Page 10

Oh, shit.

A Phaelix runs up to pull our barge onto the sand.We’re promptly escorted off the barge and lined up behind the stage.

“This is it,” Sandy says, spitting on the sand.“We’re being auctioned.”

“What are they going to do with us?”Alexa asks in an unsteady voice.

“Your guess is as good as mine, hun,” Sandy says.

The Phaelix who brought us here are on the stage, making some kind of speech while the crowd goes crazy.It all happens in a haze.I blame it on my concussion, not quite realizing what’s going on when a Phaelix shoves me between the shoulder blades and orders something I don’t understand.

I look at the other women and Karl.They’re all naked.We’re definitely not being sold to work.Well, not only.If these assholes want to glare at the goods, it can only mean one thing.They intend to rape us.

When I don’t move, the Phaelix grabs my shirt and tears it down the middle.There’s a flash of claws, and then I’m naked too.

Maeva is the first one to be manhandled onto the stage.Strangely enough, she’s not crying but only staring vacantly in front of her.

The other women are shivering on the wet sand, looking on with terrified expressions.Karl stands helplessly, his jaw bunched in powerless anger.My turn is next.I stumble, nearly going down onto my knees.I sway on my feet in the center of the stage, barely hanging on to consciousness.I don’t want to pass out now.Who knows what these fuckers are going to do to me?If only my power would return… Unfortunately, I’m as powerless as the day I arrived on Zerra.

Someone calls out something from the audience.I turn my face toward the sound.

What the…?

I blink twice to make sure I’m seeing right.

Shit.

Not all Phaelix look alike, after all.The one who’s standing, pointing a flabby arm adorned with shiny bangles at me, is enormous.His head is the size of a yoga ball, and his red glowing eyes are bulging out of his head.The folds under his chin wobble as he says something.

The Phaelix on the stage, who’s digging his claws into my arm, calls something back.The Phaelix in the audience laughs so hard his big stomach shakes.He lifts the folds that hide his groin in both hands to reveal a red tongue-shaped dick with a forked end snaking from somewhere.With all those scaly layers, it’s impossible to tell where it’s attached to his body.He makes a vulgar thrusting gesture with his hips, causing raucous laughter to break out in the crowd.

I can only imagine what he’s saying, but I’m not staying to find out.Concussion or not, one look at that dick dripping with sticky, green goo is enough to propel me into action.

I jam an elbow into the ribs of the Phaelix holding me, catching him by surprise.He lets my wrist go and utters a cry of pain.I kick him between the legs for good measure, taking no small satisfaction in how his eyes cross as he cups his groin and goes down on his knees.

My best bet is the water.I’m sprinting for the side of the stage, knowing that with my head injury, the jump has a good chance of killing me, but I’d rather die with my face in the sand than between that Phaelix’s legs.Or worse, with that red dick down my throat.

I’m almost at the edge when my run is broken violently.A claw locks around my ankle, plucking my feet from under me.My wind is knocked out when I hit the wooden surface.

For a moment, I can’t breathe.All I see are fireflies.They’re everywhere—on the beach, in the sky, and behind my eyelids.I’m blinking through the fog, trying to clear my head when the big Phaelix drops the folds around his middle and raises his arm triumphantly in the air.

A chorus of cheers rises among the Phaelix.

Oh, fuck.

I think I’ve just been sold.

Chapter3

Aruan

“Find her,” I command my mother through clenched teeth as I pace in front of the window in her quarters.

Sweat beads on her brow.“I’m trying.”

“She’s too weak.”My father hands her a cup of wine.“The Phaelix attack drained what little strength she’d recovered.”

“Gaia!”I call loud enough to be heard in all the corners of the palace.