House of Bone

Chapter 3

I wake up sweating, trying to calm myself down. Dreams have been haunting me recently. I check the time and see that it's nearly dawn, so I rush to get changed. Shortly afterwards I hear a knock on my door.

"Come in!" I call as I'm putting on my shoes,

The messenger from yesterday comes in, "Lady Kyra, the Empress is waiting in the dining hall."

I nod in thanks, then ask, "I never caught your name."

"Hue," he answers, looking very much like he would rather stab himself in the eye than continue this conversation.

"House?" I ask. "Or would you prefer not to say?"

"Not to say," Hue replies curtly. "Now we need to get going, we don't want the Empress to have to wait for us."

We head off to the dining hall and when we arrive I remember something, something I probably should've remembered about a flight of stairs ago.

"My luggage!" I exclaim, then add in explanation, "It's still upstairs."

"No need," Hue says. "It's been packed already."

We arrive and the Empress looks at me. "Lady Kyra, you have a choice on whether you want to go or not," she says in her loud, authoritative voice.

"I do?" I frown. "Then why put my luggage in the carriage already?"

The Empress chuckles, "Clever girl. Well come on then, we need to get you to the Institute."

"Wait.." I say slowly, several things clicking into place in my mind. "I'm going to the Institute?!"

"Yes, you're going to the Institute. There's only one."

"Why?" I ask. "The Institute is for the best of the best. I'm not exactly that..."

"The Institute isn't just for heirs to the Houses. Every so often someone sees the true scene in the test. We need them to help us with our project. You won't be in the main division but a separate one."

"What's that?" I ask again, all answers bringing me more and more questions.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you here, but I'm sure Shade or Tia will."

"And they are?"

The Empress chuckles "So many questions, so little time. This will be your last question for the ride and they will answer the rest. Tia and Shade are the other initiates who came to the Institute last year. You'll be sharing a living space with them."

"We're sharing a–" I get cut off by the Empress

"No more questions." she commands, and it's clear that's the end of the conversation.

I sigh and sit back in the chair in the carriage.

When we finally arrive at the Institute—after several hours of mind-numbing silence—we head straight to the back and around the outside of the main building.

"Where are we going?" I wonder.

"To the Institute." Empress Sorra replies, in an incredibly patronising tone.

"But we're going straight past it," I say, trying not to feel stupid.

"Let me rephrase that," she says. "We're going to the Institute of Souls."

"Institute of...Souls?" I frown, not recognizing the name.

"Yes, the main division is the Institute of Heirs, but this is the Institute of Souls. The others just refer to it as the Institute."

"Huh," I mumble to myself.

One of the royal guards lifts what looks like a manhole off the ground.

"Get in." He orders." We'll take your luggage."