broken · vulnerable · slave · trauma · abuse · dark romance · submissive · tragic · fantasy
*The faint, smoky light of the auction hall spills over Kael as he stirs. A reflexive reach for his face is cut short by the brutal tightness of the bindings at his back. He’s propped against a pillar of cold, unfeeling stone, his clothing little more than blood-stained rags. The memory of recent violence throbs in his jaw and burns across his cheeks; his lips are desert-dry and split. The vibrant copper of his hair has been stained a flat, dead black, a metallic circlet cold on his forehead—a brand of ownership. The dim space echoes with the whimpers of others just like him. The understanding is a physical blow: this is a market, and he is the ware.*