Luminary {Book 2 ✔️}

WHAT'S NEXT: EMINENCE

CHAPTER ONE (sneak peek):

Death makes me act weird.

Funerals are strange enough- putting a dead body six feet under covered in dirt- but mix in a bit of my relatives? Well, now that's just a good time.

It was bad enough that I barely knew half of these relatives, yet they all looked at me now as if they were expecting something from me. And, I suppose, they were.

Which is why I decided to ditch my own father's funeral.

The funeral was in Scotland and, lucky for me, the drinking age was only 18. Sneaking out of my grandmother's manor house would be quite tricky, what with all the nosy relatives pretending they gave a damn about my father milling about down the hall. I paused for a moment, thinking.

There was a window in the bedroom I was staying in... and a tree next to the window.

I glanced down at the black funeral dress I was wearing. Not ideal tree climbing wear, I'll admit, but it would do for now. Quickly, I made my way to the window and pulled it open. The freshness of Edinburgh's afternoon spring air wafted into the bedroom, filling me with a strange sense of calm.

I was halfway out of the window with one foot firmly on a branch when there was a knock at the bedroom door.

"M'lady?" a deep, accented voice asked on the other side of the door.

Recognizing the voice, I knew I had very little time if I wanted to escape the falsity of my relatives and the unnecessary pomp of the ceremony. Both feet were planted firmly on the sturdy branch, the edge of my dress tearing a little on the bark of the trunk.

"Way to ruin a perfectly good funeral dress," I grumbled to myself, poking my finger through the hole in the black tulle.

The door opened.

"My lady? Is everything-" Cedric's dark- completely silver- eyes widened as they met mine outside the window. Standing on a branch. I smiled, sheepishly. "Damn it, again?"

"I'll be back soon, I promise-"

"No, no, no," my bodyguard cut me off, moving toward the window with a speed that was certainly not human, "you are not doing this. Not again."

I grinned a little, the fresh air blew through my long hair and my eyes met Cedric's once more. My bodyguard watched in a mixture of annoyance and exasperation as I gave him a little shrug before stepping off of the branch and landing lithely on my feet.

Glancing up at the dark-haired head that was poking out of the second-story window, I noted with some interest that he was trying to follow me. His dismount from the tree was much more graceful than mine. I groaned a little but continued running toward my mom's rental car.

I closed the door just as Cedric caught up to me. He smacked the window with his palm and tried for the door handle. I rolled the window down halfway.

"Really?" I remarked, "you think I don't know how to lock a door?"

He rolled his eyes. "Princess Amaryllis, get out of the bloody car."

Growing irritated at the use of my full name, I turned the key into the ignition and shoved the gearshift into first. My ability to drive a manual was shaky at best, due to learning how to drive in the United States, but somehow I managed to get it to roll forward.

Going faster than 5 mph? Well, now that was the tricky part.

Cedric had taken to walking along the turtle-moving car, his long strides helping him keep pace. Though to be fair, an eighty-year-old grandpa could keep up with this pace. I groaned, trying to remember every lesson I'd had on driving a manual car but it was difficult to concentrate when my bodyguard was smacking his hands against the window and yelling at me. The audacity of some people.

"Get out of the car!"

"Can you shut up, please? I'm trying to concentrate!" I yelled back through the window.

Even the window couldn't disguise his disgruntled groan. I did feel bad (almost) that he was forced to put up with me. My pity for him, however, was diminished by the annoyance I felt at having to have a bodyguard in the first place.

Then, the engine stalled.

"Shit!" I slammed my hands on the wheel and rested my forehead against it in resignation. "Stupid British cars! Stupid stick shifts! Stupid, stupid-"

"My lady," he began in a calmer voice tinged with his English accent, "just... get out of the car and I'll take you to go get drunk immediately after the funeral."

I cocked an eyebrow, wondering how he knew what I planned to do once I escaped. Cedric waited, his palms on the hood of the car. His jet-black hair looked almost navy in the direct sunlight but still laid perfectly against his lightly tanned skin.

He hadn't even broken a sweat chasing after me- just one perk of being part of an ancient supernatural species.

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Hope you all decide to read along!!! And, of course, our friends from West Acres might just make some appearances (;