The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 2

† Serafina †

All night, Serafina was unable to sleep. She put it down to the logical fact that she was vampire-born and thus had spent her entire life awake during the evening into night time and asleep from early morning through to midday. It was so unnatural to go to sleep at nine in the evening, expected to rise at five in the morning.

She dared not let the thought of the letter occupy her mind. She could not fathom the hurt that would be caused when her parents read such a letter. All she could hope was that the letter drifted and became lost on its journey to her home. Or perhaps that someone other that her father read it first; maybe if someone at the hospital saw it and realised what it would do, they may stop her father from reading it.

When the sun began to rise, Serafina forced herself out of the cell and dressed in her plain black clothes, as colour was frowned upon. Once prepared for her day, with her books for today ready to pick up from the desk, she raced out of her cell and towards the mail docket, hoping to reach it before the man arrived to collect the mail. If that was possible, he may allow her to remove her letter, even if it was against the rules.

Hovering at the edge of the ambulatory, right by the docket, she danced from foot to foot to ward off the morning chill, praying that the man would arrive soon.

After a few minutes, a cart finally trundled around the corner, just beyond the gates. Serafina thanked her good fortune for his arrival, but startled when a hand landed on her shoulder. She turned, dread filling her as she found Sister Destine standing over her.

"You must get to mass," she insisted, with no hint of emotion on her face. "If you are late, it will earn you demerits, increasing your duties within the chapel."

The warning was surprising and appreciated, but Serafina could not leave. Not yet. "But he is just outside the gate," she objected, hoping for a spark of compassion or something that would suggest she cared. When she saw nothing, she protested more vehemently. "Do you not understand? The pain I will cause with such a letter cannot be undone," she warned, refusing to accept that there was nothing to be done. Glancing over her shoulder, she found the cart paused outside the gates and the man unlocking them. She was so close.

"Which was something you should have considered before writing it or placing it within the docket," Sister Destine retorted, raising an eyebrow at her, as though to question whether Serafina would argue back or not. "Now, to mass with you."

When the Sister stepped between Serafina and the gates, she knew there was going to be no getting past her. Even if Sister Destine had to physically restrain her to prevent her from getting to that letter.

Turning to the one woman standing in her way, she leaned in and growled a protest to her cruelty; "You are evil!" And, one day, she was going to do something about it. She would get her revenge if it killed her.

***

After mass, Serafina was sent straight to her first lesson in magical training. What she really wanted to do was run screaming in the hopes of finding the man who had taken her letter and beg him to return him. Instead, she used the Princess attitude that she had always adopted at Royal events to remain perfectly calm and poised.

She walked into the school room as though she belonged there, taking one of the seats set out in a circle, a little frustrated that there was no ability to show hierarchy by sitting at the front or closest to the warlock who would be teaching them.

Sister Margaret walked into the room after Serafina, followed by seven more students. She paid close attention to what she could see and hear, identifying them before they could show they knew more about her than she liked. It was inevitable that someone would try to be brave, reminding her that she was the new girl and that they had all spent weeks together already. She had to know their names and suss out their attitudes and their hierarchy before they tried to place themselves above her.