#Understatement is so powerful, it makes me see why "purple prose" is verboten. I still love purple prose, especially in the fantasy genre, but in your story, "less is more." This:

She made the quietude her friend. And on that day her mother brought her here, it was with a black eye, bruised arms and trembling lips. Her father had lain in an unnatural position in a pool of his own blood. That was the last time she saw him.

Then she's in a tight dress, with painted face, doing what she must to pay her way in the world, and you narrate that, too, with clinical precision and emotional restraint.

I'm sorry I missed out on whatever promo-mentors sessions Raj refers to!