Chapter 6-The hierarchy

Chapter 6: 6-The hierarchy

The silence lingered for only a few more breaths. For several breaths, nobody moved inside the student council hall.

Then, as though an unspoken command had been issued, the silence shattered. Varitreya was the first to move, getting up from her chair.

The whiteblood princess, Varitreya, lowered the hand pressed against her chest, every trace of emotion disappearing behind the practiced mask of a future ruler. If not for the faint rise and fall of her breathing, Maisa would have believed the heartbeat had never happened at all.

Without another word, she turned on her heel. The heavy cape draped over her shoulders swept across the polished floor like flowing moonlight as she strode toward a side door.

She never once looked back. She didn’t look at the other members of council or even at the new vampire who had made her dead heart beat. The rejection stung far more than Maisa expected.

Addessa recovered next. The Blackblood heiress looked as though someone had personally insulted every ancestor in her family.

Her crimson eyes were fixed on Maisa with naked disbelief before they narrowed into hatred. Maisa was not just new, she was a redblood and that I her book was unworthy of standing in a room with her, let alone become her mate.

That instant that her heart reacted to Maisa felt like fate was betraying her. It was disgracing her by choosing Maisa as her mate.

"This is impossible," she said through clenched teeth. Her nails dug so deeply into the council table that another loud crack echoed through the chamber.

She abruptly released it, spun around and stalked after Varitreya.

Unlike the princess, Addessa glanced back once. Her eyes held no longing or affection. It was plain accusation as if she was blaming Maisa for a fate neither of them had chosen.

The look alone made Maisa’s stomach twist. She opened her mouth but no words came out. She couldn’t explain that it wasn’t her doing.

Lumi was slower to react that the two vampires. The Blueblood prodigy remained seated, her brilliant mind visibly racing faster than anyone else’s.

She wasn’t looking at Maisa anymore. She was staring into space and trying her hardest to connect facts, ancient laws and half forgotten myths. She whispered to herself under her breath.

"No record... No historical precedent... it shouldn’t exist," Her breathing quickened.

Then she abruptly stood, nearly knocking over the stack of books beside her. "I need the archives."

The words escaped before she realized she’d spoken aloud. She gathered her notes almost frantically and hurried from the chamber, disappearing down the corridor without another explanation.

The last person remaining was Zolani. The Mixedblood stood frozen near the window. Unlike the others, she wasn’t trying to deny the bond. She simply looked... overwhelmed.

Her eyes met Maisa’s one final time. There was no disgust or superiority, she didn’t have the bone for it when she was at the bottom of the ladder too. It was surprising the superior bloods gave their blood a voice with her as a member of the student council.

She opened her mouth as if wanting to say something, anything. To welcome her, apologize for the other vampires rude behaviour or warn her about how hard her life was going to be as a weak redblood. But before the words could leave her lips, she caught herself.

Her eyes flickered toward the closed doors where the other three had already disappeared. She lowered her head.

She had worked hard to earn a place at the table with a royal whiteblood, a high noble blackblood and a lower-rank noble blueblood when she was just a commoner, she wasn’t jeopardising that for a new vampire.

"I’m..." Her voice barely existed. "...sorry."

For what? Maisa didn’t know.

Perhaps for leaving or for being too afraid to stay, Zolani couldn’t name why she apologized. She gave a tiny bow before quietly following the others, leaving the council chamber empty.

The enormous doors closed with a deep, echoing thud and just like that, they were gone. They gave no explanation, no welcome to the new vampire or give her rules of the school. They just left in silence.

Kriza blinked once, twice. Then looked at the empty doorway. "What..." she paused and looked at Maisa then back at the door. "...just happened?"

Maisa wished she knew. "I..." She swallowed. Hard. "I don’t know."

She was new. She still didn’t know the in and outs of the school so she couldn’t really understand why the vampires left but she had inkling it had something to do with the awakening.

Kriza scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "I’ve never..." She laughed nervously. "I’ve literally never seen the student council leave a meeting that they thenselves launched on the headmistresses request."

Neither had Maisa although technically, she had never seen a student council before tonight so her opinion didn’t count.

Kriza cleared her throat. "Well..." She clapped once. "I guess..." She looked around the empty office. "...orientation is my job now?"

The attempt at humor eased the suffocating atmosphere just enough for Maisa to breathe again.

"Come on," Kriza smiled. "I’ll show you your dorm."

The academy felt very different outside the council hall. Students walked through the corridors chatting with friends.

Some hurried toward classrooms while others sat beneath enchanted moon lamps reading books. It looked almost normal. Which somehow made everything inside the council chamber feel even stranger.

Kriza led the way down countless staircases. "You’ll get lost for the first month. Everyone does."

Maisa managed a weak smile. "I believe you. The school is massive."

"The academy is divided according to bloodline," Kriza pointed toward the highest towers visible through the stained-glass windows in the northern part of the academy. "Those belong to the whitebloods."

Maisa followed her gaze. "They live... up there?"

Kriza nodded. "No one else does. Not that it’s fair since they’re only two whitebloods in the school."

Maisa looked up at the towers again. They were massive and four in number. They could house two to three villages and they were used to house in two students. How rich are the vampires? She wondered.

"And the Blackbloods?" She asked.

"The western tower," Kriza pointed to the west. It was only one tower but the body was massive, one was the size of two of the towers allocated to whitebloods.

"The Bluebloods are located in the eastern halls," Kriza made a gesture and pointed in the Eastern direction.

Maisa looked around. The eastern halls looked like a big building with different units inside. The size was double the of the housing areas for both the whitebloods and blackbloods. And with just one look, Maisa could tell it was because of the number of students and not superiority.

"As for the mixed bloods, they have their own residence closer to the southern gardens. Each resident houses twenty students," she said. "There are more mixed bloods than other bloodlines, commoners do have a tendency to crowd places, even a school as prestigious as Veris Academy," she spoke with a little disdain.

Kriza’s expression became sympathetic. "And Redbloods..." She pointed toward a much smaller building near the outer wall. "...stay closest to the academy gates."

Maisa understood immediately. The lowest rank were placed closest to the exit and furthest from everyone important. Exactly where society believed they belonged.