Chapter 5
Talisa
When my sisters and I arrived at the dining hall the next morning, a table had been set up outside the door.
We joined the queue of first-year students, and when our turn came, the fourth-year student seated behind the table asked our names, then handed us our class schedules, which included the locations of the lecture halls, classrooms, and labs in the First-Year and Second-Year Quads.
When I looked through my schedule of classes, they all sounded intimidating:
Fundamentals of Magecraft II
Intermediate Potions
Arcane Control and Channeling II
Runic Script and Arcane Languages II
History of Magic and the Dominion I
Juno and Mira had also done well on their assessments, and we would all attend the same classes except for Intermediate Potions. They hadn’t scored high enough to test out of Beginning Potions.
Inside the hall, Elio waved at us from the table he’d already claimed. He flashed me a smile that made my chest squeeze. “Talisa, good morning! I saved you and your sisters seats.”
The long table was crowded with first-years, some of whom I recognized from our meals here yesterday. All were watching me with a mixture of awe and curiosity as Mira, Juno, and I slid onto the bench beside Elio after fetching our breakfast trays from the counter in the back of the hall.
“I can’t believe you’re skipping ahead to second-year classes!
” The little red-haired girl I’d met at breakfast yesterday leaned forward eagerly.
Her Capitolan was heavily accented with Frankish.
“Apparently Mage-Instructor Mundise was overheard telling another instructor that they’ve never seen an incoming first-year test answer all the intermediate questions.
Why, you’re a second-year in all but name! ”
I stirred my porridge, uncomfortable with her admiring tone. “I still have to go to History of Magecraft and the Dominion I. It’s mandatory for all first-years.”
“Well, thank the Mother for that,” Elio commented, smiling. “At least we’ll have one class together!”
“But you’ve really been promoted to second-year classes for everything else?” the red-head persisted. Then she smiled shyly. “I’m Alara, by the way. From Arpalik in Frankia.”
“Aren’t you our neighbor in the West Tower?” Juno asked.
“Your suite is two doors down from ours, right?” Mira added.
Alara’s face lit up like a summer dawn. “I—I didn’t think you’d noticed me,” she whispered.
“Of course we noticed you!” Juno said. “You were nice to us at breakfast yesterday!”
“And we saw you sweeping the hallway yesterday afternoon.”
Alara’s pale face turned bright red. “I’m a work-study student here. My job is to clean the bathrooms and common areas in the Western Tower.”
I guessed that Alara’s family wasn’t able to afford her tuition and living expenses at the academy, so she had to work a job here to make ends meet.
If Mama can’t figure out what happened to our imperial scholarship, we’ll be the ones cleaning the dormitories next year, I thought darkly.
“These are my sisters, Mira and Juno,” I said to Alara. “We’re from Bernswick, on the Isle of Abbonay.”
“I’m pleased to meet you,” Alara said. “This is the first time I’ve ever left home, and everything is so strange here.
” She grimaced. “I didn’t advance out of any first-year classes.
I’m the first person from my village who ever showed any mage potential, so I could only answer a couple of questions on that exam.
” She sighed, then smiled at me. “You must be so smart, Talisa!”
My face went hot. “Not at all,” I protested. “But my parents are both mage-healers, so they started teaching us as soon as our powers manifested.”
“Mira and I tested out of Fundamentals of Magecraft I too,” Juno announced. “We’ll be in the second-year course with Talisa.”
Mira preened a little. “Mama always said we’re naturals with Wood magic, just like her.”
I cleared my throat. “She also always said that it’s rude to boast about yourself.”
The twins both turned identical scowls in my direction.
“Well, I didn’t test out of any first-year classes either,” Elio announced with a self-deprecating shrug.
“My magic manifested late, and my family runs an import/export business. Nothing magical. I do know how to speak four different languages well enough to negotiate. If you need to buy anything in the city, I can get you a great price.”
“Knowing how to find a good bargain is very useful,” I offered, and was rewarded with another of his smiles.
“Maybe so, but it won’t help me in Beginning Potions with Mage-Instructor Varro.” He nudged my shoulder with his. “Though now I know who to ask for help.”
The warmth in his amber eyes made my stomach flip in a way that had nothing to do with the porridge. I smiled at him, then had to look away.
Is he attracted to me, or is he just a naturally flirty person? My mirror told me that while I wasn’t ugly, I was no beauty, either.
“Are you excited?” asked a skinny, dark-haired first-year boy sitting across from us. “About the advanced classes, I mean.” He offered me a shy smile. “I’m Benno, from Vercelli in Monteleno.”
I smiled back. “I’m pleased to meet you, Benno. And yes, I’m happy I won’t have to repeat lessons for things I already know, but…”
“But now you’ll be stuck with Lord Lukhan and his friends,” finished Elio, his expression darkening.
“Exactly.” A knot of dread formed in my stomach. “So much for giving him a chance to forget about my stupid comment yesterday.”
“The aristos all hate us here,” Alara complained. “Yesterday, a third-year girl tripped me, then laughed and called me clumsy when I fell. She said my peasant blood made me ungainly.”
Others around the table nodded, sharing similar stories. One boy’s textbooks had been stolen. He’d found them dumped into the Ishkur Stormbringer fountain this morning, which stood between the library and the dining hall. Another first-year had been locked in a storage closet for hours as a prank.
“My parents warned me it’s been this way ever since the academy started accepting commoner students,” Elio said. “Even after all these years, the aristos still see this academy as their domain, and us as invaders.”
I looked around at their apprehensive faces. Some of the first-years looked looked even younger than Mira and Juno.
Like us, they’d come here brimming with hope and excitement, only to be treated like vermin for the crime of being born into the wrong families.
Hot anger unfurled in my chest.
“It’s not right,” I said, my hands clenching around my spoon. “We’ve all earned our places here, fair and square.”
“Try telling them that,” said Elio with a bitter laugh.
“What will you do?” Alara asked me, looking worried. “In your second-year classes?”
I wanted to tell her I had a brilliant plan to stand up to the aristocrats and make them respect us. But in truth, I was nervous enough having to face Lord Lukhan and Mr. Corvellan again that the porridge congealed in my stomach.
“I’ll do what I came here to do,” I said finally. “Learn everything I can, then take the certification exams at the end of sixth year to become a mage-healer like my parents.”
“And if Lord Lukhan tries to make trouble for you?” Juno demanded.
“I’ll handle it,” I said with more confidence than I felt. I added, hopefully, “He’ll probably just pretend nothing happened and ignore me.”
Mother of All, let it be so!
Elio studied me for a long moment before nodding slowly.
“Just remember you have friends here now.” His hand briefly covered mine, and a pleasant shock ran up my arm at his warm touch.
“Keep your guard up in Mage-Instructor Varro’s class.
I’ve heard he’s notorious for favoring the aristocrats, especially his nephew’s friends. ”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” I promised, as the lump in my stomach grew heavier.
“Watch your back. And your ingredients in the lab,” Benno warned. “My older brother Luca tells me that things have a way of going wrong in for commoners in that class.”
Mage-Instructor Varro’s Intermediate Potions was my first class of the day. The thought of facing Lord Lukhan and Damien Corvellan again so soon crushed what was left of my appetite.
“Thanks for the warning,” I said, and pushed away my half-finished bowl.
I couldn’t help glancing toward the center tables where the aristocratic students dined.
I spotted Lord Lukhan immediately, his perfect profile turned away from me as he held court among his admirers.
And of course, his giant golden-haired friend was sitting next to him, laughing at something Lukhan was saying.
I wished I’d never opened my mouth and made that stupid remark yesterday.
What’s done is done, I heard Mama’s brisk voice in my memory. You can’t undo, only move forward.
∞∞∞
The lecture hall for Intermediate Potions was in the Second-Year Quad of the academy. It was an imposing chamber with high, stone-vaulted ceilings and walls lined with glass-fronted cabinets containing flasks and antique distilling apparatus.
As I stepped through the arched doorway, conversation faltered. Dozens of heads turned in my direction.
As had been the case in the examination yesterday, the lecture hall was split between the aristocratic students in their emblazoned robes occupying the front rows of the lecture hall, and the commoner second-years clustered in the back, with a thick cloth rope strung between the rows of benches to mark the separation.
Neither group looked pleased to see me, a first-year interloper in their second-year class.
I froze momentarily, clutching my notebook and my copy of Mage Koveric’s Guide to Alchemical Preparations textbook to my chest like a shield.
“Are you lost, first-year?” a blonde aristocratic girl called out, her voice dripping with false concern. “The infant classes are in the next quad over.”
Several of her friends tittered behind their hands.
I squared my shoulders and ignored her. I walked down the center aisle, settling for an empty space on a bench in the commoner section. As I sat, the student next to me edged away.