Starrlings 1: House of Fire

chapter 25

A R I

In the morning, Ari didn't bring Katja her morning coffee.

Instead, she rose at the same time as the wards who went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. She slipped in amongst their crowd, unnoticed as they trudged along the cobblestone pathways of the school. But as they approached the Old Building, Ari slipped out of the line of wards and away towards the House of Fire.

The morning air was bitingly cold already. Her school shoes were still damp from yesterday and weren't enough to keep her feet warm in autumn, let alone winter. She would need to find some money somehow to buy boots, and to make sure that Bell had a pair too. This was what was on her mind as she approached the House of Fire.

Ari had never been inside the House, but last night she'd made a trip to the library to find a particular history book of the college, which contained maps of the houses. She'd stayed up way too late, looking over the plans for the House, trying to imagine where the prince and princess of Kakaio were sleeping.

The House was square, with a large open internal garden. She'd identified the largest rooms as those looking over the canal on the back wing of the House. But as far as she could see, the only entrance was through the common room. Which meant if the Tsukasai twins were leaving for breakfast this morning, they would need to walk through the arched doorway in front of her now.

Across the street from the House of Fire was a low brick wall, and beyond that, a small cemetery. Ari perched on the wall of the cemetery, hidden mostly from view by a tree, and opened her book. From here she was just another student, studying in the morning sunshine.

The face of the House was in shade this morning, and to Ari it looked shabby. The red brick was dirty, and around the windows the stone dressing was black with grime. The arched windows were made up of small panes, some of which were filthy, while some had been replaced with new glass, suggesting that they'd been broken. Only a few years ago, the House of Fire students had been the most villified of the starrlings.

Fire students spilled out of the House in twos and threes. Now that it was the first day of class, everyone wore their school uniforms. Girls wore dark green skirts, while the boys had dark grey trousers, and they each wore starched white shirts. They had long grey socks and grey ties, and most of them wore a dark green jumper. The oldest students, in their fourth and fifth grades, wore dark grey blazers with the uniforms.

Each of the students before Ari had a gleaming gold and red pin on their chests, signalling they were a member of the House of Fire. Ari had her own pin, in silver and white.

Ari kept her focus on every student leaving the building, but she was sure she would know the prince and princess when she saw them. And sure enough, she didn't have to wait long.

Ari saw the prince first. He was Taikku Tsukasai, son of Taisun Tsukasai, and he looked the spitting image of his father, who Ari had seen in the newspaper. He had neglected the soft green jumper of the school uniform, and instead added his own black coat. His hair was glossy and black, long and held up and back in a knot, with not a single strand out of place.

Ari was struck by the sharpness of his long face; his square jaw, the angle of his cheekbones, and his deeply set eyes and thick dark brows. There seemed to be a darkness, a shadow to his face.

He was flanked by two other boys, who wore the blazers that signified they were in their fourth or fifth year at the school, but the prince walked a step in front of them.

Behind the boys was a girl with a green jumper. She had the same shiny black hair and golden skin of the Kaio. She was pretty, but compared to the prince, she was unremarkable.

As the four of them got onto the street, the prince turned to the others, and spoke. "She'll have gone to the kinnhouses to see her tiger. Take me there." His voice was smooth and dark. Ari shivered.

Ari slipped off the wall, following the four fire students at a distance as they rounded the House and took the walkway towards the field outside the fire kinnhouses.

Ari realised who the prince was talking about when they approached the field and saw the girl sitting on the fence, watching the tigers.

Now that Ari saw the princess on the fence, she had no doubt who she was.

Ari kicked herself for not realising that the girl following behind Taikku Tsukasai was not the princess, but just another student of the House of Fire. But the girl on the fence, with the impossibly long black hair, and the same cheekbones and jawline and deeply set eyes of her brother, was unmistakably the princess of Kakaio. It was in her posture on the fence. The same poise that Katja Koningssen carried herself - the straight back of a princess. It was her delicate hands, clasped in her lap. And it was in the simple gold band that held her black hair away from her face. She was royalty.

Ari lingered in the shadows cast by the House of Fire, watching the exchange, as the prince approached the princess, but her mind was racing.

Ari had been staked outside the House of Fire since the early hours of the morning, and yet she hadn't seen the princess emerge. The girl must have left her bed well before the suns rose. She had been here for hours, with the tigers in the yard.

And she didn't look happy to see her brother.

• Author's Note •

Thanks for reading!

See you next chapter!

elle xx