Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Constantine took a sip of his own wine before placing it down. “She’s not for sale.”
“Everything is for sale,” Tarcus argued.
“I already purchased her. You’re too late.”
Tarcus narrowed his eyes. “She is mine by right. I put a claim on her.”
“If you did, her owner was unaware. I bought her under good faith. You can’t afford her now.”
“I can’t afford her?” Tarcus snapped. “I can afford anything.”
“You’ve just proven her value. Why would I give her away so easily? Clearly, she can bring in much more money long-term rather than a one-time fee to you.”
“Are you proposing to make her a whore?” Tarcus asked, slamming his feet onto the ground at the prospect. “A woman like her passed around to every senator on the floor? Is that what you are suggesting?”
Kerrigan’s hand tightened on the wineglass. That wasn’t what she had thought he would say at all. Tarcus was just pushing him.
“I can do whatever I like with her,” Constantine said. “As she belongs to me.”
Tarcus vaulted to his feet. “You’ll find no one who will offer more than me.”
“Not here,” Constantine conceded.
Tarcus grinned devilishly. “Then, that price will cover her bidding, and I’ll send more to take her with me. That’s settled.”
“But someone will pay more in Carithian.”
Tarcus stilled at those words. Kerrigan had a similar response. The conversation had gotten away from her. Constantine hadn’t told her what his plan was for her, but she hadn’t thought this.
“What?” she demanded.
“Look at her,” Constantine said. “You said yourself that a woman like her deserves better. I can find better than you.”
Tarcus bristled at the insinuation. “Outrageous. Who would want seconds from an Andine whore? You’ve clearly already had her, and you’re trying to goad me into driving up the price.”
“How many of you have wanted a Doma in your bed and not had the opportunity?” Constantine said, rising to Tarcus’s bait. “I leave in a week to sign up for the tournament. It’ll be the perfect time for a bidding. She’ll be coming with me, and we’ll see exactly how much anyone cares if she’s an Andine whore.”
“Constantine,” she growled.
Tarcus looked furious. “You’ve made a serious error here.”
“We’ll see,” Constantine said.
Tarcus didn’t even look at Kerrigan as he scooped up his bag of money and stomped out of the sitting area. But though she hated Tarcus, her own anger was singularly directed.
“You’re going to sell me as a whore?” she asked, her voice deadly low.
“Not now.”
“Yes now,” she spat. “You bought me to sell me to men like that?”
Constantine’s anger unloaded all at once. His magic exploding from his fingertips with rage and his countenance dissolving. “I purchased you and can use you however I want! I could have you as the Andine whore that he suggested you are, but I haven’t. You will come with me to Carithian. You will do as I say. And this is the last I will discuss it with you.”
Then, he burst out of the room, following in Tarcus’s footsteps.
Kerrigan’s anger had nowhere to go. She could have torn this place down brick by brick with her old abilities. And now, everything was just bottled up inside of her.
The only good thing that had come out of all of this was that she was going to Carithian. He had to take her with him now. But she’d never be anyone’s whore. She’d kill him and all of his men before letting that happen.
12
The Capital
The best thing that had come out of Constantine’s outburst was her renewed friendship with Danae. When the girl found out what her father had suggested, she, too, gave him the cold shoulder, refusing to even be in the same room as her father.
That left a lot of time for her and Kerrigan to be alone. After the third time Danae had apologized over the week, Kerrigan had finally waved her off. As long as she didn’t force Kerrigan to expose more about her past, she could forgive Danae the slipup. After all, Kerrigan had been in a similar situation with her own magic. Danae needed a teacher, as Kerrigan had needed one for her spirit magic, but it seemed unlikely that Constantine would ever approve a Domaran magic tutor for Danae. The girl was functionally as much of a prisoner as Kerrigan.
“I still can’t believe he’s going through with this,” Danae said with a sigh as they headed together to the stable yard.
They’d had this conversation before. After what had happened with Danae’s mom, it was unthinkable that her father would sell Kerrigan. And yet that was his plan. One he hadn’t wavered from since that fateful day that he’d told Tarcus as much.
For her sanity, she only thought about how this would put her one step closer to her mother. Anything else, and she would fall into a pit of despair that she couldn’t afford.