“Have you ever wondered why wakes are even worse than the actual funeral?” Quinn asked with a bit of a slurred voice. He had been looking a little too closely at the bottom of that bottle of wine in front of him.

Maybe I should follow his example, I thought to myself and poured myself a glass. “Because we have to pretend to want to entertain all these people while someone is dead?”

He cringed a little. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay. I think.” I shrugged a shoulder.

“We could go away for a bit. No one could really stop us. We could go to the Southern Isles and get some sun.” He winked at me.

My brother always knew how to cheer me up. And this time wasn’t an exception. I smiled at the image of us lounging at the beach in the Southern Isles. Though it wouldn’t be very warm there now, considering winter was just around the corner. If we really wanted heat, we should’ve gone to Kabir.

“But seriously, Al. You know I’m here for you. Always.” He held his hand out and I put mine in his, smiling. We looked nothing alike, Quinn and me. He was much darker than me and his hair wasn’t as unruly. But one thing we did share was our eyes. We’d both squint the right one slightly more than the left when we smiled.

But we were on the same wavelength. We always were. Perks of growing up together the way we had. Quinn was three days younger than me. His mother had been a servant and we shared our father. Despite Quinn being a bastard, our father had insisted we were raised together. We had done everything together from the day Quinn was born.

And I loved it. My brother was the best in the world.

“You wanna sneak out?” he asked with a mischievous smile.

I nodded and let him lead me out of the ball room. He brought the bottle too.

***

Sleep never came easily for me. It was always a battle, and more often than not, I needed something to help me sleep. Sleep root’s tea was the best. It calmed me down, silenced my head and finally let me surrender to the dark arms of the night, wanting to embrace me.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had woken up fully rested. Usually, my days wouldn’t allow me any more rest either, them being filled with tutors desperately trying to teach me something.

I was always good with the tutors. They liked me because I never said anything, and they could just drone on about whatever they wanted. It was much better that way. And then came the real education, as my mother had said. I had to learn my true strength. My strength was in knowing. Knowing when to be clever. To be silent. To be agreeable and when to be cold.

I needed that strength now with the council meeting. The council was built up by politicians; scholars who had studied at the university in other countries. They looked down on the monarchy, and especially me. Mostly because I was young. They didn’t believe in me, and they had already voiced their distaste for the fact that I hadn’t had proper education, despite the fact that I had the best tutors growing up.

But I hadn’t attended the university. Which in fairness, wasn’t my fault. I would’ve been happy to attend it, but I wasn’t allowed. It wasn’t safe for me.

This morning I could’ve used all the sleep I could get, but I barely got any. I felt sluggish and tired when I sat down by the end of the table in the council hall, a servant putting a cup of coffee in front of me. I sighed deeply and took a sip.

This day was not going to be very good.

“Your Highness, if I may offer the council’s deepest condolences.”

“Thank you.” I offered the head of the council a nod.

“We will begin preparation for the coronation. Everything must be according to tradition. I presume you know the traditions?”

Of course, I knew the traditions. Getting my crown, saying the vows, getting my arms and back tattooed, so even without the crown on my head, I wouldn’t be able to run from the responsibility of it.

“We will start immediately. As soon as possible. The people need a monarch.”

Someone at the table grunted, and my gaze swung to the offender.

“Do you disagree, Councillor Charred?”

He looked utterly bored, cleaning his nails. He sighed deeply and very slowly met my gaze, blinking lazily.

“Of course not, Your Highness.”

“Great,” I replied and turned back to Councillor Jura. “We’ll start as soon as the tattooers arrive.”

“Your Highness, we sent for them before the queen’s passing. She wanted your coronation to follow quickly after she had been laid to rest. So, they are already here.” He sent me a calm smile.

“Good work,” I said and rose to my feet. “I will leave you to it then. Unless there is more?” I scanned the faces of the five people who sat around the table. None said anything, and that meant I was free. They’d continue the meeting, but I didn’t have to sit through that. It would mostly just be about the budget or something. Something boring like that.