“Taj, could we spar?” Si asked suddenly and immediately added. “Luna, don’t look at me like that; I am explaining. What I am asking isn’t silly; I’ve given it some thought. Taj, I am sure you would agree. A little sparring will help you explain to us what you want to explain, am I right?”

  “Correct,” Taj said.

  Luna snorted loudly.

  “I can see you two are already aligned,” she said. “Taj, don’t even think about calling me shrimp or patting me. Let me know if I need to charge you for it.”

  She acted grumpy, but she felt the opposite. It was good. Si was already on better terms with Taj; he also learned quickly how to approach him.

  Lukai was very much the opposite. It was as if he couldn’t grasp it. Currently he was treating Taj as if he were something to snatch. Luna could see it; it was quite visible.

  She wondered if Taj had noticed. He said he did, but did he? And Si? If he had, could he somehow help her? But how? How to protect Taj?

  It was even more significant, the question she had in her mind. What Lukai had said… Lukai, being the future Domini?

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  “Luna, no, you do not give me your energy; I plan to do it differently. Si, it is a good idea; it will be simple. Lukai, would it be possible for you to create a small barrier to surround the floor Luna uses for training? The library is not the best place for energy sparring,” Taj said.

  Lukai nodded without saying a word.

  “Right,” Luna said, and opened the library security layers. Then she looked at them all. “What? Let’s go.”

  The space was empty. After her grandmother’s death, Luna transformed the house. She wanted to get rid of whatever her grandmother liked or used to punish her. The library was neutral, as was her room. But here—the space for guests—the whole floor was filled with things reflecting their status.

  Luna hated it.

  The furniture, paintings, and decorations were too rich. They were also fancy; they were meant to be eye-catching, to bring to their knees those who had no money or were not from the Unio family.

  Luna was sick of it, especially since her grandmother said so many bad things about her mother, even if she didn’t know her. She didn’t know who she was, but she judged. Not from a prominent family, as her grandmother used to summarize, so trash… Luna was sick of it.

  She threw everything away, gave it away, sold it. She got rid of her grandmother’s things, leaving the rooms and the showoff space empty.

  The floor was changed to one that Taj said would be good for her to practice and dance on. And that was it—finally, it was possible to breathe in the house.

  Luna directed her steps there, as did Taj. Lukai too; they practiced many times together.

  Si was a step behind them.