Auction

I nod mutely. I don't understand. Not really. I don't understand why men are so cruel to each other. I don't understand why they have to inflict so much pain. Men are strange creatures, and I am afraid of them.

My fear doesn't matter. Mattias and Elias take me back to the grand civilized areas, fussing over the details of my hair and my dress all the way to a pair of large doors.

"This is the chamber where you will meet your mates," Mattias says. "Try to stay silent unless you are spoken to. Keep your manners. They will not be amused by your rudeness. You do not want to make the sheriff look bad tonight. Your punishment will be exceedingly painful if you do."

I am taken into a room where seven men stand in a receiving line, waiting for me like they might wait for a monarch.

I expected... I don't know what I expected. Ruthless brutes and slimy politicians. I expected roughness. I expected terrible things. Gross words and unseemly gropes. But they do not rush for me as the men in the market did. And they do not grasp at me as the sheriff has done.

They stand there as if I am someone to be honored. They look at me with respect. I can feel it emanating from them. They are powerful in body, and I sense, in spirit, each one of them different from the next, but I sense a kinship between them all.

They are handsome, and if I am not very much mistaken, they are mercenaries, just as well dressed for this occasion as I am, and just as uncomfortable in their fine clothing, though at least they are armored. All men of war must be, but their armor gleams and shines. I can imagine that they are here to save me. That I am being rescued. I can feel hope lifting in my chest.

The sheriff is standing on a raised dais, smirking over us all. The moment he speaks, the spell is broken.

"These seven pooled their money for you," the sheriff laughs. "They went in on you together like boys going in for the newest toy. You will serve them all, girl, spread your legs for each of them until your belly swells with their seed. And you will do it again, and again, until you can do it no more."

My stomach churns at the idea. The men I am meeting are hard to read. I get the sense that they do not like the sheriff. I can't imagine anyone does. He rules this part of the world like a mad king, taking what he wants, doing what he wants.

It is hard to take the men in, truly notice each of their different appearances, because Mattias and Elias have stepped away from me and the sheriff comes down from the dais. He takes me by the waist. His arm slips down. His hand cups my rear and he guides me forward.

I am horrified by the vile man's words, so much so that I barely look at the seven men he is giving me to. I can feel their gazes on me, but I am too busy seething with hatred for this man. He took me. He sold me. And he hurt Mattias and Elias. I don't know why that bothers me as much as it does, perhaps because of the perverse cruelty of it. What I just saw beyond the wall must be his doing too. It is suddenly clear to me that all of this is calculated to be as humiliating and painful as possible. He is a sadist. He is a broken man. And he owns me.

The sheriff draws me up to the dais, facing the men.

"Pleased with your purchase, gentlemen?"

Whatever reaction he was expecting, he doesn't seem to have gotten it. The men look at me, but there is surprisingly little lechery in their gazes. Most men in this world go feral for a woman, but these men seem to be more sated. Likely they already own several women already. I start to realize they don't need me. Don't want me. They've taken me because they could.