Description:

Elizabeth pricks her fingers in her father’s shop and dreams of being chosen. Every year the Priestesses of the Gather are named—six girls lifted out of the slums and into silk. This year they take twelve, but her name is not among them.

The next morning she has a mysterious hole in her sock, her blouse hugs too tight, and for the first time in her life she meets her father’s eyes without looking up.

Something in the city has started to change her, and Elizabeth is about to learn that holiness is not the only way a woman can rise.

 (fantasy growth, progressive giantess, clothing strain, size difference, priestess setting)

Excerpt:

The next morning, she woke to the sound of chickens right outside her window. Her family didn’t own chickens so she assumed this was a purchase of her father from the leftover profits.

Before she could get up, she looked at her feet and noticed her toe was sticking through a hole. The socks were well-worn and were starting to fray, but she never thought her feet would actually push through them.

When Elizabeth rolled over and put her feet on the floor, the rip continued, trailing across the top of her foot.

“What in the name of the Gather?” she muttered to herself. She lifted her foot and put it in her lap, noticing that the sock was incredibly tight around her ankle. It was like it had shrunk overnight.

Elizabeth peeled them off, then rubbed the line of white where they’d been cutting into her flesh.

As she went about her morning, she couldn’t help but notice she was feeling odd. Things were just out of reach, or far closer than she thought. At least three times she’d missed doorknobs or tripped on the stairs. Her bedclothes didn’t feel right—they were tight, hugging her body with the same vigor as the socks.

But the real shock came when she visited her father’s shop and noticed that he was staring at her from the same eyeline. For every day of her adulthood, she’d been looking up at him. Now, they were level. This seemed to go unnoticed by him.

“I need you to get dressed and go down to Margot’s for a few skeins of burgundy fabric.” And without even waiting for an answer—for Elizabeth never said no—he lifted her hand and deposited a handful of coins.

Back at the house, she dressed, noting that her blouse was tighter than normal. When she put her shoes on, she found her feet seemed too wide to slip into them. After trying them out around the room, she decided they hurt too bad to walk to Margot’s. So she grabbed a pair of Thomas’s boots—her brother was seven years younger but sported a bigger foot—and wore them beneath her dress.

As she was going out the door, her mother said, “My, aren’t you looking positively statuesque today.”

Other Info:

9,892 words

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