Tag: Gerard

Written by Irritated Penguin

Dragon, 122

It wasn’t a long walk from the castle to the cathedral, but Gerard’s funeral procession felt long.

It was normal for rich people to pay pallbearers instead of having their family do it like normal people did, but Gavin and Gabrielle had decided they didn’t want to do that for their dad’s funeral. So Gavin, Gabrielle, Owen and Franz were carrying the casket, along with the head of Gerard’s bodyguard, Sir Pascal, and some nobleman named Bartimaeus, who was Gerard’s cousin.

The casket was made out of oak and it was heavy on Owen’s shoulder, but he knew it was heavier on Gavin and Gabrielle. The funeral was obviously a public event, so the streets were packed with people and even though the knights and city guard were keeping order, they still couldn’t exactly race to the First Church. That wasn’t how a funeral worked.

Written by Irritated Penguin

Others, 50

It was a good day to get married.

It had been a long enough betrothal, though Gabrielle knew that was stupid. Lots of people were betrothed for years and years, the fact that hers had only lasted a year and a half wasn’t such a big deal, even if she had wanted it to be shorter. She’d always liked Remin too, so the first was a good day for their future anniversary to be on.

But none of that was as important as the fact that Gabrielle was happy to be getting married. Not finally getting married or getting it over with or anything like that. It was her wedding day and she was happy.

Written by Irritated Penguin

Prince, 90

“So are you getting a new page, or are you just going to never replace Frederick out of misplaced sentimentality over someone who has literally not gone anywhere?”

Franz felt that question was phrased in a way that made it seem like he was being silly by not unnecessarily hiring another page, so he chose to ignore the wording and tone and intent of it. “I haven’t decided yet, but I don’t anticipate I’ll be hiring one,” he said. “I expect if I need one Frederick will materialize someone for me.”

“The boy becomes a wizard and you just start expecting him to pull things out of thin air,” Gabrielle said in a snort. “Typical.”

Written by Irritated Penguin

Knighthood, 83

“Listen, I get that you’re excited,” said Sir Stan, not far off from Edwin. “But this is the palace. You can’t go making an ass of yourself.”

“Right,” said Twig, nodding in a way that reminded Edwin of someone. “I promise not to make an ass of myself, sir.”

“Right. Which means that you will…”

Hearing Stan’s pause, Twig appeared to cast around for an answer. “Hunt for murderers discreetly, and with dignity.”

“No,” Stan said with a sigh. “You will hunt for murderers not at all, Twig.”

“But if I do that…” Twig said, looking at his fingers, “then the murderers will stay hidden and they’ll be able to murder someone.”

“There are no murderers.” Stan was clearly trying to sound patient. It was working about as well as Edwin’s attempts not to laugh. “Repeat after me. There are no murderers.”

“There are no murderers,” Twig repeated.

Written by Irritated Penguin

Full House

“Your parents are here,” Gavin called out.

Owen nodded, then remembered he couldn’t nod when they weren’t in the same place. “Okay, I’m coming.” He lit a match, got the barbeque going, and shut the lid. He grabbed his phone off the side table and texted Darby on his way in. Your grandparents are here, get dressed.

Then, to Greg, he sent, Grandma and grandpa are here, can you please guilt Darby into getting dressed?

As he was hitting send, he got a response from Darby. You can’t make me get dressed in my own house!

Okay. We’ll be down in a minute, said Greg.

Written by Irritated Penguin

Prince, 76

“With your entire family having migrated up here,” said Gerard, looking not at Franz but at Francis in his arms. “It’s time to decide what to do.”

“I’m buying a house for them,” Franz said. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it all figured out.”

“That isn’t what I mean, Franz.”

Franz nodded. He knew that, but he wasn’t ready to play the game his future father by law wanted to play. “You’re mistaken,” he said instead.

Gerard raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”