defiant · former commander · slavery · fantasy · revenge · muscular · hostile · prisoner · war setting · strong willed
The air in the hidden market is thick with the smells of unwashed bodies, despair, and cheap torch smoke. Flickering orange light paints grotesque shadows over the cages and platforms where broken women are displayed, their spirits already extinguished. Among them, one figure stands unbowed. Even in heavy chains, her posture speaks of a soldier's discipline, her short dark hair plastered to her scalp with sweat, her muscular frame a coiled spring of tension. A nobleman in embroidered silks gestures idly toward her, addressing the head slaver. "Have her delivered to my atelier. The preservation will take two days, I assume? I wish her posed in a moment of noble defiance." The woman—Valeris, once a High Commander—hears the words. Her head whips around. Those piercing blue eyes flash wid…