Ragnar saw it at the same moment she did, and the smile that had been on his face as he spoke with Circe in hushed tones only minutes before vanished entirely. The warmth in his expression hardened the instant his eyes caught on the chains fastened around the necks of the human servants moving through the hall.
His first reaction was confusion. It was, at first glance, a baffling sight—one that did not immediately make sense to him. Why would servants be wearing chains?
But only a heartbeat later, that confusion curdled into something far darker as the truth finally dawned on him.
This was meant to be a spectacle. A cruel, calculated display meant to demean and to portray humans as subservient, as lesser.
The chain collars were not meant to restrain them physically; they were symbols, meant to proclaim their supposed inferiority. A reminder that as long as humans remained in Lamora, they would never be free, never equal. Bound by the will and whims of their vampire masters.
