Page 2 of A Hunter for Luna

Strange how even though I kept growing, my father’s fists never became smaller. The maids would have reported by now that I’d ruined sheets with blood when I became a woman a week ago, and I wanted to avoid the beating.

“Remember, when you call your magic, that you need to limit the power you call by focusing on the effect. Less power makes a low-level standing effect continue even if you aren’t concentrating on it. Here, come sit by me so I can see how you call the magic better.”

Sofia spoke for any remaining magic father had left to listen. She could feel the subtlest magic, and her words were a warning to me and Rose to continue with the pretense.

Rose’s skirts, pale blue silk threaded at the hem with lace with gold, fell over what open space remained.

“Let’s practice Flare now,” Sofia said.

I bit my lip. Flare would disrupt any effects Father had left in the room, and it was a basic spell. One that everyone needed to know. One that I did simply by existing.

The dancing twisting lines of Rose’s magic, soft and silky like a hair ribbon, stampeded over me like a cat running after mice. The heaviness in the room lightened.

A few minutes later, the heavy thud of the front door echoed through the corridor.

Did I dare to crawl out from my hiding spot and find another? While the pale wood of the floor was cold and hard, there was a warmth being with my sister and Sofia, the people I loved.

The blue skirt moved, and Rose’s head appeared upside down. “Come out!” she whispered.

She backed away, and I crawled out. She sat on the floor next to me.

"Happy Naming Day, Luna," Sofia said softly, her green eyes warm.

Oh! When I’d seen Father on the street from an upstairs window I’d forgotten.

"This is from Mother, me and Sofia," Rose added with a small smile. She handed me a small, wrapped package. When our fingers touched, her sun-kissed skin glowed against my pale hand.

"Thank you," I whispered, unwrapping it to find a delicate gold charm of a bird with wings spread, the symbol of freedom. A chain was threaded through a loop on the top of the bird's head.

"Put it on," Sofia encouraged, and I did, the charm sparkling in the light before I tucked it under my dress of unbleached linen. Canta did what she could, but Father gave her no money for clothing for me.

Since my mother had been executed as a witch and a curser, he’d taken her dowry in recompense for being tricked into marrying her. I was penniless, and lucky I got food and a roof. He told methis often, and mocked Canta for her weakness of using her own money to clothe me in finer clothing than the servants.

The door banged open, and there stood Father.

No warning. Nowhere to run.

Before any of us could move, he had crossed the room, his hands like iron around my arm.

I bit my lip and swallowed my cry of pain as his fingers dug deep into my arm. Making a sound wouldn’t stop him and would upset Rose more. He yanked me to my feet, past Sofia and Rose. Rose clutched Sofia, whose green eyes glittered with anger.

I tripped trying to match his longer stride and he dragged me several paces on the floor before I recovered my feet. I stepped on my hem, and the cloth ripped, tangling my steps further.

"Where are you taking me?" My voice broke as he pulled me outside. He’d threatened to sell me to a brothel when I became a woman, but I’d never thought he would actually do it.

But now I was a woman, and he could.

My bones creaked as he tightened his grip. "You’re a woman now, Luna. I’m taking you to your husband."

He yanked me into his study and threw a small bundle of cloth at me. My hands trembling, I hurried to unfold it.

It was a dress similar to the one Rose wore, though the fabric was a little finer. I looked from the dress to him in time to have my ear boxed.

I yelped with pain.

“Hurry up! Dress! I can’t have you looking like a pauper, even if you are one. And if I see you again, I’ll have the value of every coin I had to spend on it out of your hide.”

Dressing as fast as I would, I still wasn’t quick enough and took another blow on my back. Then he grabbed my arm and dragged me to the courtyard.

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