{IRIS}
"All are untouched," the host proclaimed with sickening delight, his voice ringing across the hall, "and for one night only, you may indulge. The bidding begins now!"
My heart plummeted.
"What?" The word tore itself from my throat before I could stop it. "Did Lord Valtheris allow this?"
He couldn't have. He couldn't have—right?
I knew he cared nothing for humans. Nothing for other kinds, either. Whatever passed for loyalty among his own kind was thin at best, frayed by centuries of indifference.
But even so…
Could he truly have sanctioned something like this?
Sol looked at me then, his expression infuriatingly calm. Detached, as though we were discussing the weather rather than the sale of living people.
"Lord Valtheris?" he said coolly. "He's not here. He doesn't attend parties like these."
The implication struck me like a blow to the chest.
Then… Caroline had been deceived.
