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And this is how you break a boy: tell him he is king. Simple, but not easy. You must watch him, hawk-like, to see how he slips beneath your lies. You must seem to believe it enough that the boy believes, too. You must crown him and put him at the front of an army. If you fail, there is always another handsome hazel-eyed boy somewhere in the world. Anyone might do.

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Read “John Simnel's First Goshawk” by Tegan Moore, in Issue #297

© Story content copyright 2020 Tegan Moore
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Tegan Moore is a professional dog trainer and aspirational farmer living in the Pacific Northwest. She enjoys eating noodles, hiking in the rain, and reading scary stories. She has published work in many speculative fiction magazines including Asimov’s, Tor.com, and Clarkesworld. You can read more of her work at www.alarmhat.com and follow her obscenely charismatic dogs @temerity.dogs on Instagram.

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