Page 4 of Gothikana

Corvina liked her immediately.

‘Corvina,’ she introduced herself, her voice sounding raspy in contrast to Jade’s feminine lilt.

‘Cool name. First-year?’ Jade asked, plopping down on her suitcase, her short, pale legs exposed in jeans shorts. Corvina wondered if she felt cold at all.

‘Yes. You?’ she asked, fiddling with her bracelet, the one she never took off. She knew what the other girl was seeing. A short, slight girl of questionable heritage, with slanted violet eyes, sun-kissed skin even though she rarely spent much time in the sun anymore, a nose ring, long, black hair in a fishtail braid that reached her waist, dressed in loose black pants and a thin purple sweater.

Jade chuckled. ‘Possibly. I mean, I was a first-year last year and then I ran away but then I got some sense knocked into me so I’m back. But I think I’ll probably have to repeat the year. These guys don’t have a lot of rules but the ones they do? Strict doesn’t even cover it.’

Corvina felt herself smile slightly. The girl talked more in one minute than Corvina did in an entire year.

‘This castle is so crazy. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. You should see inside, it’s even bigger than it looks from out here. You don’t talk much, do you?’ Jade asked, squinting at Corvina.

Corvina shook her head, enjoying the chatter from the other, definitely younger girl. She doubted she’d be able to get a word in anyway.

‘Cool.’ Jade nodded. ‘Wanna room with me? I am a little nosy, but mostly I’m nice. And I can give you all the juicy info here.’

God, this girlwas amazing. Corvina had never met anyone who treated her so…normally.She smiled. ‘I think I’d like that.’

‘Damn, you got a killer smile, Corvina.’ Jade grinned. ‘Can I call you Cor? You don’t mind, right?’

Corvina shrugged. She didn’t know how she felt about that. She’d always been Corvina to others. But this was a new chapter. Maybe she could be someone else, too, someone more carefree, someone more badass. ‘I don’t mind.’

Just then the doors opened and a woman almost her mother’s age with short red hair walked out, wearing a nice formal beige dress.

‘Ah, Jade.’ She greeted her new friend. ‘Good, you’re here. Corvina’ — she turned in the same beat — ‘I’m Kaylin Cross.’ She came forward, her hand extended. Corvina shook her hand, an unpleasant sort of tingle flickering in her palm at the contact.

Kaylin removed her hand and continued without a pause, ‘Please call me Kaylin. I’m the recruitment specialist here at Verenmore. I’m also your point of contact going forward. If you have any problems, my office is in the Administration Wing—’ She indicated toward the huge building she’d just exited. ‘You can find me there from nine to three every day. Jade’ — she gave the other girl a severe look — ‘don’t run off this time. You two are rooming together. Grab your luggage. Let’s walk and talk.’

Kaylin was fast. Her quick words and quick steps left little time for Corvina to do anything but grab the handle of her roll-on suitcase. She saw Jade do the same, and they followed the older woman inside the campus. Jade was right. It was vast.

Well-manicured gardens littered small sections between different wings of the castle, people milling about in a few of those. High turrets graced different towers that Corvina could see. The stone walls were spaced with arched windows and climbing vines, some blooming with roses at the bottom. Gargoyles stuck out high on the walls, masking the water gutters in a grotesque display. The top of each tower was covered with some kind of deep blue stone that contrasted with the light brown of the rest of the buildings.

It wasbreathtaking.

Corvina had never seen anything like it in her entire life. The books she’d read with castles had usually been historical romances that never had pictures. She’d only imagined, and this reality far outweighed her imagination.

‘We’re a fairly small university,’ Kaylin began, leading them around the side toward the right as Jade and Corvina dragged their luggage behind them on the cobblestoned path, the wheels making a loud sound against the stones.

A group of boys sitting on the steps outside a tower to their left came into view, their conversation stopping as all eyes fell on their group.

Corvina felt her face get warm at all the masculine gazes on her.

A natural shyness overcame her.

She’d never really interacted with men — not unless one counted the doctors — although she loved reading about them. She’d started sneaking in romance books from the library years ago to read them atnight after her mother went to bed. Her mother, even while awake, had barely spoken to Corvina outside of teaching her. Books had become her refuge, especially books with men — humans, shapeshifters, or aliens — who fell in love hard and claimed their women, body and soul. Those were her favourite.

Corvina wanted that. She wanted to belong, to be loved, to be absolutely adored, no matter what happened, despite her past. She craved it so badly in her bones, some days she thought she would die from the sheer hunger of it. There was a gnawing ache in her soul, and she desired so, so deeply. But she knew the books she read were fictional, and chances of her, of all people, finding anything remotely similar were slim.

Yet, she firmed her lips, shook off her thoughts, and gave a semblance of a smile to the boys who’d checked them out.

New beginnings, newer her.

‘Verenmore has about two thousand students, give or take a few hundred,’ Kaylin informed them, bringing her attention back, in a voice that told Corvina she’d given this exact spiel countless times before.

‘We’ve been around for more than a hundred and fifty years. The university was established to educate and uplift bright students who could otherwise not afford a conventional college education for many reasons. Every student here has come from odd circumstances. We fund as much of it as possible. Luckily, the Board has some of the most influential members of the society so thankfully our funding has always been covered. Some are alumni themselves. Some choose to give backby becoming professors here. We aren’t elite, but we’re very exclusive. You are a part of that exclusivity now.’

While Kaylin had been talking, Corvina had counted four tall towers that they had crossed. They came to a halt at the fifth tower, one at the back, and Kaylin turned to them. ‘Since Jade here already knows the room, I’ll let her guide you. There’s a welcome pack for you with a map, your schedule, and the professors you’ll have this semester. Anything else, please find me. Welcome to Verenmore.’

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