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"All right, I'm in."
CHAPTEREIGHT
ON ANOTHER PATH
Itug at the hem of my smart blouse, the lace collar as comfortable as a shackle around my neck.
The girl parking her two-seater speeder between a hovercraft and an antique racecar looks nothing like me. In white thigh-high socks, leather loafers and a gray pleated skirt, she almost blends in with the crowd walking away from the parking lot toward the grandiose entrance of Five.
I got in. In fact, my stepfather let me know that my entrance exam grades were so high they bumped me up to the last year of undergrad, despite my only having a grade school diploma. So long as I pass all the required tests by the end of the year, they’ll give me a bachelor’s, and I can start working on a master’s next year.
The fact that on paper my name reads Stovrj-Rhodes might have something to do with that.
Last season, I was a street rat. Now I’m a lady of Ravelyn. The clothes, the car, and the dorm suite that come with it itch like poison ivy. It almost feels like I’ve become everything I despise.
Khel and Alva are delighted with the turn of events. Me, not so much.
A lump sum so high I nearly fainted my first time seeing it gets deposited into a new account in my name every four weeks. “For expenses,” according to the duke. I funnel most of it straight through to Alva. If this farce continues for a whole year, I’ll have given over a hundred thousand golds to those in need in the undercity. I don’t need it—my meals are covered by my dorm fee, and my mother bought me an entire new wardrobe, along with electronic devices I never use and the stupid speeder that could house and feed a hundred orphan until they come of age.
“Lady Helyn!” A perfectly poised, smiling woman dressed in a formal black and green suit approaches.
I grit my teeth, unreasonably irritated by the stupid title. “It is I.”
It is I.What in the seven purgatories is happening to me?
“I’m your attaché, Madeline Highgrove.” She forces the fakest smile I’ve ever seen. “At your service.”
My attaché looks like she’s sucking on a lemon, and would rather pry off her manicured nails than stand too close to me.
“No, thanks. Services entirely unnecessary.”
She drops the smile, thank the gods. “Ma’am, I was selected by Lord Rhodes himself.”
And I don’t doubt she was perfectly charming to my stepfather when he picked her.
“I don’t need anyone licking my boots, Madeline.” Her, least of all. “I’ll manage.”
Her mouth pinches into one thin line. “You’re to be a duchess. Tradition demands…”
“I’ll clear it with Sal, don’t worry. I won’t let him know you hated my guts at first sight, no doubt because I’m common.” I might have to retract my claws and pretend I’m part of this world, but I’ll be damned if I let anyone attempt to make me feel lesser.
She blanches. “It’s a pleasure to serve the house of Rhodes. For generations, my family has—”
“And you can keep being a good little servant. Just not to me.” I leave her standing on the side walk, close to the speeder, stunned.
Maybe she believed I’d fall over, grateful and dazzled to have a demi at my beck and call. Now she knows better.
I don’t miss a few curious glances from the surrounding throng of students walking into the university. Our exchange has caught some attention, which wasn’t my goal, but I doubt the fact that the house of Rhodes gained a common as its heir is a secret.
I direct my attention to the map of the campus that arrived along with my acceptance. The main building, as majestic as one would expect the old royal keep of Vanemir to be, stands right before my eyes, in its dark, sculpted, and gilded glory.
Magnapolis is built between Flaur, Vanemir, and Anderkan, as proof of the international cooperation the city represents. The ancient castle was donated to create this school, on Vanemir ground, when the royal family decided to move their court north, closer to the Darklands.
The dorms are situated in the left wing, an addition built much later, as the simpler, wide white stone architecture attests. The modern amenities make it much more convenient, so the royal family moved there for a few hundred years, before moving north and giving the castle away to form the university. And now,it's my dorm.
The five-story building is arranged like most modern constructions: the rooms are larger on the lower floors and get smaller and smaller as you go up. The top floor used to house servants. Downstairs, the greater halls, like the throne rooms, were turned into dining rooms, guard barracks, and study halls. The second floor, where greater political meetings used to take place, is harboring three occupants: two princes and one princess.
My suite is on the third floor. The kings and queens of Vanemir used to sleep there. My room, study, and bathroom are about the size of two lanes of the undercity put together. It's ridiculous.
