The cave was warm that night, it was lit by the dim glow of molten cracks running through its walls like shining veins in a dark stone.
She stood before him barefooted, her dark hair falling over her shoulders with a soft expression that warmed his heart. The woman he is going to marry in a few hours inside the cave, just the two of them.
Although he had only met her for two days, but the thought of having someone who is not afraid of him delighted his heart.
"I've never felt this understood, not even among my own" he admitted looking in her eyes
"You don't have to carry everything alone anymore" she said approaching him on the bed while making her way to sit opposite him.
He shifted closer to her looking into her eyes, "you accept me, all of me?"
"I do." she said raising her hand towards her chest and kissed him deeply and just immediately, she conjured a knife and pierced it through his chest.
His body stiffened as he looked at her desperate eyes twisting the knife carefully as if searching for something.
A blue glow emerged from his chest, as he felt the crystal being pulled from his core
"Why" he asked closing the gap where blood was gushing out with his hand
"I need it to save my child" she said unapologetically
.............................
Twenty years later.
A young girl sat at one corner of her dark room staring at her ceiling, as usual, the corridors were filled with footsteps and murmurs but none ever approached her room, yet guards are being stationed on her door since she could remember.
The only person who had always entered her room was Mara, her nanny, she has always been the one bringing her food, bringing her clothes that her sister has outgrown telling her stories and teaching her basic knowledge.
She knew she was a princess
"You where born to the throne," Mara had once told her while braiding her red hair
"But why am I not allowed to go out of this room? are all princesses meant to be locked up, and why hasn't my father visited me even once?" she would always ask but gets just one answer
"When the right time comes you, he will summon for you"
She is already 20years today, there is no right time than now, she thought.
She had already studied the pattern the guards stationed outside use, she will always peep from an opening on her door, they take turns and there is this particular set of people that go to see girls' match for an hour everyday thinking that nothing will happen since she has never stepped out.
Today she patiently waited for them to leave as usual.
She opened her door, feeling a fresh hair and wowed at the beauty of the hallways, she kept on walking after asking for directions from one of the maids and stopped just before the threshold of throne room as she was stopped by the guards, her heart beating fast, with her palms sweating,
"If she turned back now, nothing would change but if she stepped forward, something might." she thought
"I just want to see my father" she declared out loud making the council halt to look backwards.
She had rehearsed a speech the night before while staring at the ceiling of her room. She had imagined telling him she was well, that she studied, that she would not cause trouble, that she only wished to stand near him once.
But all of it disappeared when his father called out the guards to take her back with annoyance clearly written on her face while dismissing the council.
When Mara entered her room hours later and informed her that her sister wished to see her, she was overjoyed as she was led to her room.
The room her sister waited in was brighter than hers, scented faintly of jasmine.
Her sister stood near the mirror looking elegant like a princess should look like with a soft expression which changed as she began talking
"Do you know what it feel like being ignored and replaced?
I was here first, I was chosen and loved by all when the kingdom thought no heir would come, and then you were conceived and suddenly every prayer, every ounce of attention turned toward you."
Liora opened her mouth to protest, to explain that she had never received attention, never known warmth, but the words felt childish against the sharpness in her sister's gaze.
"Mother gave her life to save you," her sister continued, "and father has never forgiven that sacrifice."
"He does not want you.
He told me to take you somewhere appropriate."
With her final words a verdict, the door opened and some people entered.
Liora realized her words too late as an unfamiliar scent filled her lungs which left her unconscious.
.............................
The underground market was louder than the palace.
Liora woke up from the noises of people around her, people who came to drop items to be auctioned.
When the blindfold was removed, light struck her eyes harshly.
As she was processing her surroundings while noticing the vast cavern and deep carved walls beneath the ground, she noticed the torches lining the walls with voices layered over one another in bargaining tones.
Mara had once told her about an underground market where you can buy anything you want and sell anything, it took her long to realize that she is one of the items to be auctioned tonight and someone is meant to buy her tonight.
The thought of escaping flashed through her mind but got reminded by Mara that no one can owe them and leave alive hence she will be risking her life making a futile attempt.
She stood up as she watched while praying that she ends up in good hands then plan an escape later.
Objects were displayed first, then weapons, then jewels, then different creatures in cages.
People watched with interest while bidding their gold coins.
When her turn came, she was led onto the platform.
The auctioneer did not say anything much to make her feel valued.
"bidding starts from fifty gold coins" he announced
A merchant offered a sum that would not have covered the cost of her father's smallest banquet.
Another voice doubled it lazily.
A third laughed and added more, amused by the novelty of her red hair under torchlight.
The numbers climbed slowly like it was a show to them.
"Five hundred gold coins"
"Six hundred gold coins"
Someone remarked, "she looked fragile"
Another countered, "fragility has it's uses"
"Eight hundred gold coins"
"Nine hundred"
Her ears rang as she wondered if this was what value felt like when measured aloud.
"One thousand"
"Twenty thousand gold coins" A voice came from the crowd and there was a pause followed by whispers
"One hundred times the current bid" A voice came from the upper shadows.
The auctioneer blinked,
The crowd was in awe.
Liora could not believe her ears, "that was way too much" she thought with her heart beating fast
The auctioneer gaining back his composure continued
"Two million gold coins going once,
there was silence
Two million gold coins going twice,
Two million gold coins going thrice"
Without waiting, he struck the gavel once while announcing
"SOLD."