Chapter 4 ROSALIND

I gathered my things and turned without waiting for dismissal. If I had to wait one more minute while she talked me down, her face would be introduced to the wall.

The halls of the East Wing stretched wide, banners of each realm’s faction lining the walls. Lycans, Fae, Elves, Warlocks, Vampyrs, werewolves and more. The air pulsed with magic and tension and something that felt like destiny waiting to happen to everyone who stepped their foot into this place. It was surreal and I had made it here, where the best of the nine realms learned to fight and protect their own.

By the time I found the stairwell leading to the dorms, my arms were aching. I shifted one bag higher on my shoulder and silently cursed whoever designed a school this big without lifts.

“You look like you’re about to drop dead,” a voice piped up behind me.

I turned and saw a big pair of eyes staring at me.

She was tinier than me, I didn’t think that was physically possible until now, maybe up to my shoulder if she tiptoed, she had moon-pale skin, silver hair braided down her back, and ears that curved into elegant, unmistakable points.

An elf.

She blinked those big lilac eyes at me. “Are you... lost? Or just stubborn?”

I had seen elves many times at the city markets outside Rougestead, my home, but not like this, not this up close and certainly not as friendly as she seemed.

My grandmother always warned me about elves before she passed. She said they were sneaky creatures and could not be trusted; they were the biggest manipulators in the realm, and I had always managed to keep my distance until now.

“Both,” I said, regaining my composure. “I’m new, this is my wing. I’m looking for Dormitory Five.”

Her face lit up like festival lanterns. “You are ours!”

Before I could react, she threw her arms around me in a surprisingly strong hug that smelled faintly of honey and coconut.

Okay, too much physical contact.

“I’m Elsie Wood,” she declared, already grabbing one of my bags like she had been assigned as my handler. “Come on, before Ferna pounces on you from a balcony or something.”

“Is Ferna… dangerous?” I asked, concerned.

Elsie snorted. “Only emotionally. But you would love her.”

We climbed one flight of stairs, then another, and my legs begged me to rest, until she stopped at a door with a hand-painted number five and several scorch marks on the wall beside it.

When she pushed the door open, I lost all composure, my heart lurched, and I screamed.

The floor was a river. A real one or at least it looked like a real one. The water was rushing, dark and moving fast, with three crocodiles glaring up at me like I was their brunch.

My heart shot into my throat as one crocodile opened its mouth towards me. All of my bravado was reduced to nothing, and I froze so hard that one of my bags slid off my shoulder.

Elsie heaved a sigh and yelled, “Ferna! Stop with the illusions. End it!”

A voice called back, “I am protecting us from strangers who could want to come into our dorm! They could be spies!”

Oh, great, just what I needed. A psychotic dorm mate.

“She’s our roommate, you maniac! You are scaring her!”

The river vanished in an instant

In its place was a perfectly normal wooden floor, slightly scuffed, with a plush wolfskin rug that led to three separate rooms.

Footsteps padded on the wooden floor, then she appeared.

Ferna Pecker.

Beautiful didn’t even cover it. She looked like someone dipped a goddess in honey, gold, and silk. Her hair has slight streaks of pink, peach, lilac, silver, and purple, like the theme for her look was cotton candy. Her eyes were bright amber and looked golden when the rays of the sun hit her face; her smile was wide enough to qualify as a weapon.

She looked chaotic, but I had never seen chaos look so elegant, breathtaking. So coordinated.

She bounced over and enveloped me in a hug that nearly knocked the air from my lungs. “You’re finally here!”

My shitty luck. I just had to be roomed with huggers.

I blinked, wondering what she meant. “Finally?”

“Elsie and I have been waiting for you for two weeks!” she declared. “We thought maybe you had died or gotten eaten by mountain trolls or eloped with a goblin.”

Yes, this one is definitely a lunatic.

“I had to take care of something at home first,” I said, still trying to keep up.

Ferna shrugged like that was perfectly reasonable. “Good. Now you are here, and I had already decided we are going to be best friends.”

Yay me.

Elsie groaned, rolling her eyes. “You say that about everyone.”

“Yes,” Ferna said cheerfully, looping her arm through mine. “But this time, I mean it.”

I looked between the two of them, they looked harmless, kind even but I did not come to Norsen to start friendships, I was here on a mission. To get stronger so I could enact my revenge on the man that stole the sun from me. And I was not going to let anyone or anything get in my way