Chapter 41 Auction

• At the far end of the auction hall rose a podium, built high enough for all to see. Upon it stood the woman in black—the same one who had silenced the lounge with a single touch hours before. She needed no introduction, yet the murmurs in the crowd called her Mistress Selene.
• She let the room quiet before she spoke, her voice like silk threaded with steel.
• “Ladies and gentlemen,” she said, every syllable sliding through the chamber with practiced weight, “welcome to the Sovereign Auction. Here, your names matter less than your hands. Here, you buy what no kingdom will sell you, what no empire will admit exists. Tonight—” she smiled faintly, “—we begin with a taste.”