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Chapter One
Locking the dorm door behind us, we start the climb toward the academy's main entrance, past the green where the first years are already running their drills, their voices loud in the cool morning air. I take a slow breath, trying to calm the first day nerves down.

"Nervous, my lady?" Effe asks, giving me that gentle, knowing smile of hers.
"A little. And drop the 'my lady,' Effe." I roll my eyes, but I can't quite keep the smile off my own face.
"See, there’s the smile!" She giggles, poking at my cheek. "Last year was so much fun. This year will be too, I promise. What's there to worry about?"
"I don't know." I dwell on the thought for a moment. "What if I don't make any friends in class this year? You've got your ripDisc buddies of course..."
"Oh, come on, you'll be fine!" She pats my back like she's swatting the worry away for me. "And you'll always have me. Besides, you could join the team this year, if you wanted. You're better than you think."
I sigh. "I'm terrible, and you know it. I am not humiliating myself in front of your friends again."
Effe laughs again, delighted at my expense, as usual.
"You're a terrible attendant, Effe," I say flatly, more than a little annoyed that my supposed best friend finds my suffering so entertaining.
She tugs at the armband on her sleeve, the one that marks her as mine. "Yeah, this thing's never fit quite right, has it?"
"Shamelessly admitting you’re useless to your own lady? You're fired. Go home." I say in the best high-lady accent I can muster.
"For the third time this month? So cruel." I don't have to look at her to know she's pouting. If I look, I'll laugh, and then I'll lose.

We're nearly to the entrance when I catch sight of a familiar shape leaning against the wall. Black hair, a glint of silver on her nose, dark blue eyes half-lidded and bored with the world. Ava. I try not to stare, but the small white clouds drifting from her lips makes that hard. StimSticks. On campus. In plain view for all to see. I still don't understand how she gets away with it, though I suppose being a princess, even a disgraced one, has its perks.

As Effe and I pass, Ava's eyes find mine and hold there. She doesn't say a word. She never does. I don't let myself breathe again until we're far past her, and only then do I realize I'd stopped in the first place.

The entrance hall opens up ahead of us in all its grandeur, tall glass and steel and a large green tree crest of Earth carved above the doors, flags representing each of the inner-planet alliance lining the walkway. Somewhere beyond it all is a holoBoard with my name on it, waiting to tell me who I'll be spending the next year of my life sitting next to.

Entering the atrium, Effe and I are swallowed by a sea of white uniforms and chatter loud enough to drown out thought entirely. Effe grins and grabs my hand, tugging me through the crowd toward the holoBoard, weaving us past a giant third-year whose forearms are a road map of dueling scars. She pulls us in close enough that the floating board catches our academy tags and with a blink, projects our names in cool blue light.

Class 237.

I sigh. "Great. Second floor. That's going to be a whole thing every morning."
"You're so lazy," Effe teases, eyes mischievous with an idea I can already hate. "You know what? I think we should take the stairs."
"I knew you were going to say that." I groan, but let her drag me toward the stairwell anyway, because some battles aren't worth fighting before lunch.

***

My heart stutters the moment I step through the classroom door. She's in our class? The ice queen herself? There's no mistaking that hair, pale as moonlight, the mark of high-nobility, loose over one shoulder brushing past a black cord that denotes her rank as student commander. Her eyes catch the window light like polished rubies. Alice Brighton. The moon’s first princess. Sharing a classroom with the rest of us lesser beings.

She's tucked into the back corner with only her attendant beside her, her attention fixed entirely on her dataPad, and I understand in an instant that every rumor I've ever heard about her is true. The cold radiates off her even from here, an aura so absolute I can almost picture what would happen if I tried to cross it, freezing solid three steps in like a soldier on Pluto.

"You're staring," Effe whispers, tugging my sleeve.
My cheeks warm slightly and the spell breaks. "Huh? No I wasn't," I lie, badly, and let her lead me to a pair of empty desks by the window.

Effe drops into her seat with a happy little flop, but I can't stop myself from glancing back. Alice looks so lonely back there, walled in behind her dataPad. Is it a shield? I don't know why, but the thought bothers me.

"One sec, Effe. I'll be right back," I say, setting my bag down before I can talk myself out of it.
"Oh. uh, okay..." Effe blinks, watching with clear concern as I trudge across the room like I'm walking into a snowdrift.

Alice's eyes never leave her dataPad. It's her attendant, a blonde earthborn woman with wire glasses, green eyes, and the jittery energy of someone defusing a landmine who speaks first. "D-did you need something?"

I give her the warmest smile I can muster amidst the cold aura, hoping to put the poor woman at ease. "No, nothing like that. I just wanted to introduce myself." I perform a low curtsy, hoping that manners might be enough to earn a look from Alice. "Jemma Tel Calloris."

The attendant shoots to her feet so fast she bangs both knees on the underside of the desk. "Ow!" She winces through it and folds into a hasty curtsy of her own. "Phoebe Tel Brighton! Pleasure to meet you. And my lady would–"

"That's enough, Phoebe. I'm capable of introducing myself." Alice's voice cuts in, smooth and as unhurried as poured silk, making the reprimand sound almost gentle. Phoebe quickly sits back down looking like a scolded puppy. Alice sets the dataPad down at last, and, because a noble of her standing curtsies to no one, simply lifts her gaze to mine. "Alice Sel Brighton."

Caught off guard by her gaze, my greeting comes out embarrassingly clumsy. "Um. Pleasure to meet you, Madam. And you as well, Phoebe."

Alice smirks slightly, looking faintly amused, like there was a joke only she heard. This close, her eyes aren't rubies at all. They're dark pools of something rich and red, unsettling in the way all moon-born eyes are. A little too much like the old vampire stories Earth used to tell before we conquered the stars. 

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Ms. Calloris?" Alice asks, gesturing between us as though inviting me to explain myself.
And just like that, I feel like an idiot. I had no real reason to come over here. What was I even going to say? Oh, I thought you looked lonely?
"I... uh..." I fumble, heat crawling up my neck.

Ding... ding... ding...

Thank every god listening. The intercom chimes overhead and relief floods through me so fast I nearly sway on my feet. I drop a hasty curtsy, and Alice actually chuckles, clearly amused. I'm sure she caught exactly how relieved I looked.

"Until next time then." I manage, and practically flee back to my seat.

Effe gives me a look somewhere between confused and suspicious. "What was that about?"

"I just... wanted to say hi." I offer a sheepish smile. She doesn't buy it for a second, but the professor sweeps in before she can press me, and we all rise to our feet as the first lecture of the year begins.

***

Alice stands at the front of the room to deliver the closing remarks as the day winds down. The usual first day of class stuff. Club sign-ups, duty rosters, upcoming assignments. Then comes the last one.

"Cadet Jemma Tel Calloris. Please remain after class."

My stomach drops straight through the floor. She isn't even looking at me when she says it. Is this about earlier? Did I do something? My mind spins through every possibility at once, none of them good.

"Dismissed."

We snap to salute, and the room begins to empty in a slow shuffle of white blazers. Effe lingers at my side, worry written plainly across her face. "What did you do?" she whispers.

"I have no idea," I say, and I mean it, as the pit in my stomach grows.

Time seems to stretch thin as the classroom empties, until it's just the four of us left. Myself, Effe, Phoebe, and Alice.

"Attendants, you're dismissed," Alice says.

Phoebe and Effe trade a glance, both of them looking between me and Alice like they're trying to figure out exactly how worried to be. My hands start to tremble. Effe gives me one last sympathetic look before bowing, the commoner's bow, low and respectful, and following Phoebe out the door.

"Um. What can I do for you, Madam?" I ask, trying to ignore the shake in my voice.

Alice says nothing at first. She simply crosses the room toward me, unhurried, that same faint smirk playing at her lips, and my breath catches as she steps well inside the distance polite company allows.

"Attention, Cadet Calloris." she murmurs, eyes tracing down the length of me and back up again.

I straighten on instinct, fists at my sides, eyes forward, as she begins a slow circle around me like she's inspecting me for flaws.

My heart drums against my ribs. I can feel her at my back before I can see her, those unsettling red eyes somewhere just behind my shoulder. Then a sharp sting at my ear pulls a wince out of me before I can stop it.

"Earrings are against regulation." Her breath brushes against my ear, how is she standing that close? Every hair on my arms rises in protest.
"And your skirt is too short." The words land in my other ear this time, and I don't understand any of this. Warmth creeps into my cheek as she drags her nails along my thigh just below the hem of my skirt. 

Half the cadets in this class hem their skirts. A third of them wear earrings. Why me? Because I said hello? Why is she touching me like this? The questions circle faster than I can catch them, and my hands won't stop shaking.
Then she's in front of me again, wearing that smirk that's rapidly becoming the most infuriating thing I've ever seen.
"Take out the earrings. Fix the skirt. Starting tomorrow. Am I understood, Cadet? You may speak."

I hate how pleased she looks. I hate that she's decided, all on her own, that the rules apply to me and me alone. I hate her red eyes and her title and her black cord and her smirk and her voice and–
"Why?" I hear myself say before I've decided to say it.
"Why?" The smirk deepens, edging closer to delight. She reaches out, trailing one finger from my earring down along my jaw, tipping my chin up until I have no choice but to meet her eyes. My breath catches in my throat. "Because those are the rules. Do the rules not apply to you, Jemma?"

Jemma. Since when are we on a first-name basis? Fire builds in my chest and I can’t keep it in anymore.
"Well, Alice—" I start to hiss, and then the air leaves my lungs in one violent rush.

"Guh!" My knees buckle and I double over, gasping. Through tear-blurred eyes I see her smiling down at me, hand still curled around the hilt of her phaseBlade. She'd driven the pommel straight into my sternum without so much as blinking.

"Oh dear. Are you alright, Jemma? You seem to have slipped." Her voice is honey sweet, and she looks entirely too satisfied with herself as she offers me her hand. "Come now. I believe I asked you a question."

I catch my breath and take the hand, knowing I don’t really have a choice in the matter. She pulls me up, and I lean gratefully against my desk for half a second, then,
"Oh, no. That won't do. Back to attention."

You have got to be kidding me. I sigh and force myself upright again.
"Now. I believe I asked whether the rules apply to you, Jemma."
Deciding the fastest way out of this room is simply to give her what she wants, I say, as flatly as I can manage, "Yes. Of course they do, Madam."

She flicks the earring, and I wince again.
"So they'll be gone tomorrow?"
"Yes, Madam."
She steps closer, then her knee slides between my thighs, and my whole body goes rigid.
"Wha—" My eyes go wide.
"And the skirt. You'll fix that too?" She tips my chin again, nails dragging feather-light down my throat.
"Y-yes, Madam," I stammer, feeling my cheeks prickle and knowing they are scarlet.
"Good girl." The words come out like a purr, warm and low, and something about them sticks in my chest making my heart race. I try desperately to ignore it. She steps back, turning on her heel as though the last five minutes simply didn't happen. "Dismissed. See that you correct yourself, Cadet Calloris."

And then she's gone, out the door, leaving me standing alone in an empty classroom with the ghost of her breath still on my ear and her nails still tracing lines on my thigh.
"What the fuck..." I mutter, mostly to the empty classroom air.
"What the fuck!" It comes out louder the second time, and I kick my desk hard enough to sting my toes through my boot, which does absolutely nothing except make me look unhinged to no one in particular.

I storm into the hall, my mind a mess of humiliation and confusion and something infuriating sitting in my chest. Effe is there waiting, propped against the wall, and she straightens the moment she sees my face.
"Jemma! Are you okay? What happened?"

I shake my head, because I genuinely don't know where I'd even start. She hit me with a phaseBlade pommel and called me a good girl is not a sentence I'm ready to say out loud, not even to Effe.

"Later, Jemma... right now I just…" I press my palms against my eyes for a second, willing my pulse to slow down. "Give me a minute, okay? And shouldn't you be at ripDisc practice?"
Her expression falls, just slightly, and guilt stabs through me for redirecting instead of answering. "Well... yeah, but I was worried about you."

I force a smile. She sees straight through it, of course, as she always does. A lifetime of friendship doesn't leave much room for convincing lies. "I'm fine. Really. We'll talk later, I promise. Go to practice. You being late on the first day looks bad on me, you know?"

Effe hesitates, clearly weighing whether to push. "Okay... it's a promise, though. You're not getting out of it."
"Cross my heart."

She pulls me into a quick hug before jogging off toward the leisure wing, giving one last glance over her shoulder. And for a second I almost call her back, almost don't let her go, because the warmth of my friend’s arms around me settles something in my chest that I hadn't realized had come completely undone.

I stand there in the empty corridor a moment longer, fingers rubbing against my sternum where a pommel shaped bruise still throbs beneath my blazer, and try to convince myself that whatever just happened in that classroom is a one-time thing.
I almost believe it.