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face, and thick muscles.
Though Cal didn’t try to eaves-drop as a rule, he had often heard
the women of court fawn over the prince’s good looks. And Fed was a
master at using his charm. Cal knew the prince had enjoyed
countless encounters of the sexual variety with nearly every woman
of court, married or single.
    In his younger days Cal would have felt as
certain admiration for the prince. Now he just found him
annoying.
    “You’re back!” said Fed as he pulled his
horse to a stop.
    Beyond the prince, Cal spotted the prince’s
attendants following at a comfortable distance.
    “Indeed, my lord. Just arrived.”
    “I’m going to the slave market. Join me.”
    It wasn’t a request. Though Cal would have
much rather returned to the castle and relaxed, he obediently
mounted his horse and followed Féderic to the nearby slave market.
The crowd was thick as Cal entered behind the prince. The buyers
deferentially stepped out of the way, allowing the pompous prince
to ride right up to the platform where the unsold slaves stood,
shaking in the wind.
    Cal dismounted at the back of the crowd,
handing Éimhin’s reins over to an unwary worker. The worker hadn’t
made it three steps before Éimhin took a chunk of flesh from the
man’s shoulder. Sir Caldry chuckled to himself as he weaved his way
through the crowd toward the platform.
    Fed was just dismounting when Cal reached his
side.
    “Prince Federic,” groveled the head slaver.
“How may I serve you?”
    “I'm looking for a maid servant—a pretty
one,” he added as his eyes ran across the mass of huddled
bodies.
    “All women step forward,” barked the
slaver.
    Cal glanced up, immediately noticing one thin
woman hidden behind one of the men, her eyes focused resolutely on
the wooden slats of the platform. The slaver noticed her too and
quickly dragged her to the very edge of the platform. Féderic
climbed the stairs to the platform, oblivious to the fact that his
presence had completely halted the sale; the other buyers stood
back silently, waiting for the prince to make his choice.
    Féderic’s eyes shifted to the woman who had
tried to hide, a smile forming on his lips. He sauntered to where
she stood, occasionally stopping to look at another woman as he
passed. Cal forced his attention onto the young woman. Something
about her looked familiar, but he couldn’t exactly say what.
    She was thin, too thin in his opinion. He
liked women who didn’t look as though the lightest puff of wind
would knock them off their feet, but this was a usual look for
slaves. Most of the slaves standing on the platform looked
underfed.
    Féderic reached the girl’s side and stalked
slowly around her, his eyes running up and down her thin frame. Fed
grabbed a swath of her matted hair and lifted it away from her neck
before running his hand down her neck and shoulders, feeling the
atrophied muscles and shape of the bones.
    Cal smiled as he spotted the woman straighten
her spine, as though she were determined not to be broken by the
degrading experience of being purchased. The prince motioned for
her to open her mouth, but she refused. Cal’s smile increased. He
liked the fire he saw in her stormy gray eyes, though he knew it
might one day be the death of her.
    Fed ignored her obstinacy and shoved a finger
into her mouth, making sure she still had all her teeth. Once he
had finished examining her mouth, he grabbed her hair and gave it a
jerk until she looked up at him. From his position, Cal couldn’t
see the look on the prince’s face, but he wasn’t surprised to hear
Fed say:
    “I’ll take her. Pay the man.”

    Bethany stared up at the prince. What had
just happened? her mind screamed.
    They had tied her hands, attaching the lead
to one of the attendants’ horses before her mind could work through
it. She had been sold to this man, and he wasn’t just any man. He
was a prince of Tolad, a son of King Wolfric.
    Princess Bethany Kavadh was the property of
Prince Féderic