Scarlett made the most selfish noise I'd ever heard and stomped her foot. A moment later, she blazed from the room, bumping my shoulder as she brushed past me. I pressed my lips together and nodded to myself. This was going to be a long year.
Thankful for the solitude of the empty room, I changed into my school uniform, eager to shed the yellow dress, and stood at the window, staring over the grounds for a long moment. Mist lay lazily against the slope of Gray Mountain rising behind the school. The fast-moving clouds had thickened since the morning, and only small slivers of sunlight raced across the grass on the back lawn and disappeared over the forest. A few boys played a game on the lawn, chasing after a ball.
Something moved over the forest, stealing my gaze away from the students. A dragon arced gracefully over the treetops,then dove out of sight. A dragon from the lair out hunting, perhaps. My heart flipped. Myth would be coming here soon. I was actually going to learn to ride a dragon.
A harsh knock sounded at my door.
I hurried to open the door, worried I’d lost track of time gazing out the window and missed some important meeting. It banged open and Vanya stormed inside, followed by Camille.
“Oh, yes, this one. It's perfect,” Vanya said, marching in with her hands clasped beneath her chin. She winked at me and strode between the beds. She didn't stop until her forehead pressed against the window.
Camille stood in the doorway, a frown on her face. Her eyes flicked between me and Scarlett, who’d followed them back inside our room, then back to Vanya. “Yes, Your Highness.”
Your Highness?
Vanya was beaming. She pranced back through the small room, one hand lifted in the air. “You may bring my things in when it is convenient.”
At my confused expression, Camille said with a sigh, “Our resident princess wants this room instead of the single room. Says she must face the sun at dawn or it interferes with her religion or something.”
I glanced at my things. “Do I need to move all this?”
Vanya turned to me. “Oh, no, you’re staying. She’s going.” She pointed at Scarlett’s things.
“Whatever you say, Princess,” Camille huffed, then spun on her heel and departed, followed by Scarlett, who was jabbering about who would move her things.
In the ensuing silence, I stared at Vanya, who once again faced the window with hands on her wide hips. She glanced at me, bright smile replacing the scowl she’d worn a moment ago.
“That was easy,” she said, clapping her hands. “I will have to complain to Father though. These rooms really are dramaticallysmall.” Vanya must have noticed my crimson blush, because she chuckled, a loud, unrestrained sound so unlike the laughter of the upper-class women I’d heard on the streets or after worship services. “You look miserable, darling. What in the world is plaguing you?”
I blinked, unsure how to say it. “Should I—Your Highness—do I need to…”
Vanya strode forward, shaking her head, and grabbed my hands. “No,pleasedo not let my position cause you any discomfort.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “While I’m here, forget I’m a princess.”
My lips tugged upward on one side. “Camile won’t be forgetting.”
Vanya nodded firmly and dropped my hands. “As well she shouldn’t. That girl needs a little reminding of what rank really is. But you”—her expression softened—“needn’t worry about it. I couldn’t let that awful Scarlett torture you all year.”
I lifted my chin. “I can handle her.”
The princess flashed me a smile. “I bet you can. But life will be much more fun withmeas your room partner, roommate, whatever you call this.” She tossed her long, dark hair. “Father sent me here to make an impression as much as to learn. So you can bet I won’t be drifting by on the breeze like some puff of dandelion.”
“Do you even have to face the sun at sunrise?” I asked, testing the waters to see if she truly wanted me to treat her like an equal.
Vanya swatted the air in a dismissive way. “Camille hasn’t the faintest clue what my religion entails. I could have told her I needed to bathe in liquid gold to wash away my sins, and she would have believed me.” Shrugging, she added, “But technically, yes. My people worship the sun, though devotion in my family is more akin to a swear word than a positive trait.”
She squared her shoulders as she pranced out the door, looking once more like the poised princess. Attempting to hide my smile, I followed her into the hallway, where the curly-haired girl in our year, whose name I’d heard during room assignments was Mabel Davenport, curtsied hastily at Vanya’s appearance. Vanya blazed on by, not sparing the girl a glance.
A week ago, I’d slept piled up with my sister on a cot; now I was sharing quarters with foreign royalty. Already, my year at Cardan Lott was shaping up to be quite interesting.
Dinner passed in a blur as we ate filet mignon on gilded plates to the hum of violins in the background, apparently a tradition on the first night of the year. Headmaster Vaughan addressed us with inspiring words about excellence and honor, but the chocolate-covered strawberries stuck in my mind more than his exhortations. One of the three first-year boys in House Ruby with us was the headmaster’s son, who’d blushed nearly purple when his father had nodded at him during his speech.
In the common room after dinner, cookies rested in a pyramid on the table before the leather couches. Everyone dove for them, and I couldn’t help but smile as I bit into the soft, chocolatey cookie.
“They call them dragon scale cookies,” one of the older girls said as she watched Prescott grab five more. “They serve them every year on the first night.”
The excitement of the day had left me more tired than I’d realized. I fell asleep quickly in my dorm room, still in shock over the fact that I was officially a student at Cardan Lott College. I’d nearly forgotten Luther’s warning from earlier.
Until I woke up in the middle of the night, a blade pressed against my throat.
