9

ASTRID

I should have trusted my gut. Coming to the basement was clearly a bad idea but I had nowhere else to go. If I hadn't been here, I wouldn't have been found. Being known as a killer was already hard as it is, I didn't want to be tagged a thief either.

“I–.” I barely had time to explain why I was here to the Luna when she reached out and gave me a slap that sent me sprawling to the floor. My face stung and tears gathered in my eyes at the pain I felt from falling to the floor, crashing back on the boxes I had picked up a while ago.

Before I could recover, I was dragged across the floor by my hair, for the second time today, and dumped at a corner of the room while she towered over me. For a woman her age, I couldn't fathom just how strong she was but she was Luna for a reason. Ordinarily, she shouldn't be able to move me but here she was, pulling me like I weighed nothing. Goddess.

She crouched in front of me and I cowered, turning away, unable to look at her in the eyes, her bl