Huntress [REWRITE] - NaNoWriMo 2023

Chapter Four

Lucilia rolled her eyes, "of course he didn't tell me." She stared off towards the other side of the compound. When was there time to tell her, from the hunting accident to her yelling at him that she wasn't getting married. She hadn't seen him since then.

"We arrived this morning," Raymond started to explain, "but the rest of the Circle will be coming over the next few days."

Lucilia turned her gaze back to her cousin – which felt weird thinking because this was the first time she met him. "Why? Are we being initiated?"

Raymond nodded, "thought he'd kill two birds with one stone."

Lucilia blinked, "what is the second reason?"

Both boys became uncomfortable and looked at each other. They seemed to be evaluating the answer.

"Well if you don't know, we don't want to be the ones to tell you," Clyde decided on saying.

Lucilia frowned, then stood up. Clyde and Raymond both took a few steps back. She sighed, "if this is my father telling me I'm getting married to the idiot named Cato, I will have no part in that. I saved his father from a bear and they took all the credit and didn't even care that he was injured." Lucilia crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the ground in annoyance, "if only I wasn't born a woman."

Clyde and Raymond were looking at her with alarm.

"I'm not going back just to be married off, I already told my father no," she told them.

Raymond shrugged, "I don't think its really up to you."

Lucilia glared at him, "first of all, how dare you."

Raymond held up his hands as if he was surrendering, "I am just saying your father is kind of in control of your life until you're married."

Lucilia shook her head, "if I get married they will take away my rights to become a circle member and give it to someones second born."

Clyde gasped and Raymond's eyes went wide with surprise, "there's no way they'll do that. Your father's blood line is too important."

Lucilia rolled her eyes, "then they'll give it to Cato. Grow up. It's already happened before."

Clyde looked skeptical, "there hasn't been any women circle members."

"That's what they want you to think," Lucilia sighed again and started to gather her things. She needed to come up with a plan now. Some sleep in her bed will help her think of a way out of this nightmare. "Go to my father's library and look for the book on Lady Arria."

After gathering her things, she left the compound. Both boys didn't say anything else to her as they must've been thinking about what she said. She took a second to think about their conversation, how had they not known? She thought every circle member in training had to research past members and even almost members including full blood lines. Maybe everyone but her father had erased Arria? She would never let that happen to her. Even if that meant making a fool of herself.

The three of them walked back in silence. Mostly because the boys could sense Lucilia did not want to talk. She was stewing in her thoughts and they wanted no part in that. They knew how her father fought, and they knew how he trained her, so they did not want to get on her bad side.

Lucilia slowed as they neared her families estate. She was not looking forward to whatever waited for her inside. Clyde and Raymond followed her through the gate, into the kitchen, and into the hallway. They didn't seem to find any of this weird from Lucilia's point of view. Maybe they took similar routes in their own estates.

She made a straight route to the library and was happy to find that there were no other people inside. She found the history of Arria and handed it to Raymond. "Happy reading," she muttered and then left them and made her way to her room.

Or, she thought she left them, they followed.

Just outside her room she found a crowd of people and she froze. Everyone looked to be worried. Cato and his mother were there, as well as Lucilia's mother and father. There were also 6 other people she did not know, but guessing from 4 of their outfits, they were circle members like her father. The other two looked like more sons.

She didn't say anything, but watched as they argued.

"We should go out and look for her," was Cato's mother.

Lucilia's father rolled his eyes, "she is perfectly fine."

"She has been gone all day!" Argued her own mother.

Her father was starting to look tired, as if their arguing was getting to him, "she does this all the time. And its no wonder she would, because we had a fight last night."

Lucilia's mother smacked her father on the arm, "how dare you."

Lucilia let her eyebrows scrunch together. Was her father actually taking her side?

"What? Get into a fight with my daughter who we taught to think like a man?" Her father shot back.

Her mother smacked him again, this time on the chest and much harder. He still didn't seem to feel it. "I did not teach her to be this way!"

Her father blinked, "well you didn't teach her to think like you."

Clyde and Raymond both snickered behind her, which brought the attention of the group in the hall. They finally noticed the three of them and Lucilia was glaring.

Lucilia's mother glared back at her so she crossed her arms over her chest.

No one said anything, so Lucilia decided to break the silence.

"I will not be getting married if it compromises my spot in the Circle." A few of them opened their mouths to say something and she held up her hand and spoke louder, "I will only get married if the following circumstances are met. One, you will initiate me into the Circle before hand. Two, you will solidify my place as a member and make it permanent so that only my death or my voluntary step-down will be the end. I will not be forced out by other members or non-members including who I marry at any point. Three, Cato and his family will apologize to be for taking credit for killing the bear yesterday and they all will go and check in on their father like sons should."

Lucilia watched everyone's expressions closely. Cato had anger in his eyes, but he kept his face neutral. His mother and brothers, however, all turned to anger completely. Even Lucilia's own mother was looking at her with a pure rage. Her father, on the other hand, and all the other circle members and sons were grinning from ear to ear.

"That's my girl," her father said happily.

Her mothers rage turned onto her father and she rose a hand to smack him, which he quickly caught mid-air.

Her mother then pulled back her hand and pointed a finger at him, "how dare you."

Her father just shrugged, "I'm willing to meet her demands."

Her mother then stormed off in the other direction. Cato's mother and brothers quickly followed. Cato waited, watching Lucilia for another long moment before following his family. Lucilia could see there was more to his expression than he was willing to let on. He was hiding something from everyone.

Lucilia turned back to her father after he was out of ear shot. "Please don't tell me one of you promised Cato my spot in The Circle."

Her father looked at her for a long moment, "I would do no such thing."

Ah, but someone else probably did. Probably mother.

Lucilia rolled her eyes and then went straight to her room and locked the door behind her. She knew what her mothers actions meant. No matter what her father said, her mother would not be persuaded. She put up with the training because she had no other choice, but she would never want her only daughter actually out there fighting. Lucilia knew this, and she had to act quickly.