The Decision- A sequel to 'The Heir' by Keira Cass

Chapter Thirteen

Silvia's funeral was at 11 o'clock, and went for about an hour. Silvia's only immediate family was small, as both her parents had died years ago, which left her older sister, Lilian. Lilian was married to Sam, a tall lanky man with dark hair and  a beard. Their son Mickon was 23 years old and was the spitting image of both his parents. I have to admit, Mickon was kind of cute but he was way too old for me. Besides, if I allowed another person outside of the Selection to join halfway through, the public (let alone the Selected), would probably get a little mad.

     I didn't make a speech, but Mom did. The sun was shining brightly, in a rather cruel and demeaning way. Mom's speech made both Miss Marlee and Lilian cry, and their speeches did the same to Mom. There were bouquets of flowers surrounding the smooth an perfectly polished gravestone. 
    Here lies Silvia Burgundy. Loving sister, daughter, aunt and friend  Was engraved on the shiny marble, and a delicate floral border painted with gold curved around the edge of the words. I stopped paying attention to what was going on after about half an hour. I was really tired, as I had possibly received the worst nights sleep ever. To make it worse, Kile was staring at me for most of the ceremony. I was a little annoyed with him because of last night. Honestly, I thought he would understand why I didn't want to keep going. He kept coughing awkwardly and looking in my direction, trying to get my attention but I pretended I didn't see.

    As we made our way back inside the palace, Kile ran up to me and tapped me on my shoulder.    "Hey, are you ok?" He asked.
    "Yeah, I'm fine. If you don't mind I would like to go to my room, today has been a bit stressful."
    "I can imagine." There was a brief silence as we walked towards my bedroom slowly. "What did you mean when you said that you thought we don't have a future, exactly?"
    "First of all," I began. "That is not what I said, and second of all, well, I don't have a second of all but you get the idea!" I said angrily. What was it with the Woodwork children that made them think they could say whatever they wanted? I was Eadlyn Schreave, the most powerful person in the world and they thought they could do whatever they wanted. 
    "That's not fair," Kile called after me as I walked faster towards my room.
    "What's not fair, Kile?"
    "You! I have no idea where this relationship is going, and you aren't exactly helping."
    "Excuse me?"
    "You know exactly what I mean."
    "Look, Kile." I stopped walking and took a deep breath. "I don't know where this is going either. I kind of like the way things are between us, and I'm not sure I want them to change. But, the thing is I need to pick a husband, someone who I can love and work with every day, and I'm not sure if you can do that. You know, love me.
    "I get it," Kile replied, a kind of sad look on his face. "I'll see you later." I wasn't quite sure what that meant, if he was leaving by choice or if he was waiting for me to kick him out. Either way was hard for me to handle.
    When I go back to my room, I forced myself not to cry.  I wanted to be strong for Silvia, Mom and Dad, for everybody. I was the most powerful person in the world, and a stupid boy wasn't going to make my lose it. I decided to talk to Ahren about it, instead of trying to explain to Mom or Dad. Even Neena wouldn't understand.

    "Come in," Called Ahren after I gave three brief knocks on his door.
    "Hey," I said meekly. I looked around the room. Everything had been tidied by the maids and his small bag which he had taken with him when he left for France was open on his bed. "Are you leaving?"
    "Yeah, I needed to be here for a while. I stayed longer than expected though. How are things going?"
    "Alright," that was a lie. "I'm just a bit stressed." I had said that to about twelve different people in the last two days.
    "Are you sure you're ok? I can tell you're upset, Eady. You don't have to put on a brave face for me." I caved after that. The tears came in a steady flow down my cheeks as I sat down on his bed and rested my head in my hands. 
    "Nothing is ok! I'm so freaking confused, and then Silvia dies, and you're leaving! Nothing is going right." I had cried a lot lately.
    "Hey, it'll be ok. Some things are just meant to happen. Although it's sad, if someone dies, they die. You can't change that."
    "I know," I felt Ahren's arm wrap around me comfortingly. 
    "I will visit, you know. I'm not leaving forever. We can rotate Christmas, and if you come down to the south of France during the summer you could go to the beach. A private beach, of course." The thought of swimming in the warm water at the beach on beautifully golden days made me perk up a bit. Dad still hadn't gotten around to the whole pool thing. 
    "I'll still miss you, though."
    "I know, but after this you'll have someone to help you get through all of this kind of stuff. Don't feel too rushed, you can take your time you know. Don't feel as though you are obliged to keep someone or get rid of them purely on what others say or think. You deserve the best, Eady."
    "Thank you, Ahren. You always know just what to say."
    "Yeah, yeah" Ahren said mockingly. "Now, why don't you clean up a bit and go down to the Women's room to plan a date with Mom for one of the Selected for tomorrow. It will be good for her to have some distraction, and I'll see you at dinner, ok?"
    "Ok. I'll save you some cake," I said with a grin. I knew how much he loved sweets.

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Hi guys!

Sorry for the really pathetic chapter, but I have recently been bombarded with tests and exams so I haven't been able to write some decent content. I promise to up my game for the next chapter! I'm talking Kile drama, dates and some problems with the New Rebels. . . 
xo,
Leah