Chapter Forty Two

  Alone in the changing room with The Coordinator, Ornette changed out of her bathing suit and into a strapless bra and a pair of panties. The Coordinator kept his back to her like a gentleman and opened the door a crack to give the dress he had ordered an underling to fetch.

  The dress had a million ties on it. It was white with large yellow flowers painted on the white silk and two complementing yellow flowers as accessories. One tied at the waist and the other tied on the shoulder. Ornette had to stand still patiently while The Coordinator laced the corset on her. Then she had to be patient again while he laced her sleeves. She thought she could put the slippers on herself, but her corset was so tight she couldn't reach her feet. After ten unsuccessful seconds, they gave up and put the white stilettos she had been wearing back on.

  “There are two extra flowers to be worn in your hair, and we’ll put them both over your ear to hide the swelling,” he said, enjoying every moment. “Can you talk yet?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, her voice still all tongue.

  On his knees in front of her, he asked a surprising question. “Do you know who is actually in charge of this show? It’s not Varner. If he was in charge, I wouldn’t have been able to hold him back. Do you know?”

  She shook her head.

  He gave her an odd look. “I have a feeling that you’re about to find out.”

  He finished, got off his knees, and offered Ornette his hand. She took it. Outside the changing room, he got the makeup artist to touch up her lips and cheeks.

  In the next second, Uncle Bear was behind the curtain, demanding she be brought out. “They’re going to start tearing the place apart,” he complained.

  Ornette was placed next to him. He looked her over, exclaimed, “Damn!” and turned to present her to the audience like he’d never seen a beautiful woman before.

  Ornette managed a smile, though it was only a fifty-watt smile instead of a hundred watts.

  “The bids have been compared, and we have a clear winner,” Uncle Bear announced to the audience. He was about to read out the winning bid when something flashed on his watch screen. “Before I call out the winning bid, let's take a moment to enjoy Ornette's gown designed by Fenrir Charming for Ornette. Please give his grand creation a round of applause.”

  Everyone clapped, but it seemed strange and off-key. The sound wasn't heartfelt applause. No one cared what she was wearing.

  Ornette tried to find Fen in the crowd, but the lighting was so bright, she couldn’t see as far as Uncle Bear’s watch.

  The rest of the show passed like a dream like the clouds of Venus were white and all around her. There was so much light, it whited out the details of all that surrounded her.

  “The top bidder tonight is Yarley Hails.”

  Ornette didn’t know who that was.

  “He was the top bidder at two hundred and fifty million dollars,” Uncle Bear called out.

  Ornette wasn’t in a place where she could absorb all that was happening, but she did register that her price was two point one billion dollars in Earth money, and she wouldn’t receive a penny of it. The money was all going to their 'charity'.

  The show ended with Ornette shaking the hands of every single man who had bid on her. Fen wasn’t there. Desmond wasn’t there. Hans looked sorry when he bid her farewell. There were others, too, that she should have recognized but didn’t. Her ability to smile returned, and she smiled as brightly as she could. She was also able to speak clearly again, however, she just said, ‘Thank you’ to anything that was said to her. The place was filled with such a chorus of noise that she couldn’t hear anything with clarity. The numbing cream had worn off, and the only thing she could feel was a pounding in her head at the place where Varner had hit her. Any bruises or dents she endured being thrown across the room were vanilla… so normal.

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  After she had been congratulated by everyone, she was led by Uncle Bear on one side and The Coordinator on the other to a cryochamber.

  "My bidder isn’t here to pick me up?” she wondered groggily.

  "Mr. Hails is having you delivered,” The Coordinator explained. “He didn’t want to bother with the crowds. He’s not that kind of man.”

  “Who is he?”

  “You’re going to like him. Probably the next best thing than being bid on by Desmond,” Uncle Bear said in a menacing tone.

  Ornette turned to The Coordinator since he had a much friendlier face. “Who is he?”

  “He’s Desmond’s father,” The Coordinator explained.

  Ornette’s jaw dropped. That didn’t sound like very much fun to her, but what did that mean for Silver Ashley’s plan? She was his aunt. Was he going against her?

  The boys on either side of Ornette heaved her into the seat of the cryochamber.

  “Wait!” she called in alarm. “Don’t you have to wait until I’m well before putting me in cryostasis?”

  “Yes,” Uncle Bear agreed. “We aren’t going to put you to sleep.” He pressed the buttons to open the flaps in the chamber to allow fresh air in.

  “How long am I going to be in this thing?” she pressed, scared.

  “I don’t know. As long as it takes to get to Yarley’s personal floating mansion.”

  Ornette turned to The Coordinator for confirmation.

  He nodded.

  She reached for the straps around her and buckled four of them. She couldn’t get the fifth. That one was supposed to go between her legs, and the dress Fen had made for her didn’t allow for it.

  “Can I have some water?” she asked.

  Uncle Bear finished with the settings on the cryochamber. “No. We don’t want you peeing.”

  “What if I have to go to the bathroom right now?” she fussed, feeling horrified over the notion of being kept awake in a cryochamber. It was like being in a coffin.

  “It’s too late. At that price? We have to deliver you on time,” Uncle Bear explained, unyieldingly.

  “What if I…”

  He had already closed the lid. His answer was simple. If she peed in the cryochamber, that was fine with him. Once he shipped her, she was no longer his problem.

  Through the glass, Ornette saw The Coordinator for the last time. His expression was torn. He liked her, but like everyone else, he was a slave. He had to do what he had to do. At that moment, she realized with a sudden wave of sorrow that she didn’t even know his name.

  The heartbreak of that thought hit her hard, so hard that she was insensitive to all else around her.

  Then, she realized she was freezing. It wasn't because of the gasses that put a person in cryosleep, but just because it was cold as she was wheeled out of the studio. The cryochamber was still on, so she turned on the heat like she was inside a car.

  Maybe she was being bought by Desmond’s father because he wasn’t able to bid on her himself, and if she wasn’t being sold to Brother Bear or Uncle Bear, then it wasn’t worth it to send her over. Maybe she’d have the lid of her cryochamber opened, and Desmond would be there explaining that he couldn’t stand for them to be apart. Maybe. Maybe it was all better than she imagined. Maybe.

  ***

  As Ornette was loaded onto the back of a helocarrier, she wondered why Harrison Fox had been at the auction. He wasn’t able to bid on her, so surely he wasn’t there for her. He was a helocarrier designer, so he couldn’t have been interested in clothes. Business? She guessed he had to have been there on business. Was he in the market for a new spokeswoman? Ornette didn’t think that made sense. His helocarriers sold themselves.

  Beckett Beltrose and Benediction Hallows hated slavery, so their being at a slave auction seemed strange. If only they had been there to save her, not because they wanted to screw her like the bidders at the auction, but because they wanted to save all the little girls who had been tricked into selling themselves. Slavery was so much easier if the slave agreed to it.

  The helocarrier lifted off.

  Ornette liked the hum of it and fell asleep. It was surprisingly easy. After all, she had been put to sleep in the cryochambers so many times already.

  When she woke up, her glittered-up lips were being kissed, and it was completely repulsive.