by Emily L K
“Oh Saasha!” Cori exclaimed when she saw the cake. “Did you write that?”
“I asked Mory to teach me some letters too,” Saasha said proudly. Cori stuck her finger in the ‘t’ then licked the icing. They both laughed.
“It’s beautiful! But we can’t celebrate yet.” She spun to face everyone. “I don’t get my results until tomorrow!”
“Oh, never mind the results.” Dlores waved dismissively. “You got through your exams, and we’re proud of you!”
“Look Cori!” Dahl appeared beside her, proffering an unlabelled bottle. “The stable lads gave me some of their home brewed rum!”
“Drink it!” Saasha urged, a teasing grin on her face. Bel tsked but didn’t forbid the drink. Cori, suddenly adventurous, pulled the cork and took a swig. The rum burned down her throat and she spluttered, pressing the bottle back on Dahl promptly lifted it to his own lips.
“It tastes like piss,” she wheezed and this time Bel smacked her arm. Others laughed though, and Tarp held up another bottle, this one with an embossed label on it.
“Luckily I have something more palatable, eh?”
The celebrations went well into the night. Other servants joined them as they finished their shifts until there was over a hundred of them, spilling out of the kitchens and into the gardens. The maids brought bottles of vintage rum from the guest rooms and a resident bard who heard the commotion came down to play his songs.
Cori was exhilarated. She‘d done it. She‘d gotten through against the odds. And the best part was that she didn’t have to go back. She drank the rum and ate the food, she danced with her mother, with Saasha, with Tarp and finally with Dahl. Dahl, filled with drink, tried to kiss her, much to the amusement and jesting of the others around them, but Cori was so happy that she didn’t even care.
The following morning was a sombre affair. Kitchen hands moved tenderly, cooks leaned on their benches, and when a server set a cup of tea too forcefully on his tray, they all winced.
Cori was up early, trying to clear her head before she presented herself for her results. She washed her face and put on her school robes. Her head pounding, she stopped at the door and closed her eyes against the brightness of the kitchen.
“- Surprised it didn’t get shut down,” Tarp was saying. “The Advisor rarely allows such frivolities in his staff. I cannot remember a time when so many servants have congregated together.”
“Indeed,” Bel replied as she handed a plate of toast to the old server. “Maybe he’s not in residence.”
“If the Karalis is in residence, then the Advisor most certainly would be,” Dlores said from her bench which she leaned heavily against, making no pretenses at work.
“Oh, my head,” Saasha groaned. Cori had to agree with her sister.
THE TIME TO RECEIVE her results came much too soon, and before her head had time to recover from the night before, she found herself waiting outside the throne room. Students from every grade were there so Cori was able to loiter behind a group of third-year girls and out of sight of Olivia and her friends.
She felt ill, but at the same time, the elation she’d basked in the night before was still there. This was the final hurdle, the last time she had to see these people and listen to their cruel jests. In a few hours she could return the kitchens to sleep off her hangover, and then she would begin her training as an assistant cook. Her life was getting back on track.
Finally, the door opened and the students filed in, oldest to youngest. Cori waited in growing restlessness as the fourth-year and then the third-year students received the results for their specialist studies.
The second-year students took the longest as their results were read out, and then they were assigned a specialty. Most were placed into estate management classes, but some were given research projects on anything from border relations to dragon history. The top two students, as with the third-year class, were invited to page for the Karalis.
The Karalis was present, but he sat through the proceedings with his eyes on the garden beyond the arches. Only once did he move from his statuesque demeanour.
“My holy Karalis,” the Advisor asked at one point, his eyes never leaving his lengthy roll of parchment. The second-year students were lined before the dais, and at the Advisor’s words they each stood up straighter, a uniformly hopeful expression spread across their faces. “Will you take any of these students as your own?”
Even as he said the evidently traditional words, the Advisor’s eyes continued running down his page for the next section. It was obvious what the Karalis’ response would be, and he confirmed it with a single shake of his head. The second years, some with slumped shoulders, filed out of the room.
Cori’s class finally stepped forward. The Advisor read out their results; pass, pass with exceptional results or fail.
Being this close to the Karalis meant Cori could hear the fullness of his Hum. Mixed with her own erratic talent, they created a cacophony of noise that drove her to distraction.
Big night? The Karalis asked. The additional noise in her already fragile mind made her wince. She didn’t reply, instead reflexively pushing the noise away. He obliged her, withdrawing gently from her mind. Even his Hum seemed less pronounced, as if he quietened that as well. She attempted to send a feeling of gratitude towards him and was rewarded with a quirk at the corner of his lips. Though that may have been a trick of her mind, for it seemed that he continued to stare at the garden and had paid her no heed at all.
“Cori Cook,” the Advisor said. She forced her mind back to the task at hand. He swallowed hard, as if he didn’t want to read what was on the parchment. “Pass... With exceptional results.” He spoke the words with utter resignation and her classmates turned as one to stare at her with open disbelief. Cori didn’t blame them. How had she achieved exceptional results with her poor writing abilities? There was no possible way she could have excelled above the others. The students whispered; she blushed under their scrutiny. The Advisor finished reading the results and unrolled his parchment to the bottom.
“The two most promising students of this grade will be offered prestigious places to page for the Karalis. These positions are not to be taken lightly; they are to be approached with diligence and a willingness to submit yourself completely to the requirements of the Karalis and the House of Auksas. Exemplary grades must be maintained to be reconsidered for next year’s page selection and preliminary studies in estate management must be undertaken in addition to the set course work for a grade two student.” The Advisor stared down at his sheet of paper, his eyes glazed momentarily and Cori could see him fighting some internal battle. In a moment of dread, she knew what was coming.
“Olivia of Hale and Cori Cook.”
There was a moment of silence in which the Karalis moved his head imperceptibly towards the proceedings and Cori tried to school her expression of dismay, and then the room exploded.
“WHAT?” Olivia shouted above the clamour of the other students. There was only thirty of them in the room but their voices echoed up the hall, bouncing horridly against Cori’s aching skull. The happiness she’d felt the previous day evaporated as Olivia continued to shout. “How dare she be chosen to page! She’s a human, and a servant at that! She hasn’t even attended more than a day of school. She surely cheated on the exams to get those results!”
Is that so? The Karalis asked mildly. Cori glanced at him quickly. Perhaps if he knew she hadn’t been attending class, he wouldn’t want her to be a page, but he said nothing further. He did, however, shift on his throne. The movement was not lost on the Advisor; he had lost control of the situation and the Karalis was not impressed.
“That’s enough!” The Advisor said roughly and Olivia was abruptly silent, a petulant scowl on her face. The Advisor smoothed a hand over his oiled hair and glared at the students before him. “You do not question the decision of the House. His word is final.”
As soon as the Advisor dismissed them, Cori left. She thought sh
e could outdistance the other students but as she gained the entryway, a hand turned her roughly.
“Don’t think for a second you will keep this position,” Olivia snarled. “Once the Heads of State hear about this, you will be back in that hovel of a kitchen before you can even blink.”
Cori wrenched free, but Olivia dogged her, not finished with her torment.
“Who do you even think you are, showing your face again? You‘re base-born filth, you have no place among us. The Karalis may see you as a pet, but don’t forget who the real power is around here. When the Advisor has the backing of the States, he will dump you from this school immediately.”
Anger welled in Cori like a flame. She spun to face Olivia, stopping the other girl in her tracks.
“I’d like to see them try,” Cori hissed. She was of a height with the Hiram girl and as they stood inches apart, glaring at each other, Cori wondered if Olivia would hit her. She hoped that was the case because she wanted to hit her back.
Olivia’s eyes flicked over Cori’s shoulder and before she could wonder if the other students had arrived, Olivia dropped to her knees. Cori, still furious, rounded in time to see the Karalis gliding down the hall.
She should have fallen to her knees like Olivia. She should have at least bowed low. Instead she stood, shaking with fury from her near fight, and watched him come. Would he do anything? Certainly if the Advisor had been there, she would have been forced to the ground.
The Karalis locked eyes with her as he swept past, his gaze lingering as she watched him. Then he was gone, striding down the hall without a backwards look. He hadn’t even graced Olivia with a glance. It was over in a matter of seconds, but it had felt like a lifetime.
Olivia jerked to her knees, her expression a mixture of surprise and anger. She opened her mouth to say something, but Cori turned and stormed away before the other girl could even get to her feet.
It was after lunch when Cori arrived back and the kitchen was almost deserted. She presumed that everyone had gone down for a nap to ease their heads and stomachs. She was just about to do the same when she noticed that Saasha was still up. She made a sharp turn and headed to the workbench where her sister sat on a stool, nursing a mug of coffee.
“What happened?” Saasha asked when she saw her sister’s expression. “Did you fail?”
“No,” Cori said through gritted teeth. “I passed with exceptional results.”
“So what’s your problem?” Saasha replied. She looked vaguely over Cori’s shoulder at the greater kitchen. Cori could see a greenish tinge to her older sister’s complexion and she wondered if she was still up because she‘d been ill.
“They asked me to page for the Karalis.” This time Cori got the reaction she was looking for. Saasha’s eyes whipped to Cori’s and widened. Her mouth opened and closed, as if she couldn‘t decide what to say.
“I’ll make you a coffee,” she said finally, hopping off her stood and busying herself at the stove. Cori waited. She knew Saasha was buying time to decide what to say. They both knew that when Bel, Dlores and Tarp found out they would insist that she take the position, despite their earlier assurances that she could withdraw from the school now her exams were done.
This opportunity was too good to forgo, Cori reflected bitterly.
Saasha placed the steaming mug of coffee in Cori’s hand and climbed back on her stool. Cori took a long sip and sighed. Saasha had added cinnamon, just the way she liked it.
“You don’t have to take it,” Saasha said when Cori placed her mug on the workbench. “They’ll want you to, but if you really don’t want to go back to school then you don’t have to.”
“I know,” Cori sighed. They lapsed into silence, each consumed by her own thoughts. Cori thought back over the day. The Karalis had undeniably chosen her, but for what purpose she didn’t know. She was also beginning to wonder if he’d had anything to do with her exceptional results. She couldn’t help but feel that by offering her this position, he was pulling her closer. Perhaps it wasn’t wise to resist him. And - her anger rose again - if she declined the position she was only letting those Hiram brats win.
“I know,” she said again. Saasha surveyed her. “I know I don’t have to. But I want to, and I’m going to take it.”
Chapter Nine
Cori didn’t immediately begin page duties. Classes were stalled over the summer so the Hiram children could return home and visit their families. Some remained at the estates however, preferring to stay at the palace to indulge in the socialising that was an inevitable result of the warmer weather.
Cori stayed in the kitchens to help cater for the abundance of parties. First was the graduation ceremony in which the fourth-year students were sworn out, other pupils of exception were noted and the Karalis was asked once more, with an air of pomp and ceremony, whether he would claim any second-year students as his own to personally train through their final years of school. Cori heard all this from Dahl who had waited on the gathering. She had declined her own invitation to go.
The graduation ceremony was followed by many smaller - though no less extravagant - events in which the Heads of State congregated on the House of Auksas to meet with the Karalis. All the Heads were in residence; an unusual occurrence, Tarp had told them. Cori wondered if the topic of her own page selection had come up. The final parties of the season were those that accompanied the intake trials and ceremony. The day after these finished, Cori moved into the pages’ rooms near the Karalis’ suite.
The girls’ room was divided into four sleeping nooks that offered the inhabitant some measure of privacy. Each bed was accompanied by a wooden study desk and a chest of drawers. There were two doors in the room, one that led to a shared bathroom, and the other that came from the antechamber that connected the girls’ room to the boys’. Beyond that was a guard on the door and the main hallway to the Karalis’ receiving room.
There was one other girl there when Cori entered: a fourth-year with red curly hair and hazel eyes. The other girl sat on her bed with a book in hand and watched Cori stonily over the top of it.
Ignoring her, Cori claimed the bed closest to the door. She placed her nightgown in a drawer - already stocked with white and gold page robes - and a pen on the desk. And that was it; she was not leaving any shortcuts for Olivia to sabotage her. Satisfied, she sat at the desk and faced the room, waiting for whatever was to happen next.
“You’re the human.” The other girl spoke suddenly. She had a high voice, and she stared at Cori with such a disinterested look on her pointed face that she put Cori in mind of the Karalis.
“Cori,” Cori corrected her. The girl shrugged.
“I’m Antoni and the Advisor wants to see you.” Antoni returned to her book and Cori suppressed a sigh. She supposed it was something that the other girl would even speak to her.
She left again, pausing at the door to ask the guard where she might find the Advisor. The man pointed up the hall to the door closest to those of the Karalis’ rooms. Cori tapped lightly on it and, when the Advisor called for her to enter, she stepped inside and bowed low.
“Cori,” the Advisor said in his smooth voice. He placed the parchment he had been reading carefully on his desk. He straightened his pen before looking up at her.
“You asked for me, sir?”
“Yes. I need to give you your list of daily tasks to complete during your paging shifts.” He sifted through a stack of parchment on his left then thrust a small slip towards her. Cori took it and folded it carefully.
“Do you need me to read it for you?” He asked with a sneer.
“No thank you, sir,” she responded, straining to keep her voice polite. Oh, she was really starting to hate the Hiram race. “I can read it myself.”
She tucked the note into a pocket of her robes. She may be literate now but she was still learning and she would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her stumble on her words. She waited until she was back at her bed before pulling out the parchment again.<
br />
Cori Cook - Morning shift - Collect breakfast and clean the Karalis’ suite.
Cori flipped the note over but that was all that was on it. She shrugged to herself and stuffed the parchment back in her pocket. She knew a breakfast tray had already been delivered, so she left the room again and made her way up the hall to the Karalis’ door. Although the guards had just seen her come out of the pages’ rooms, they stopped her and demanded that she declare her business. She showed them her note and, with a knowing glance at each other, they permitted her entry.
The receiving room was empty, but it hadn’t been for long: a half-eaten breakfast tray was on a low table before a single armchair and books were spread about the room, some piled on a table, others discarded on lounge chairs and a few had even been left carelessly on the floor by the study door, waiting to be put away. With a sigh, she began stacking the books.
She was placing a cold cup of tea and an empty dish on a serving tray when the bathroom door opened and the Karalis stepped out.
“Cori!” He exclaimed. She lifted her eyes to see him framed in the doorway, shirt in hand and damp hair falling about his face. She blushed at his state of semi-undress and looked down.
“My apologies, sir,” she muttered. She placed the tray down and dropped to her knees.
“I told you not to do that,” he said irritably. She peek through her lashes as he was pulling his shirt over his head. He came towards her and as he did so he took a leather thong from his wrist and used it to tie his hair back in a tail. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you in class?”
Cori got to her feet but kept her eyes downcast. She could feel heat creeping up her neck as she realised what the Advisor had done.
“I’m cleaning,” she said, her voice even, “I was told it was my page duties.”
The Karalis’ expression went from confusion, to anger and finally to one of cold calculation. Cori felt her whole body tense to run as he took one more step towards her.