Rough Chapter 1 of my YA Dark Academia Fantasy set in Dystopian Greece
Ch 1
The anticipation coursing through my veins is electric. I’ve spent years serving at The Cassiuss’ parties. Catching glimpses of the ballroom while refilling glasses, collecting abandoned plates, and pretending not to stare at the floating sprite lights dancing above the velvet drapery and silk-covered tables.
The extravagance and frivolity are intoxicating, even from afar.
But tonight, for the first time, I won't be serving.
I’ll be attending.
The party today is for Ash’s graduation, well, our graduation. We both graduated, and he keeps calling it our party, but the banner strung above me says “Congratulations, Ash!”, so I think it’s clearly his party.
I don’t need to be recognized, I’m grateful to be invited. I can go to the party, but I still have to help with setup and cleanup. That’s the deal his parents worked out with Amelia, the Head of House, who oversees the Mortal Servants.
I loathe cleaning and would rather stab this fork in my eye than resign myself to this future. I can’t wait to hear back from the artisans I applied to apprentice under. They will determine my fate in life. As a mortal, that is the best I can hope for in life unless I take part in the offering, and there is a slim chance at that.
Ash convinced me to apply for the Offering and Dorean Academy with him, but unlike me, he’ll actually get chosen. His parents are Deities, the highest class in New Greece, and the Mother has always preferred sacrifices from legacy bloodlines. Girls like me aren’t chosen by gods.
“Briar!” Yells Amelia, ripping me out of my thoughts with a condescending bellow that makes me want to dump the silverware I’m currently setting out over her head instead.
For a moment, I let myself imagine the shock on her face as cutlery rains down around her, and just the image lowers my blood pressure and allows me to calmly respond, “Yes Mam”.
“What in the name of Poseidon is taking you so long? I still need you to bring in the centerpieces before you go frolicking off to pretend you’re a flood-cursed Dorean!” She huffs.
I pick up my pace, mentally calculating the remaining time until the party starts.
One hour and thirty-six minutes left. Gods, I am not going to have time to get ready with Evangeline as I’d hoped. I’ll have to fight my hair on my own. Looks like I’ll be tucking my long blonde hair into a low bun again, or maybe a braid. Oh well.
I place the last setting and run for the boxes of centerpieces. Lifting the whole thing, I practically throw the flowering decor on each table before sprinting from the room.
I all but fly up the stairs to my room and stop short at the sight of my dress laid out nicely on my bed, not in the closet where I left it, with incomprehensibly large sapphire earrings and a matching necklace perched atop an envelope in the center of my gown.
“There you are!”
I hear him before I see him. “Ash? What are you doing here?”
He steps out of the shadows of my closet, looking like a dream. His black hair is a masterpiece of perfectly placed mess, and his mismatched eyes, one a mossy jade, one as blue as the Mediterranean Sea out the window, practically sparkle with mischief against his mahogany skin. He wears his privilege with an ease that should have been annoying, but one flash of his radiant, crooked smile, and everyone falls hopelessly under his spell.
“Well… We got these fancy envelopes with the Dorean Seal stamped in wax on the back, so I wanted to open them together. I was going to give you the jewelry at the party, but I thought the full display had a bigger wow factor, and you took forever to get done setting up, so I had time to get it all perfect!” The words tumble from my best friend's mouth in a single rambling sentence as he fiddles with what look like new cuff links.
My heart drops so fast I swear it lands somewhere near my feet. My breath catches on the huge lump that just took up residence in my throat. I’m already in emotional overload about the party, but to receive our Offering acceptance… or rejection… letters on the same night. This is too much.
I back away from the white envelope like it has teeth.
“Oh come on, Briar! They don't send fancy envelopes to rejections. This is our invitation! We’re going to Dorien Academy! We’re getting magic!” He says, more calmly this time.
“You don’t know that! What if one of us gets accepted and the other doesn't? How are we supposed to party after that? And you know you are getting in, so it would be me! This is my first party, Ash! I want to enjoy this blip in time as something more than the servant I am. That envelope could ruin it!” I plead with him to understand.
He gives me a pout and stomps his foot in frustration, the spoiled, rich boy he is, breaking through for a moment before his better senses tuck it away again. Then he takes a deep breath, schooling his features and regaining his control.
“Oookkk. We can open them at the end of the night.” He relents, and I wrap him in a big hug.
“Oh, thank you for understanding! The jewelry is incredible, by the way! It matches the beads on the dress perfectly! Is your mom ok with me wearing it?” I ask, running a finger gently over the stones.
“They aren't my mom’s,” Ash replies, looking down like the tuck of his shirt just became the most interesting thing ever.
I raise my eyebrow and tilt his chin up to look at me. “Who's are they, Ash? I do not want anyone to think the Mortal is a thief.”
He looks me in the eyes and grins wildly, “Yours.”
“What?”
“Briar, they are yours! I got them for you! As a Graduation gift, you know…” He stammers.
I swear to all the ancient gods and the Mother herself, my jaw hits the floor, and I stare at him for what seems like hours, but in reality was likely seconds. “I… You… Wow!” Is all I’m able to stammer out. Instead of trying to find words anymore as tears fill my eyes, I throw my arms around him and bury my face in his shoulder.
He wraps me up in a big bear hug, and I feel his breath on my ear as he whispers, “You deserve nice things, Briar, and I know you don’t want to open it yet, but I know in my bones that we will be together at the academy next year. No doubt in my mind.” He rubs my back and holds me as I calm down.
“At least I hadn’t put my makeup on yet.” I chuckle as I wipe the tears off my cheeks. People don’t gift fine jewels to mortal servants. I’ve cleaned and organized Mrs. Cassiuss’s jewelry, but never dreamed of owning something similar.
“Ash, you shouldn’t have!” I chide.
“I don’t care one bit what class you are. Briar, you are a better person than any Dorean I’ve met, and my best friend. You deserve every good thing… Now, let's get you ready so we can go to our party!”
“It’s your party,” I reply.
“You graduated, same as me, and with better grades, might I add, you should be celebrated too.” He sets the jewelry off my dress and motions for me to get moving and put it on.
I grab the deep blue dress out of his hand and take it into the bathroom. I pull it on quickly, taking a moment to look at myself in the full-length mirror. The floor-length column gown is the nicest thing I’ve ever had on my body. The beads covering the bodice and length in a crisscross motif are heavy, and I hear them rustle as I walk.
I reach over my shoulder with one hand to zip the gown, but the zipper is just out of reach. If only my fingers were about three millimeters longer… I stretch and claw, trying to will the gap closed with my mind, grunting and grumbling in a very unladylike manner.
“Are… are you alright in there? It sounds like the dress is attacking you.” Ash asks.
“I’ve never put it on by myself before. Evangeline has always helped me.” I stick my head out from the bathroom, and I can feel the blush creeping up my cheeks.
“Can I help? We need to get going!” Ash asks uneasily.
I scrunch up my face, unhappy with the only solution I can seem to think of. “Can you zip me?”
“Zip you? I… what does that even mean?” He stammers.
“My dress… it has a zipper up the back, but my arm is too short to reach it by myself. Can you zip it… But keep your eyes closed!” I almost yell the last bit at him, realizing he isn’t a boy anymore. We have grown up. I forget that sometimes. To me, he is just Ash.
“Ummmmm, I can try.” He shrugs before he closes his eyes and sticks his arms out in front of him like he’s bracing for impact. I chuckle and grab one of the outstretched hands, guiding it to the zipper. “Now just pull up, towards the ceiling.
He does as instructed while I hold my hair out of the way.
“Is that all? Can I open my eyes now?” he asks sheepishly.
“Yes, thank you,” I reply, transfixed by the sight of us together in the mirror. Ash stands next to me in his matching sapphire suit and velvet plum bowtie. I don’t know what it is… my recent realization that he is a young man and not a boy anymore, the reality of the future closing in, or the physical contact we just shared, but… I think I might… think he’s handsome. Like, really handsome.
We lock eyes through the mirror, and as our gazes hold, heat floods my face, setting my usually pale skin red. Ash looks away, clearing his throat and messing with something on my vanity.
“Have a seat, I’ll braid your hair like when we were little, and you can do your makeup.” He says, voice gruffer than normal. Is he affected by me the same way I am by him?
I look in the mirror, spreading makeup on my face as he brushes my hair. I try to stop thinking about how good his fingers feel as they brush the strands at the base of my neck and focus on my makeup. The deep blue of the gown contrasts wonderfully with my pale skin and light blond hair. I can play that up with some dark colors, maybe a plum lip. I tell myself, this is normal, getting ready with my friend, that’s all this is… but somehow it’s so much more.
“You look beautiful tonight.” He chokes out with more emotion than the phrase warrants, as he clasps the necklace he gave me. I loop the earrings through the hole in each of my earlobes and am shocked by how heavy they are. I must make a face because he starts to stammer. “I mean… You always look beautiful, but tonight it’s…” He trails off, and we finish the sentence together, “Different.”
He takes my hand and leads me out of the room, but not before I take one final look at the ominous envelope left on my bed. I notice he must have set his next to mine because there they sit together, waiting to change our lives.