Eleanor's POV
The silence stretched. One second. Two. Five.
The host cleared his throat. "Going once... going twice..."
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Sold. To Room 7. Congratulations."
The word hit me like a physical blow. He got it. Thirty million for a weapon that could manipulate thoughts, control emotions. And he would use it. For their schemes, their conquest, their vision of a world drowned in Shadowmere rule.
I sat there, frozen, as the next item was brought up. My mind was no longer in the room. It drifted through a fog of fear and dread. What would he do with it? Who would he control first? Would he use it on me, to make me compliant, to strip away the last bits of defiance I clung to?
And the triplets. Room 22. They had tried. They had pushed the bid so high, but thirty million was a line they couldn't cross. Or wouldn't. Maybe they decided it wasn't worth it. Maybe they decided stopping him wasn't worth that much money. Maybe they just didn't care enough.
