Season of Hytalia by Jennifer Arntson

Author:Jennifer Arntson [Arntson, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949923018
Publisher: Sleepy Adam
Published: 2018-10-19T23:00:00+00:00

* * *

Standing on the porch of his house, I entered through the open door where an argument spilled from the parlor into the hallway. Marquette’s deep and raspy anger berated her grandson sitting at the table.

“She is no better than her whore of a mother.”

She claimed my family made a fool of them yet again by lying about my eligibility for marriage and our intention of hiding my Womanhood. While he did his best to defend us, she refused to entertain his childish interpretations of the situation. They volleyed their opinions and insults until she threatened Blue with altering some sort of document on his behalf. I didn’t know what form she was talking about, but I assumed it had something to do with the Petition.

“Don’t forget whose money purchased her.”

Until then, he thought the fee came from his inheritance, but his grandmother took great pleasure in correcting him. “That’s right, you don’t own a thing. That girl is a gift. One that can easily be taken away.”

Convinced I had been lying about my eligibility, she threatened to register me as a slave. “Then we can be done with her and find a more suitable bride to continue our family’s legacy.”

Though she was drunk, she hadn’t had enough to forget her threats. He knew these thoughts were not new. She only let him know of her intentions because she’d had enough to drink to lower her defenses. Fearing her next move against me, he did the only thing he thought could protect me.

Blue wasted no time. Once she passed out on the parlor couch, he rode to the Authority Building to investigate his options. That same afternoon, he returned to the Officer’s Desk, requesting my Womanhood be verified, using his parents’ wedding rings to pay the fee for the service. He traded the only memento he had left of his mother and father to secure a future for us to be together.

The stone building faded, and I found myself again in the parlor, but this time, Blue sat alone. He fretted over the paperwork for my status when the sudden violence erupting in Kali’s room startled him. His eyes lifted to the ceiling above as unbridled screams traveled through the second floor. Glass shattered, and he flinched as if he expected something to fall on him.

This is the night he locked me in the room.

More screaming. More crashing. He quickly marked the box next to “wife” and ran upstairs before the scene before me faded.

This time, Blue and his grandparents appeared in the kitchen, where Marquette served them a simple breakfast of eggs and toasted bread. It was at that meal Pantis confessed to his part in my escape and that he believed I made it home. Furious at her husband’s deception, she insisted on summoning the Authority but reluctantly agreed to let Blue visit our family first. Fearing she might change her mind, he told her he’d go that very morning.

He thought if he were able to bring

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