Chapter 11

Gains drags Briony through a portal to the Bomardi Circus’s under-stage holding ring, where dozens of prisoners are spell-bound to chairs. Vein, a famed performer, prepares to emcee the auction above, while Bomardi guards, including a young one named Parsons, watch the captives. Briony spots Cordelia, Didion, Sammy, and other Evermore prisoners among the restrained.

As Vein begins the spectacle, Larissa quietly targets Parsons, baiting him with talk of Briony’s price and profits from virgins’ blood. When Parsons loosens Briony’s bonds, Larissa body-slams him, shatters her chair, and fatally stakes him with its splinters, shouting for Briony to run. The prisoners follow suit, breaking free and attacking; spells erupt, Bomardi reinforcements surge in, and Briony is injured and disoriented.

In the chaos, someone with a pine scent—identified by Gains as a Hearst—grabs Briony and drags her toward an exit, but Gains intercepts and knocks her out. She wakes belowstage as the auction resumes. Cordelia is sold to Riann Cohle for 28,500 gold, her brand transferring ownership as she briefly embraces Briony and vows they will reunite.

Raised for the finale, Briony faces a roaring crowd under Mallow’s watch. Vein touts her golden blood and near-maximum measured magic. A bidding war erupts: Reighven and a solitary young man—Toven Hearst—drive the price skyward. Despite Toven’s aggressive raises, Reighven leverages his earlier sales and outbids him at 65,000 gold.

With the gavel’s fall, Briony’s brand sears to Reighven’s name. He publicly manhandles her as the audience cheers and Mallow applauds. The platform lowers, leaving one empty seat where Toven had sat and Briony in Reighven’s possession.