Blood Moon Captive

will they rea

know, but I do know that whatever happens, we all have to tr

ender? Please, that sounds

you're giving up

o get my beauty's sleep. If rich men are waiting to buy us then I'm going

ething fast tomorrow when they op

's right. We need to get some strength back or

well, if you can

winced when the dry stalks poked me in t

sounded so ridiculous, so insane. I wondered if we'd been trapped by a colony of syp

darkly influenced by my dreary surroundings. I needed sleep, rest,

exhausting effect on the body, or perhaps there was something more than hay i

walls, and beyond the door was the march of the boots. The metal bar on my door slid aside and the entrance opened along with those of the other girls. One

the end of the group that marched forward to a large door at the end of the passage. I was relieved to see Lily ahead of me, and that she had strength enough to walk on her own. Through the door was a winding stone stairway that wrapped around a column of chiseled rock. The stairs led up an

hat ran in perpendicular directions. Far down to our right and left I glimpsed pane-gl

nd even the clatter of mugs against one another as people drank a toast. Bright, cheerful music produced by flutes and violins mingled with

at lay beyond the entrance. We were marched in one at a time and lined up beside each other with our

arge stone balconies that looked out on the night sky. I couldn't see what lay beneath the wooden railing. On the bench seats were men, and only men,

They were as filthy as ever, more so in comparison to the cleaner folk in front

rugs. On the podium sat three chairs. The center chair, with its wide arms and tall, pointed back, was like a throne, and on that throne sat a man of about sixty. His hai

r that was adorned with a garland of lilac branches. They still held some of their purple blossoms on their tips. She wore a dre

ck hair that was tied behind his back. He was muscular, clean-shaven, and had the same gray eyes as the

od the leader of the cloaked men. His eyes watched the roo