Her eyes closed.
16
Collector
Marc
Marc adjusted his cuffs and checked every inch of himself in the mirror. He gave himself a disarming smile. If he charged premium prices, he needed to look the part. He smoothed his hair into place, making sure that there
weren’t any wayward strands.
He turned to his body servant.
“I want you to fetch my new prize.”
“Which prize, sir?”
“The girl. Make sure they dose her before she’s put on display. We wouldn’t want her to cause any trouble. It’s her first night here, so she doesn’t understand how we do things.”
“Very good, sir.” His body servant went out the door.
Marc would display her alongside the other priceless objects that he only displayed with a simple NFS on the sign to tell people that they weren’t for sale. A lot of objects passed through his hands, but this girl, Phuong, was something special. He’d have to think of a better name for her, a Draka one instead of her boring Yore one.
Something about her was so enticing…maybe entrancing was a better word.
On another night, he would’ve brought her to see his Yore seers so that they could sample her energy and find out more about her.
She was extraordinarily beautiful, with dark skin and pure silver hair. He’d never seen a woman like her. She looked like an angel, with perfect, full lips, which were two-toned.
If Marc had believed in a deity, then he would’ve thought that she was created by a loving one. She’s the kind of woman a Drakan would love to fill with babies.
Fertile women were in short supply on the Draka home planet, and they’d found to their delight that Yore women had an easy time conceiving, which had resulted in quite a few Draka-Yore hybrids.
Marc left his room and went to the one-way glass pane that he kept so that he could survey his kingdom.
He snorted when he saw Olivier and Gahariet. The twin brats were in his auction house; they’d taken him up on his offer. They were wastrels, and their station was totally wasted on them.
Marc smiled slowly. He couldn’t help but love the ability to strut a little in front of them. This auction house was his domain.
A never-ending thirst for treasure was in dragon blood, and Marc had built an empire by using that thirst. He’d started from nearly nothing. Giving people what they wanted was surprisingly hard, but that was why he was the best.
He straightened his collar and glanced one more time in the mirror.
Time to go downstairs.
17
Displayed
Phuong
Phuong’s eyes were half open as the lush curtain was drawn back from the walls of her cage.
To onlookers, her cuff bracelets probably looked like elaborate jewelry. It would be hard for a casual observer to notice that her hands weren’t simply folded in her lap; the cuffs kept her in that position.
The drugs had done the rest. That anesthesia had really done the trick, and she suspected that the doctor had overdosed her. She was fighting to open her eyes at all.
There was a fierce ache where her implant used to be. It had been hidden in her hair for years; it was practically a part of her body.