see the hard tension in her shoulders and slight tremors in her slim legs. She was holding it together, but barely.
Good girl. Hang in there.
The bids were starting to die down. Unlike organized auctions on the central planets, not every bid was higher than the last. It was a mad, lawless jumble of crazed offerings—from money, treasure, even an interstellar ship.
A man in the front row raised a neatly manicured hand. “Five million e-creds.”
The crowd went silent. Big offer. Dathan studied the man. Some dandy dressed in a suit, vaal-skin boots, and a fancy silk vest. The woman at his feet knelt with her head down. Dark smudges covered her body.
No way. Dathan’s fingers curled around the arm of his chair. Big brother, I hope you’ve finished working your computer magic. Dathan didn’t raise a hand or his voice. “Six million e-creds.”
Now the small gathering gasped and heads swiveled in his direction. But he only had eyes for Eos. Don’t react, baby. Play it cool. He saw the slightest stiffening, then she relaxed.
The woman directing the auction peered up at him. God, he’d never seen such a direct gaze. She was experienced at sizing people up.
She took in his Rendarian tailored suit. The real thing cost a pretty penny, but this was a very clever knockoff he kept in his bag of tricks. It had gotten him out of—and into—a few tricky situations.
He let his gaze drift back to Eos. Let the slaver see his desire.