Alvina

Why couldn’t funerals be more fun? My mother had never been a dull woman. She would’ve hated this kind of boring and frankly quite medieval ritual. She had always been the centre of the party. She had a wild laugh and would make it echo throughout the old stone walls of the stronghold.

Drums and string instruments made it all sound so depressing. And she would’ve hated that.

Parties were her thing. And it was such an Andaheim thing too. Everything was celebrated with a party. Everything except funerals. This had to be depressing, for some reason.

I’d mourn my mother on my own terms and this ritual wasn’t it. Sitting in the temple, listening to the arch priestess talk about the spirits and how my mother had now joined my father and big brother in the spirit world, wasn’t ideal.

And Quinn looked utterly bored too. He was picking at his nails. If I didn’t stop him, he’d be bleeding in a minute. Blood all over his white suit.

“Quinn,” I whispered and sent him a look.

He looked up from his nails, meeting my gaze and sighed. He even added an eye-roll. But he stopped picking at his nails, nonetheless.

It was probably easier for him. This wasn’t his mum. His mum hadn’t just died and now had to suffer through the most horrific ritual in Andaheim history. Her spirit must’ve been fuming over this.

“When is the wake?” Quinn murmured, earning a cutting gaze from the arch priestess.

I ignored her. “Shouldn’t be long now,” I said, looking down at the slim, silver watch wrapped around my wrist.

“Maybe they wanna kill us too so no one has to return for a second and third royal funeral.”

I couldn’t help but snort. It was so macabre, but I couldn’t help it.

The arch priestess fell into the common prayer and we all rose to our feet, murmuring it alongside her. Everyone except Quinn. He was sending looks to a guard.

When the prayer was finished, he interlocked my arm with his and almost paraded me out of the temple and back to the royal car.

“Oh, spirits and gods, I swear if my funeral is that boring, I’ll rise from the dead and make you all do something more fun,” Quinn groaned and got comfortable on the back seat of the fancy black car.

The driver looked over her shoulder, offered me a nod and then turned on the engine. It roared to life, making the whole car shake slightly and off we went.