Chapter 35
NOELLE
Noelle stood frozen in the spotlight, her arms at her sides, every muscle trembling with the effort it took not to cover herself. Now that the moment between herself and Burn and Bright was over, she felt exposed and embarrassed again.
The bright stage lights made the air shimmer, turning the shadowy auction audience into a blur of alien shapes and shifting colors.
She could feel Burn’s presence on her left, rigid as a stone wall, and Bright on her right, radiating heat and a silent promise of protection, even as he tried to look indifferent.
The alien auctioneer was all business now, her voice ringing out through the crowd.
“I’ll start the bidding at fifty thousand credits. Do I see fifty thousand?”
A dozen hands shot up at once—tentacles, claws, chitinous pincers—even something that looked suspiciously like a long, blue tongue was waving in the air.
Dios, what kind of nightmare are we walking into? Noelle thought, fighting the urge to cover herself again.
“A hundred thousand!” shouted a squat lizardman, his scales glinting emerald and gold beneath the lights.
“One hundred and fifteen!” barked a willowy creature whose eyes were set in stalks sprouting from its forehead.
“One twenty!” called out the three-headed troll who had demanded she suck both Burn and Bright at once.
Noelle felt her stomach knotting as she looked at the massive figure hunched in the front row, his three heads looming above the crowd. The one on the left was drooling, and the right was still snoring gently, but the central head’s yellow eyes glowed with greedy anticipation.
“One hundred twenty-five!” croaked a thin, birdlike alien with a razor-sharp beak and sapphire feathers.
“One-thirty!” It was the elegant woman who actually looked mostly human.
Her skin was a flawless porcelain-pale and her hair was styled in a towering blue twist that seemed to defy gravity atop her head.
She held herself apart from the others, her long fingers resting on a gold-topped cane, her eyes assessing Noelle with cool interest.
The bids came faster now, voices overlapping—
“One-thirty-five!”
“One-forty!”
“One-forty-five!”
“One hundred and fifty thousand credits!” The blue-haired woman’s voice was clear as a bell, ringing out across the audience.
Noelle’s heart pounded in her ears.
Blessed Virgin, let her win—please, let her win, she thought desperately, shifting her feet as the auctioneer gestured excitedly. She had no idea what the blue-haired woman’s plans for them was, but at least she didn’t look like someone who would want to eat the three of them for supper.
“One hundred and fifty thousand, bid by Mistress Gillybrand of Yonnie Six!” she exclaimed. “Do I hear one-sixty?”
There was a tense moment—a ripple of uncertainty through the crowd. The Trollox’s middle head looked from Burn to Bright to Noelle, a slow, ugly smile spreading across his tusked mouth.
“Five hundred thousand!” he thundered, his deep voice making the air itself vibrate. The audience gasped, a sea of tentacles and claws and hands lowering in defeat.
Noelle’s mouth went dry. She glanced sideways, catching Burn’s jaw working with fury, his fists clenched at his sides. Bright’s face had gone pale beneath his tan.
The blue-haired woman hesitated, lips pressed tight, then shook her head with a small, elegant gesture.
“Too rich for my blood,” she murmured, lowering her hand and shifting back into the shadows.
The auctioneer beamed. “Five hundred thousand credits, do I hear five hundred and ten? No? Going once…going twice—sold! Sold to the fine Trollox gentlemale in the front row!”
The crowd erupted in a strange, discordant cheer—alien voices barking, hooting, and trilling in a cacophony of sound that echoed painfully in Noelle’s ears. She swayed on her feet, nausea rising in her throat.
Madre de Dios, what’s going to happen to us now?
The Trollox was already rising, shoving aside lesser bidders as he lumbered forward, his three heads bobbing in excitement.
Bright slipped his arm around her shoulders, steadying her, and Burn leaned close, his voice a harsh whisper.
“Fuck. Just hold on, baby. We’re not gonna let that bastard hurt you. I swear it.”
Noelle nodded numbly, letting herself lean into their strength. The silver filigree collar was cold against her throat, a physical reminder of her captivity and helplessness. But beside her, Burn and Bright stood firm—her Kindred warriors…her only hope.
Please, she prayed silently, don’t let this be the end. There has to be a way out. There just has to.
But as the Trollox reached the edge of the stage, grinning his greedy, three-headed grin, Noelle felt her heart sink.
The nightmare was just beginning.