Valkyrie Rising ✓

Chapter One

It's not that I'm ungrateful, or even that I don't understand the gifts I've been given by my Viry parents: my auburn—albeit darker auburn—hair, my green eyes, my long nose.

It's just that I'm desperately miserable, and my life doesn't seem to be headed in a direction that will change my outlook. If anything, the future seems bleaker than my past.

"Nadezhda Radoslav." Asevy's shrill voice cuts off my internal narration, her use of my full name causing my molars to grind together. "Are you going to join the class, or would you prefer to spend your time out here daydreaming?"

A quick glance around catches my classmates' smug looks. Only Milo looks remotely sympathetic. Actually, he looks more bemused than anything. As if I'm a puppy caught chewing my master's shoes. Amusement patiently masking frustration.

"Well, let's go, let's go." Asevy ushers everyone through the main gate and inside the walls of the Krasavets Palace's outer courtyard. I've been here plenty of times; every Induction, all Viry invitees are welcomed into the walls of Krasavets District to celebrate our future.

Because my class will be Inducted in just under two months, we're getting the full tour today. Asevy is at the front of our little group, her long red braid bouncing against her back with each step and her ringing voice mercifully muffled as she projects it in front of her.

My heels join the others in the class, clicking a symphony across the smooth stone walkways as we head down the main strip toward the fountain in front of the main palace entrance. The Krasavets Palace was built atop the ruins of what used to a university named for some leader of the old world, and it has kept the rough shape of the area once known only as "the Quad".

James Madison. I say the name to myself, as I do whenever I think of Krasavets Palace's origin. I love how odd-sounding the old world's first names were.

The Viry crave beauty in everything, so the architecture is complex, with designs built into the brickwork of each building's facades. Any remains of the original buildings were torn down well before I was born. Still, I imagine a time in which people spent the night at school and wandered around these halls a without any reverence for the royalty that would one day step here.

"This way, this way." Asevy continues through a corridor and back into the sunshine of the inner courtyard.

Beautiful people litter the grass, lounging in the sun, chatting in small groups, a few reading quietly. With the mid-summer sunlight filtering through the small trees that have sprouted since the Third World War, this courtyard looks like an oasis. What perfect propaganda for the Viry; I can feel my classmates' excitement over the prospect of joining the royals soon.

I wonder what must be wrong with me. Beyond mild curiosity, there's nothing stirring inside me, no longing to be accepted here. Maybe because they had the chance to accept us all when we were born, and instead they threw us out, amongst the ugly of the world.

"This is the Inner Sanctum." Asevy faces us, perhaps finally realizing her voice hasn't been reaching us. "You can look forward to spending many of your days here, enjoying the beauty of each other and the natural world."

"So all Levels associate with each other here?" Vedran scans the area, his normal look of disdain deepening.

Vedran is a Kir; like Asevy, his red hair and blue eyes mark him as the highest level in our royal hierarchy of beauty.

"Housing is separated by rank, but in the Sanctum, all Levels are welcome," Asevy says. "Inside the palace, the Kir reside on the top floor, each floor level beneath corresponding to the hierarchy. The homes along the outside of the palace are for Level 5, and any Viry Helpers."