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The Afterlife Academy had become a strange place. I couldn’t go anywhere without being glared at or whispered about. Some classmates still blamed me for deserting them. Others saw my fractured friend group as an opportunity to get in my good graces. None of it had anything to do with me. It was all about my title. It always was...
I snapped my fingers to gain my dusk wolf’s attention and rubbed down her wings, hoping to impart power into them. “Good girl, Grey.”
She yipped at me, her red eyes flickering with warm affection. “Awroo?”
“Very good.”
With unbridled excitement, she danced around my legs, her tail waving through the air. She had endless energy, a good quality for a companion. One day, we’d bring souls to Valhalla. Just her and me, without being surrounded by all these... traitors.
An arm was swung around my shoulder and a set of flickering eyes beamed at me. “You’re doing so well, Bryn!”
I peeled Stina’s arm off of me, trying to hide my disgust. “What do you want?”
“Let’s have lunch together, just you and me.” She gestured to our other friend, Alija, who didn’t seem to be aware of anything going on around her. Stina’s smile broadened. “I feel for her, but she’s not exactly great company.”
“I’m not hungry,” I lied through gritted teeth. I wasn’t going to spend one moment with her, not after I heard her plot against me. I should have her flogged for her traitorous behaviour, but without proof, there was nothing I could do. Not here, not now.
I tapped my thigh, signalling to Grey we were done with practice. She gave me a happy lick and darted away, jumping over and into the trenches the storm left.
It would be a while before the landscape recovered from the assault, but right now, it was a visual representation of my life. Bare, with open wounds, and the potential to be restored or remade.
Stina followed me to the resurrected Barn. “Come on, let’s hang out. Just like the old days.”
I rested my hand against the wall, finding reassurance in the rough wood and the smell of dry hay. She had some nerve playing me like this. Pretending everything was fine when she was plotting behind my back. “I’m busy. Maybe another day.”
“But—”
“I said not now!”
Without waiting for a reply, I turned away. My hands balled into fists, my anger barely contained. In different times, I would’ve unleashed my fury onto her, smote her for her disobedience.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have that luxury anymore. My reputation was already hanging on a thread and any uncareful actions would sever it. Today, I was the Heir of the East. But tomorrow...?
Tomorrow could be a whole different story.
I stomped away, not even bothering to tell our professor I was leaving. She was smart, she could figure it out.
The wind brushed through my hair and nudged me in the back. There was magic in every gust, every breeze. Power that had nothing to do with politics and expectations. It was free, free to go where it wanted, free to do as it pleased.
The irony didn’t escape me.
With a sigh, I turned left to the Valkyrie dormitory. I’d only just set foot in the hallway before multiple girls flocked to me.
A girl with dark braids tugged on my arm. “Bryn! Have lunch with me!”
Another with thick glasses shoved her out of the way. “No, come have coffee with us.”
I ignored the lot and pushed through them, no doubt leaving them all disappointed. I wished they wouldn’t talk to me like that. It made it even more confusing.
My peers treated me with thinly veiled disappointment, while the younger students couldn’t see anything else but my title. That hatred and adoration, how was I supposed to reconcile them within me? How could I be everything they wanted me to be and allow myself to live too?
At this point, I was just waiting for Grandmamma’s official seal of disapproval. A simple letter that would release me from my duties.
“Hey, Brynhild.” Another Valkyrie student I didn’t know cut in front of me. Her thick glasses mixed weird colours on her pale face as she held out her hand. “I have a letter for you.”
“For me?”
Why did a random girl have my correspondence?
Hesitantly, I accepted the envelope and froze at the wax seal. There was only one person allowed to stamp their post with this. Grandmamma.
I shot the girl a grateful nod and moved past her, the letter clamped tightly against my chest. My heart was racing and my hands became clammy. I ignored everyone, my mind fixated on one thing and one thing only.
Grandmamma never wrote letters unless it was of the utmost importance. This could only mean one thing...
I thought I was ready for this message, yet now it was here, I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. This could change my entire life and everything I worked for.
Back in my room, with the door firmly locked, I allowed myself to breathe. My hand was shaking and the nerves jittered through me. Once I opened this letter, there was no turning back.
I caught a glimpse of my quacking reflection in the window, a pathetic sight. I straightened my back and slapped my own cheek. “Come on, you can do this.”
Another breath later, I ran a knife through the paper envelope to reveal an elegant letter with a not-so elegant message.
«Brynhild Beryldóttir. You are summoned to appear at the East Mansion. We will meet next week at noon.»
Great...
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I reread the message, hoping it would change. I’d seen many people being summoned and it never ended well. Never.
With a sigh, I shoved the letter in one of the desk drawers, hoping some of the incoming nausea would disappear with Grandmamma’s handwriting out of sight.
It didn’t.
There was not a place in the world where I could hide the letter without the message echoing in my head.
Summoned. Not invited or requested to join. Summoned.
That was as bad as it got. If I hadn’t been convinced she was going to disown me, I was now. Within two days, I’d no longer be the Heir of the East.
I didn’t even know if I minded...
Despite myself, I reached into the decorative vase for the pack of cigarettes. Such a terrible habit, but this was not the time to try and quit. I needed anything that helped me keep sane to get through the next days.
With a trembling hand, I rolled the wheel of the lighter until it sparked a flame. The paper of the cigarette crackled as the fire ate into it and with a relieved breath, the smoke released some of the tension in my chest.
I cracked a window and watched the smoke circle up, wishing it would take my worries with it. How had I let it come to this?
I smoked the entire cigarette and immediately lit a second one. It was bad for me, but I didn’t care. I wallowed in self-pity until someone knocked on my door and I had to waft the smoke away. While our teachers almost never came to the dormitories, I didn’t want to risk being expelled on top of being disowned.
“Who is it?” I called.
“It’s me,” a familiar voice replied.
I held back a scoff. Stina. What did she want this time?
If only I could leave her standing in the hallway, but I couldn’t. I had to pretend everything was fine, otherwise I’d never figure out what she was up to.
With a fake smile, I unlocked the door. “Hello.”
“Hey.” She waltzed in like she owned the place and plopped down on the couch. “Got any coffee?”
“No.”
“Heike is still not awake then?”
The hands in my pockets balled into secret fists. “Are you implying I can’t make my own coffee?”
She snorted. “No, I’m saying people like to serve their Heir.”
“So they do indeed,” I muttered quietly, too quiet for Stina to hear.
“What?”
“Nothing.” I sat down opposite her, trying to contain my annoyance and irritation. “What do you want?”
“I feel like I haven’t seen you around.”
Even her voice annoyed me.
I sighed. “We just saw each other in class.”
“Yeah, but we’ve not been hanging out,” she whined.
“I’ve been busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Classes. Homework.” Such pathetic excuses. “Oh. Checking up on Heike. Have you been to see her?”
Stina’s lips curled into a smile. “Every day.”
“Of course, you have.” Probably to make sure she stayed unconscious. I knew it was so she wouldn’t talk and reveal who actually ripped off her wings.
“Are you going to let me in?” Stina asked, her shrill voice laced with demands.
If only could make her shut up. Ironically, I technically had the power to do, it just wasn’t the right thing to do.
I tightened my grip on the doorknob. “No, I’ve got something I need to do.”
She seemed suspicious. “Do what?”
How dared she question me?
I summoned my most confident voice. “Heir business, Stina.”
“Oh.” She stepped backwards, the disappointment written on her face. “I guess I shouldn’t interfere with that... But you’re not skipping Afterlife Etiquette, right? Don’t make me sit through all that Banshee bullshit on my own.”
My grip tightened even more. I didn’t want her talking about Thea like that, but defending her would make her even more suspicious than she already was. If she started snooping in my business, things would go downhill quickly.
I couldn’t let her go to Afterlife Etiquette on her own, she’d rip Thea to shreds.
“Yes, I’ll see you in class,” I promised. I had no choice.