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“You need to be invited as a guest to the midnight auction—we hold those on the new moon as well.” After she speaks, she spits at Memnon.

The spittle hits his shirt. “Do that again, and I cut off a finger.”

Juliana grimaces. “I hate you.”

She begins to turn toward where I’m resting when Memnon catches her face.

“This is between you and me,” Memnon says. “You will not look at Selene. You will not speak to her unless spoken to. Or else I get creativeandI make you answer my questions.”

My heart beats faster as Juliana glares at him.

“Now, tell me about this auction,” Memnon says. “Is it connected to the murders?”

“No,” she says.

“Then what is it for?” he asks.

Juliana fights this answer in particular. Eventually it’s ripped from her. “We auction off bonds to supernaturals.”

Goddess.

That sounds like a living nightmare.

It could’ve easily been my fate as well.

“The girls I bond—not all of them go to my father and brother,” Juliana continues. “Most of them are sold, either privately or at these monthly auctions.”

For a second, I cannot draw in air. Then, then?—

I lean over and gag. There’s nothing left to purge from my stomach, but I cannot stop the visceral reaction.

It was horrifying enough when I knew Juliana was forcibly binding witches, but to realize these same women—women I went to school with, women I was friends with—were then being sold off to other supernaturals…

Memnon’s magic is unspooling out of him, and through our bond, I sense his rage deepening.

“Do the”—Memnon’s lip curls into a grimace—“buyersknow these supernaturals are already bonded?”

Juliana’s gaze has drifted to Memnon’s magic, but now she brings her attention back to him.

“My clients believe their intended bonds are willing.”

“But they’re not,” Memnon says flatly.

“Some are.” Juliana has the gall to sound defensive. “Some are excited for their new lives.”

“No one is fucking excited to be trafficked, Juliana,” I say to her.

Juliana twitches, like she’s about to turn to me, but Memnon’s previous command stops her.

“How does the exchange happen?” Memnon says.

She glares at him. “The buyers pay the money, and we officiate a bond. Once it’s complete, my own bond dissolves away, and the new pair move on with their life.”

My mind catches on one detail—her bond dissolves away. Some of these binding spells, like the one she forced on me, are for life, while others must end the moment a new bond is created.

“Who sets the terms of this auctioned bond—you or the buyer?” Memnon asks.

I don’t want to know. This is all so sick.