First Year (21 page)

To fifty-nine indeed.

“Can you believe it, Ry?” Ella asked me when I returned from the library, much later that night.

“You’re still up?” I asked incredulously. The bell had just sounded for the second hour into early morning.

She watched me put away my books. “I Can’t sleep.”

“I wish I suffered from your affliction,” I told her. “I am pretty sure I drifted off for half my study tonight.”

She tilted her head. “Well, it’s good to see you back at it.”

I shrugged. “I don’t have much of a choice.”

She looked at me earnestly, “Are you feeling alright, Ryiah? You didn’t seem too excited by Master Barclae’s news today—”

“I guess I’m just ready for this year to end.”

“Don’t tell me you are thinking of walking away!”

I smiled, somewhat bitterly. “I’ve made it this far. I’m going to stick it out.” I paused. “It’s funny. I arrived here knowing full well there was a good chance I would not succeed… I guess I just forgot that.”

I looked to my friend and forced a smile. A real one. “It’s okay, though, because I remember now, and I don’t plan on forgetting it again anytime soon.”

Ella shook her head vehemently. “You are too serious, Ry. You never forgot that. You just gained confidence and lost it when Priscilla knocked you down in front of our entire class.”

She began to remake the sheets on her bed as she added, “You just need some good weeks to wash away your bad one… and I, for one, think the ball will be perfect for it. We’ll have a whole night off to celebrate and feel mortal for once. And then a week to rest up! It’s just what you need to get your conviction back.”

I crawled into bed, not sharing my friend’s enthusiasm. “I hope you’re right.”

The next three weeks passed by in a sea of endless commotion, thanks in large part to the Master of the Academy’s announcement. Everyone was looking forward to a break after the grueling progress we had been making the past six months. Spirits were lifted, and despite the increasingly difficult sessions in class, the count remained at fifty-nine for better or for worse.

I had to admit that some of the cheer was contagious. As frost began to cover the field and every inch of the Academy’s campus, I started to feel better than I had in weeks. That day with Priscilla had faded away into a distant memory, and as my stamina continued to climb while others’ faltered, I grew more and more hopeful that the pattern would continue on into the new year.

In no time at all, the evening of festivities had arrived.

Ella and I had just exited our barracks, having changed out of our dirty training clothes into more presentable dress, when we caught sight of Alex running down the snowy path to greet us. It was noticeably dark, but the moon was full and gave enough light for us to cringe at the snow he was kicking up in his tracks.

“You two are never going to believe it!” he declared.

“Alex,” Ella scolded, “you just got snow all over us—”

“Just you wait!” He snatched both our arms to drag us over to the Academy doors.

“You big oaf…” Ella paused as she noticed our surroundings.

I stumbled as I took in the same, feeling as dazed and out of place as a girl from the country could.

“I told you,” Alex boasted. “I told you that you had to see it!”

All across the dark gray slabs of the Academy walls were hundreds of tiny sparkling lights twinkling down upon us.

Every inch of the school was covered in the tiny glass orbs, and they shone brilliantly across the white velvet landscape. Even the roof and rafters glowed. It was as if the entire world had been shrouded in the crystalline blue of a flame’s inner core, and then speckled in violet magenta.

It was the most breathtaking thing I had ever seen in my life.

“How did they.?”

“Alchemy,” Ruth answered from behind us.

The three of us jumped, having not noticed our study friend’s soft-footed approach.

“Master Ascillia taught us how to make the liquid glow last week. We brewed a whole batch of the stuff and handed it off to the constable’s team to bottle and string.”

Alex chuckled. “No wonder the servants were in such a foul mood.”

“Look at the trees!” Ella exclaimed beside me.

I turned and was once again overwhelmed by the startling display before me.

The trees were shining. Every pine within a hundred feet of the Academy’s walls was shrouded in the same blue and purple mist as the Academy. It was surreal.

“It’s so beautiful,” Ella said softly. She squeezed Alex’s hand. “Thank you for showing us.”

I watched as my brother turned a deep shade of red. “You would have seen it eventually,” he mumbled, averting his eyes from my knowing grin.

Ruth pushed forward, oblivious to the awkward moment between her two friends. “Let’s see what it looks like on the inside,” she urged.

We were not disappointed.

The servants had lined the sandstone walls with the same combination of lights, and with the absence of torches and the magnification of the black marble floors, I felt as though I was part of a flickering orb myself. The pattern continued all the way through to the grand atrium where the festivities were being held.

Inside the ballroom, long transparent curtains hung almost romantically from pillars at each corner of the room. Twinkling stars glittered out from the many-paned window at the center of the stairs, and the stained glass ceiling shown magnificently against the soft violet lights of scattered globes. There was much less lighting here, and it created an ethereal setting amongst the grandeur of the stairwell and its spiraling rails.

All along the back of the walls were gold-clothed tables with platters of delicacies, cider, and tea.

The entire length of our stay we’d only been offered the barest selection of dishes since first-years were not, as one of the kitchen staff had pointed out, “valuable enough to use the finer stores on.” My tongue salivated at the display. With the exception of today, the servants had been on orders to only serve the array of fresh meats and cheeses to the masters and their apprentices in the private dining room on the second floor.

“Oh, it has been far too long!” Ella announced, dragging me with her to one of the tables. There was a long line of students ahead, but it passed quickly enough with Alex, Ruth, and Clayton following shortly behind.

After our plates had been filled, the five of us sat down to eat.

“Is this what it’s like at court?” I asked. I was feeling out of place among the grandiose dress of most of the Academy students. Out of the fifty-nine first-years that remained, only a third came from backgrounds similar to my brother’s and mine. Ella and Ruth came from outlying regions rather than a full life at the capital, but they were still highborn.

Looking at Alex, I knew I was not alone. My twin was dressed in simple beige trousers with an ill-fitted jacket that was too tight for his burgeoning frame.

My own gown was a simple forest green with a cinched waist of golden thread. It was modest in comparison to the revealing corsets of the others, years behind the current trends of billowing sleeves and extravagant skirts.

When my mother had passed the dress down, I’d been overwhelmed with its grandeur. I’d been
thrilled
to have such a fine possession. Now, next to Ella’s beautiful violet dress and Priscilla’s dramatic silk, my dress was an heirloom.

It was easy to see why someone would want a life at court. The dress Priscilla wore now made her look the part of a duchess. The smooth material cascaded down her sinuous form in rivulets. It shimmered and sparkled as it moved. Delicate lace fell freely from the girl’s wrists. Even her hair was elegantly coiffed with a single gold chain wrapped gracefully around her forehead.

I sighed, envious.

Ella followed my train of sight and then cleared her throat loudly. “Thank the gods Priscilla will never be queen!”

A couple feet away the highborn turned and glared. The look of abhorrence she shot my friend was enough to melt ice.

I couldn’t help but smile. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Ella grinned. “What are friends for?”

Just then the string quartet by the stair started a new song. It was fast and jovial—something a lowborn could recognize.

My twin wasted no time in asking Ella to dance. She acquiesced most willingly. The two of them carried off onto the floor, spinning and turning in the crowd.

Others joined in too, including Ruth and Ella’s shy admirer, James. The couples continued to grow, including some faces that I didn’t recognize.

I realized after a moment that the new ones were older than the rest of us.

The apprentices had arrived.

Clayton sidled next to me. “Care to dance?”

I smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, but I never learned.”

“Now is as good a time as any.” His eyes were unusually bright. Something in them made me cringe, an unspoken question beneath the nonchalance of his request.

“Maybe after a couple more songs,” I said quickly. “I don’t think I have the courage to try it just yet.”

Clayton smiled. “I’ll be saving you a dance,” he assured me. A moment later he was gone, and I was left to myself with four half-empty plates of food.

I watched the dance play out in front of me.

“How is it that a beautiful girl finds herself alone with more food than even Sir Piers could eat?”

I started. To my right was a young man not much older than myself. He had short, curly brown hair and hazel-green eyes. They were crinkled with silent laughter.

Whether it was the festivities or my intuition, I liked the stranger immediately.

He wasn’t hard to look at either.
Not hard at all.
I felt a wave of gutsiness.

“I find myself alone,” I replied shamelessly, “because no one has captivated my interest.”

“Yes.” The stranger smiled. “I can see that…The question now is whether I have?”

“I wouldn’t know. Perhaps you should keep me company, so I can find out.”

He laughed. “Fair enough.” Taking a seat beside me, he turned to watch the dancers.

After a couple moments of silence I gave up waiting. “Are you one of the apprentice mages?”

His smile was crooked. “Yes, I’m a second-year. Are you going to ask me which faction?”

I studied him, eyeing the scar on his left cheek and the burn marks on both his palms. “Combat.”

He laughed easily. “That would make you beautiful and clever. Not too many of those here tonight.”

I swatted away his pretty words with the flip of a hand, though it was more a clumsy swipe.

He caught my wrist and leaned closer. “What is your name, girl-of-many-talents?”

I found myself staring into the young man’s eyes, unable to look away. There was something about them, something warm and safe that reminded me of flying. Whenever I had looked to Darren, the non-heir had made me feel as though I were falling, plummeting to the depths of a dark, perilous pit. This stranger made me feel reckless too, but in a fun, spirited, 
wanted
sort of way. I liked it. I liked him.

“Ryiah,” I said.

“Ryiah,” the stranger repeated. “Well, Ryiah, I am Ian.” He chuckled and let go of my hand to gesture dismissively at our surroundings. “So what do you think of the Academy? Is it everything you hoped it’d be?”

I made a face.

“I thought so.” Ian grinned. “Piers and Barclae have that effect on people.”

I glanced at him, “Was it so bad for you?”

He shivered dramatically. “It was a terrible time,” the apprentice admitted. “It usually is for lowborns. Nobody actually expects us to stay beyond the first month.” He laughed loudly. “But I made sure to prove them wrong.”

I sighed. “I am still trying.”

He grinned. “Surely you are not
that
bad.”

I snorted.

“A lot can change in the time you have left.”

“I’ve only got five more months.”

“You’d be surprised.”

I laughed. “The only way I’ll win this thing is by luck.”

“May I?”

Before I could react Ian had snatched my palm and brought it to his lips with a mischievous smile. He kissed it lightly. My insides danced.

“I have been told my kiss brings good luck,” Ian said wickedly.

I snatched my hand away, albeit regretfully. The boy was clearly the best part of my evening. “You must have kissed a lot of girls to get that kind of reputation.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t make the gesture any less sincere.”

“I—” I began, flustered. I didn’t know whether or not to take the charming flirt seriously.

”
The lady does not welcome your advances!”
 

I turned around to find Clayton glaring venomously at my new neighbor.

“Clay, it’s okay—” I began.

Clayton’s eyes never left the apprentice’s face. “You need to leave.

Now.”

“I will leave when the lady wants me to leave.” Ian’s eyes met mine.
Who is your crazy friend?
 

“Clayton,” I tried again, a tinge irritated by my friend’s overzealous approach. “I am fine, really. Ian’s intentions are harmless…”

Ian gave Clayton a wolfish smirk. “I never play at matters of the heart.”

I shot Ian a glare that he missed as Clayton turned a stormy red.

“You’d rather sit here talking to this
charmer
than dance with me?” Clayton sputtered.

“Can you really blame her?” Ian drawled. “She can’t help it if you are not that interesting.”

Tensions were growing, and I made a fast decision to leave before things became worse. I really wanted to stay and get to know Ian better, but with my overprotective friend and my brother soon to follow, it seemed best to head out before one of the boys did something stupid. Alex was levelheaded in almost everything, but his sister’s romances had never been something he took to rationally. Even if he
was
the biggest flirt I knew when it came to women.

Grabbing my cloak, I regarded my audience coolly. “You two can continue your lovely chat. I am going to get some fresh air.”

“Are you sure you don’t want company?” Ian grinned.

“I’m sure.” I wasn’t, but it was best not to let him know. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get mixed up with a flirt. Had I not watched my brother break heart after heart in Demsh’aa?