Sold To The Monster Alpha
The common room of the Crimson Wing was an opulent, suffocating gold-and-velvet cage, and every eye in it was waiting for me.
When I stepped through the arched entryway, the frantic buzzing of noble whispers died instantly, plunging the room into a heavy, volatile silence. The nineteen tributes were gathered in loose clusters around the silk-damask sofas, but the moment I appeared, they shifted as one cohesive unit, drawing away from me like I was carrying the plague.