Chosen (9781742844657) by Shayla Morgansen

Kendra and Sophia and walked with Hiroko to the front of the room. As we passed, most of the White Elm smiled encouragingly at us – they were such nice people. Standing beside Lord Gawain was Renatus. He wasn’t smiling, but he was watching me. Me . He finally wore the slightest trace of an expression – he looked thoughtful, intrigued. His irresistible violet eyes followed me. I dragged my gaze away.
    â€˜Your supervisor is Emmanuelle,’ Lady Miranda said when Hiroko and I reached her. The beautiful blonde French sorceress stepped out of the line and smilingly led us from the room. Hiroko and I followed her along with the other two girls. One of them tugged on my arm excitedly, and I recognised her as the strawberry blonde girl who had been practically drooling over Renatus in the library.
    â€˜I am so jealous!’ she whispered as we left the dining hall. ‘He was watching you – he is so, so gorgeous…’
    In the entrance hall, Emmanuelle stopped us.
    â€˜From the entrance ‘all, you can access almost every other part of the school,’ she explained, her French accent melodious and lilting. Her “th” became a z sound; she missed out the h in hall.
    â€˜The library, the dining ‘all and the ballroom, where you as students will be able to relax between classes.’ She indicated the doors to which she referred, then pointed to another one and said, ‘Through this door is the old servants’ wing, but we don’t call them that now. The ‘ouse staff still occupy this section. Students are not permitted. The staff run a laundry service – ‘ave your clothes in the ‘amper by nine in the morning to ‘ave it washed that day – and they’re very lovely, so if you need anything else, tell them.’ She gestured to the huge staircase at the end of entrance hall. ‘This leads to the second floor, which is devoted to bedrooms. Through this door,’ she nodded at the lonely door against the back wall, directly opposite the front doors, ‘is the kitchen, which is off-limits to students except in special circumstances, such as bringing a message or serving detention.’
    â€˜Hi, I’m Sterling,’ the strawberry blonde girl said to me as we followed Emmanuelle’s shimmery, wavy blonde hair up the stairs.
    â€˜I’m Aristea,’ I said, cheering up. I was still disappointed that I wasn’t with Kendra and Sophia.
    â€˜I can’t believe how hot our principal is!’ Sterling said. She was American. Hiroko, the other girl and I laughed. Even Emmanuelle glanced back in amusement. ‘Well, he is!’ Sterling added defensively. ‘I expected our principal to be old and ridiculous – not a model!’
    â€˜Renatus is not a model,’ Emmanuelle said, smiling. ‘I think ‘e would be appalled at the notion of posing for profit.’
    â€˜Doesn’t he realise how much money he could make through modelling, though?’ Sterling asked, shocked. ‘Doesn’t he know how gorgeous he is?’
    Emmanuelle thought for a moment as she waited at the top of the steps.
    â€˜I think that if a person is truly beautiful, they must not know it,’ she said slowly. ‘An attractive man who believes ‘e is attractive is less charming than a man who is attractive but doesn’t know it. Don’t you think?’
    All that did was confuse me – it didn’t really answer Sterling’s question at all, but the American girl seemed incredibly moved by this advice. She nodded eagerly.
    â€˜Did you see the colour of his eyes?’ Sterling sighed. She turned to the fourth girl. ‘Xanthe, is there something wrong with me?’
    Xanthe, I realised then, was Greek. Her colouring was considerably darker than mine, and she was taller than the rest of us. I started to feel at home here at the White Elm Academy – I had at least two nice roommates, two nice