Chapter 20: Chapter Eight - In A World Without Freedom (Part 3)

Chapter Song Suggestion - "Angst (Instrumental) by Mudi"

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!" A slim, handsome woman appeared on the other side of the grotto lake. "I'd like to thank you in advance for your patronage. We have a special line-up tonight, and I hope you are as excited as I am. After placing your bets, please step forward to collect your slave." She spread her arms enthusiastically. "Let the biddings begin!"

Kyou admitted the bidding process was riveting if not tedious. Since his grandfather's reign, slave peddling had been abolished and Beihai adhered strictly to anti-slavery. He didn't know what Shuhei was thinking.

Several slaves were sold, mostly young women who were purchased to fulfil their master's depraved appetites. He grew bored until the romantic pluck of strings serenaded the dreary grotto.

"Tonight, we have a rare catch from the desert mountain tribe. She's an exquisite beauty who will not only satisfy your carnal desires but, she's the sole survivor of her clan's demise. How much would you pay to keep a desert princess as your personal pet?"

"That was the sleaziest speech I've heard in a long time," Rei shuddered in revulsion. "She's treating these people like cattle."

Kyou wasn't listening, inexplicably drawn to the shrouded figure across the lake. His instincts yelled that it was her. He couldn't explain it but — like irrepressible goosebumps — the feeling surrounded him. Noticing his abrupt stillness, Rei followed his gaze to the dancing woman responsible for the Emperor's recent behaviour.

The crowd buzzed with excitement as the female stepped into the light — her uncommon hair the first thing they saw — as pure as snow. She swayed seductively to the music, a tinkle of bells chiming with every rotation of her hips.

Kyou clenched his teeth so hard, his jaw protested. The air around him shook with undisguised menace, frightening the auctioneers around him.

Her teasing skirt exposed a strip of her smooth, shapely thighs.

The auctioneers began catcalling, their lust and hunger creating a surge of anger in Kyou. How dare they covet her body! He was compelled by a primitive urge to cover her up and hide her from the world. It took every ounce of his self-control not to march up there and carry her out — caveman style.

Rei whistled at her revealing costume, noticing Kyou's darkening agitation. "I am devoted to my wife but, when a man is confronted by a vision like this…it's hard not to look."

"Avert your gaze or my fist in your face is all you will see," Kyou's words were muted but, the threat was clear.

"Calm down," Rei insisted in open amusement. "I'm only stating a fact."

"The little fool," Kyou grinded out. "What is she thinking?"

"Perhaps she has a reason for doing this. She doesn't look cornered to me."

"I know damn well what her reason is, but this is unacceptable. What if we weren't here tonight?" Kyou spat angrily. Unfamiliar fear of what could have happened to her overrode his calm.

Rei could count on one hand the number of times Kyou had lost his temper — and only when someone degraded his parents. Otherwise, even his enemies had a difficult time riling his ever present cool. It surprised him how little it took for Inka to push Kyou over the edge. He smiled faintly, not worried in the least. He remembered a time when he too was younger, brash, and irrevocably in love with his first love — now his wife.

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It was an effort not to take a stumbling step backwards when they shoved her onto the platform. Her heart threshed like a hummingbird's wings. The sea of nameless, perverted beings who shamelessly purchased humans for their entertainment was enough to make her regret her decision.

"No! This is for Lupa and the womenfolk." She repeated to herself. Blocking out her surroundings, she focused on the music and thought only of him — the one man she had danced for.

"I would kill anyone you show this dance to." His possessiveness echoed in her mind, wrapping around her like velvet heat. Instead of fear, a frisson of lust skated down her spine, recalling the endless depths of hungry, dark eyes. And so, she danced.

She ignored the humiliation of being exposed, her body moving vividly to a rhythm only he inspired her to feel.

"We shall start the bidding!" the Madame declared, believing the child had outdone herself when overwhelming responses rocked the grotto.

The bidders were shouting at the top of their lungs, shoving at one another to buy the female. Her eyes feasted upon the stacks of money waving in their hands. "Do I hear a thousand papers?"

The princess's worth skyrocketed to twenty-thousand papers and it drew to a close when a man shouted, "Fifty-thousand papers!"

The crowd gasped and all eyes fell upon a hooded man lingering in the shadows. His mysterious aura of natural superiority only added to the princess's worth.

"Fifty-thousand papers! Do I hear fifty-five thousand?" Madame cajoled heatedly, raising her gavel in hanging suspense.

"Eighty-thousand papers!" Kyou's voice exploded in the pregnant silence.

Inka faltered at the unmistakable timbre of the Emperor's voice; her eyes combing the crowd.

"Going once! Going twice!" the Madame slammed the gavel to seal the deal. "Sold! For eighty-thousand papers to that young man in the back! Please sir, come up and claim your slave."

Like flowing water, the crowd parted as Kyou stormed towards the little witch. Inka's face turned ashen as their eyes met and he handed Madame the debt papers. "K-kyou? What are you doing here?" She took an unsteady step back, her voice trembling. He reminded her of a wolf stalking its prey. Fathomless dark eyes warned her she was in trouble.

He noticed her retreat, flashing a grin of pure lethal focus. "I'm here to claim what's mine. Seeing as how expensive you are...," his caressing gaze made her shiver, "And the way you're dressed," his voice dropped. "Make no mistake witch, you're going to repay me. With your body."

Inka's reply was stifled when he slung her unceremoniously over his shoulder, earning hoots from the crowd. Horrified that her skirt was riding up her backside, she pummelled his back. "Let me down, you idiot! Everyone's going to see me!"

"They've already seen what you've so generously flashed them," he returned sardonically, his patience wearing thin.

"That's unfair!" she cried. "I didn't choose this outfit!"

"You weren't resisting either," he pointed out. "You and I are going to have a very long conversation once we're alone."

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He watched them, his mouth twisting scornfully. Had he just witnessed the cold Emperor of Xi purchasing a woman from a slave auction?

He wanted the princess the moment he laid eyes on her. She reminded him woefully of the woman he had lost. Apart from their hair colour, their eyes were a similar almond shape, tilted like a cat at the corners. Even their slim build, height and petite stature were identical. For a moment there, he thought his beloved Catrina had been reborn.

"What a fool I am," he mocked in self-disgust.

Leaving the den, he discarded his cloak the minute he entered his curricle. Rapping on the roof, he ordered sourly, "Let's go home, Marvin."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the driver exclaimed and cracked his whip, urging the horses forward.

Propping his gloved hand against the window, he was more fascinated by the fact that his strait-laced brother bought a woman. Kyou had no need for slaves or women — there was no lack of them.

He chuckled to himself. To think Kyou would break his own moral code for a woman. Things were getting interesting. Perhaps he would give them an unforgettable welcome once he was home.