Page 18 of Kingmakers, Year Four

Sabrina shakes her head, coming back to reality.

“Come on,” she says. “We better go grab our bags, if that dickhead driver even left them for us.”

We jog back down the stairs, finding my duffle bag and Sabrina’s suitcase unceremoniously chucked on the lawn. That’s better than the alternative, so we scoop them up happily, high on the relief of not being expelled.

As we’re doing so, Chay Wagner and a tall girl with a long sheet of ash-blonde hair and dark gothic makeup come running up to us.

“What happened?” Chay cries.

“Do we need to go talk to the Chancellor?” the goth girl asks.

“No, it’s fine,” Sabrina says, already recovering her grin. “He let us off with a warning.”

“He did?” Chay says, mouth hanging open.

“I think he liked Sabrina,” I tell her.

“Likedyou?” the goth girl says, mystified. “Since when does the Chancellorlikeanybody?”

Sabrina shrugs, already bored of talking about it. “This is Nix Moroz, by the way,” she says.

“Anna Wilk,” the goth girl replies, giving me that wary and slightly repulsed look that I’m already coming to despise.

In this instance, I can’t exactly fault her. I nearly got her cousin expelled within ten minutes of meeting her.

“I’m really sorry about all this,” I say, trying to clear the air. “I’m not here to cause problems. I just want to go to class like everybody else.”

Anna sighs. “It’s Kingmakers,” she says. “Causing problemsislike everybody else. Classes are a secondary pursuit.”

“Let’s go drop your bags off before we miss dinner,” Chay says.

The older girls give us a quick tour of campus as they lead us to our dorm.

“You already saw the Keep,” Chay says. “That’s where most of your classes will be held, except for the ones in the Smithy, or the Armory, or the shooting range outside the castle walls.”

“A shooting range?” I say, perking up.

“You like to shoot?” Anna asks.

“Yeah.” I nod. “I go hunting with my dad—bow hunting, mostly. I like archery in general—target shooting, trick shots . . .”

“You’ll be good at Marksmanship, then,” Chay says.

“That’s the Armory over there,” Anna points to a low, round building west of the Keep. “That’s where all your Combat classes will be held. There’s an underground pool under the gym.”

Kingmakers is sounding better and better.

“I love swimming,” I say.

We’re walking to the north end of campus, passing a large, terraced garden fragrant with mint, basil, rosemary, and lavender. Beyond the garden, I see a tall, angular structure that can only be the Octagon Tower.

“That’s where the male Heirs have their dorms,” Chay says, confirming my guess. “And then over here—” We pass a long, stone platform surrounded by orange trees. “Here’s where we stay—the Solar.”

The Solar is smaller than the Octagon Tower, likewise bordering the north wall, with its windows looking out over the dizzying drop down the limestone cliffs to the ocean below.

The rooms are bright and airy, the furnishings in delicate shades of blue, silver, and cream. Large mirrors hang on the common room walls, reflecting the clouds and sky from the glass-paned windows.

“These were the private quarters of the Lord and Lady of the castle,” Chay explains. “So it’s the prettiest part of Kingmakers.”

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