SOLD TO THE DEMON PRINCE

SOLD TO THE DEMON PRINCE My mother has sold three of my sisters to the flesh markets. I am next. I am Aurelia. My only worth is written in my face: my eyes—purple so rare that men kill for less. Let the auctioneer come. Let some lord or monster think he owns me. The moment his hands touch my skin, I will slice his throat and make a pudding of his blood. But I cannot run. Not yet. My youngest sister, Flavia, remains—an eleven-year-old genius trapped in this brothel my mother calls a home. My rage must be a shield, not just a sword. Five years ago, the dark creatures came. They poured from the northern wastes like a plague given form. They slaughtered my father. They burned our villa to ash. They took everything. Now I live in the Lupanar, Rome's most infamous brothel. My mother rules it with gold and cruelty. My sisters were sold one by one. And at dawn, the slaver comes for me. I have one chance. Flavia has been planning our escape for three months. She knows which guards sleep at which hour. She knows where Mother hides her coin. And she has found a man who owes me a debt—a soldier named Titus, who waits for us at the Porta Capena with horses and a promise. But Titus is not what he seems. My mother does not lose what she owns. And the dark creatures who killed my father are not the only monsters in this world. There is a prince. They say his gaze turns flesh to stone. They say he collects purple-eyed girls like coins. They say he has never looked upon a woman who did not die or turn to art. He has been searching for fifteen years. He has found two who survived. I will be the third. And I will ruin him...