Page 81 of A Hunter for Luna

To distract myself, I headed for the merchant district. While the servants would provide food, I preferred to get my own medicinal herbs in case of injury.

Passed a jeweler's stall, a whim to see if any of the wares would suit my wife struck me. She’s always worn the jewelry of our clan, not any she’d been given by me.

A strand of moonstones color of her eyes caught my attention. After a moment’s consideration I moved on, trailing the nervous apprentice minding the counter, and pointed at a pair of delicate opal earrings.

He pulled them out. Catching the light, the stones shimmered with flecks of blue and green and veins of fiery red.

A cool exterior with a fiery inside, like her.

"How much for these?" I asked.

The jeweler bustled out and beamed at me. "A fine choice, my lord. Look at the fire in those! They come from the Yeflad islands, the only place where you can get quality like this. Very large, rare stones. For you, a fair price, twenty gold coins."

Twenty gold coins for a pair of earrings? Dead gods waking, he was overcharging me.

He eyed me nervously, but I found I didn’t care about being overcharged. Luna would love them.

On the other hand, it went against the grain to not haggle at all.

I raised my brows. “It would be a fair price if I took the moonstone necklace as well and offered fifteen.”

The man laughed outright. “Overly fair! But I will throw the necklace in as a gift to a man who appreciates fine things for the twenty the earrings cost.”

“Done.” I counted out the coin and put them wrapped in a twist of cloth into my inner vest.

Back at the villa, I signaled the servant not to announce me and found Luna in the garden, once again drinking tea and sitting on the low stone bench beneath a blooming magnolia tree with Pip.

The drake was curled in her lap, and its eyes were quite close to the stones in the earrings in both shape and color. The scene was peaceful, almost idyllic, and I softened as I approached her.

"I have something for you." I tried to sound casual, and the words came out clipped.

Luna looked up, curious. "Oh? What is it?"

I pulled out the small velvet pouch and handed it to her. She opened it carefully, eyes widening when she saw the earrings and the necklace.

"Benedetto!" She lifted them out to examine them in the light. The stones caught the rays of the sun, shimmering with an iridescent glow. The necklace glowed softly, grey as mist.

"They're beautiful," she breathed.

The look on her face was worth every moment of doubt on the way to the villa. She was happy.

As Luna admired the earrings, I noticed the red veil twisted into her braided hair, a piece of delicate silk she often wore. I'd seen it many times but never asked about it before.

"You wear that veil often," I said. "Why is it so special to you?"

Her smile faded slightly, and she looked down, running a finger along the stones of the necklace.

"It was my mother's," she said after a moment. "The only thing I have left of her. She wore it on her wedding day. A few years after she died, my father decided to destroy all her remaining possessions. My stepmother hid it and gave it to me when I was old enough to understand I needed to keep it hidden."

Her mother's veil. She had carried that piece of her past with her all this time. Luna was a woman who didn’t forget those she loved.

I reached out, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "It suits you. You look beautiful with it, and with these."

I took the earrings from her hand and carefully clipped them to her ears. My fingers lingered on her skin, the warmth of her presence drawing me in. She looked up at me, a warm smile on her lips, and for a moment, the world stopped.

In that moment, my attachment to her crashed down on me like a wave in a storm. I wanted her, not just as a companion on this quest, but as someone I could protect and cherish. The thought terrified me.

She was another I could lose. Who could destroy me if I lost her, as my brother had come close to doing.

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