Luna watched with cold eyes as Patsy Finch writhed in the dirt, the crying girl clutching her right eye. The young noble seemed more fascinated than empathetic, watching her companion’s pain with an unfaltering calm. Soil crushed into the fabric of Patsy’s pink pinafore as the sapling rolled on the floor, her screams mingling with the sound of chirping birds in the trees that surrounded the grounds of Crow Manor.
“Luna? Luna!” The pained screams had gotten the attention of Lord Crow, the nobleman mistaking Luna’s playmate’s cries for his daughters. As he ran into the clearing, a look of relief crossed his handsome face. But, just as quickly his thick eyebrows creased with worry at the girl on the ground. Lord Crow closed the distance between them, kneeling next to the wailing child. With gentle hands and reassuring whispers he pried the Patsy’s hands from her face, trying to locate the source of her hysteria. The lord could hardly contain a sharp intake of breath when he gazed upon her face. A blood vessel had popped in the young Lady Finch’s eye, filling the whites of her eye beneath the thin membrane with blood. Deep scratches marred the freckled skin around the eye.
Lord Crow turned to his daughter with stern eyes. “Luna, what happened?” The young noblewoman blinked, taking a few seconds to respond. “There was a man,” Luna replied flatly. “A solitary fae I think, wearing smelly furs. He told Patsy to give him her locket. When she refused he hurt her.” Patsy looked up at her playmate with wide eyed surprise, but turned away quickly as Luna shot her an emotionless glance.
“Is that really what happened, Luna?” he questioned. He sighed when his daughter nodded solemnly in response.” He gazed at Patsy, silently asking her the same question. The little girl frantically nodded between hiccuping sobs. “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. We’ll get you fixed up,” he reassured Patsy, smoothing one of the golden curls that had escaped her braid. Servants had arrived soon after Lord Crow, drawn to the commotion. Per instructions from the Lord of the house, they gently began to lift the hysteric child. Lord Crow picked up his silent daughter, the bird-boned girl looking even smaller when nestled against his wide frame. He turned his face away from Luna, an unsettled look in his eyes.
Luna’s bony arms clung to her father’s neck, the girl looking over his shoulder as servants moved Patsy. For the first time a slow and triumphant smile tugged at the child’s lips. She opened her clenched fist, a small gold locket glinting in the palm of her hand. The child surveyed her trophy with pride, eager to add it to her growing collection.