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Word about the party spread around fast and it seemed the entire dormitory was looking forward to it. Maybe I should’ve limited the invites, but it was too late now. I couldn’t make anyone feel like they were left out. That would defeat the entire purpose of making me popular again.
The first Valkyrie Games task had been posted, but all the talk was about this silly event. It just showed what Wind Children students really cared about.
Not power, not sports, but drinking and frolicking.
According to the rumours I heard, this was going to be the best party in Afterlife Academy history.
I doubted it, but then again... Stina was a good party planner. She knew how to get things done and whip people into shape. A quality I always admired and even envied.
I wasn’t so sure about that now.
“Brynhild!” An unknown first-year broke from her little clique and approached me in the hallway. “C-Can I come to your party too?”
I stared at her, wishing I could refuse and call the whole thing off. I could not.
“What’s your name?” I asked. If I was going to serve my people, I better start getting to know them.
The girl bowed awkwardly. “Helga, My Heir.”
“Where are you from?”
“The west.”
I nodded. “I will see you tonight then.”
She squealed so loudly, the entire dormitory paused for a second. When they realised everything was fine, things returned to the same, bustling atmosphere.
Helga bowed again, far deeper than necessary.
I wanted to tell her to get up, but I was in no position to do that. I needed to remember who I was and the behaviour that went with it.
Without saying anything else to her, I turned away. If I had to be the Heir, then I would play my part. Obnoxious, loud, confident. I straightened my back and flicked my hair back. Just like that, I fell back in the role I’d been playing my entire life. Heir of the East.
I stomped through the dormitory, making people part ranks and get out of my way. I held my head high, refusing to look anyone in the eye. I was important and they better treated me that way.
That was the point of my life, right?
From the crowd, Stina zipped to my side. She was beaming and grinning, eager to get back in the spotlight by standing with me. Maybe I should’ve realised sooner how hungry for attention and power she was, but I hadn’t been looking. I hadn’t wanted to see.
Everything was so crystal clear now.
I was to play a part until it was my time to rule. I wasn’t a person and my personal desires and interests didn’t matter. I was merely a figure. A mascot. An icon. People would cling to me, desperate for the crumbs of fame and glory. That was the purpose of my life.
***
LIKE ANY WIND CHILDREN party, the brigade showed up early. Students from all three districts poured into my flat, bottles of wine and spirits in hand. Shoes piled up on my doormat until there physically wasn’t any more space for them. It didn’t stop anyone from taking their shoes off and leaving them in rows along the wall.
People I’d never talked to greeted me like we’d known each other for years. I just smiled and waved, my best poker face put in place. The drink I had earlier certainly helped with playing my part.
I looked around, taking in the transformation of my room. We’d pushed the communal table against the wall and it served as the bar. Glasses, napkins, some alcohol that Stina got from who knew where. There’d only been five bottles when we started, now there were more like thirty or forty. Everyone had brought their own booze, as was expected.
My three couches were packed with girls and there were even a couple of guys from other neighbouring colleges. I didn’t know how Stina managed to convince them to come, but here they were. Wind Children guys. A rare treat at an all-girl dormitory.
If all the students hadn’t found good reasons to drink, the presence of boys always did the trick.
The atmosphere was loaded and still stiff, but nothing a couple of drinks couldn’t loosen up. Soon, this party would be bustling like nobody’s business. And there was no way to escape from it.
I stared at the table with all the booze. “I need a drink.”
“I’ll get you something,” Stina quickly interjected.
I didn’t think so. I knew she had a heavy hand when it came to poison and what not. I was not leaving her alone with my glass, ever.
Instead of explaining myself, I just turned away. I didn’t need to justify myself to her. Perks of the job.
There were so many more bottles now, I couldn’t even remember which ones were ours. Then again, it didn’t matter. Anyone here would be honoured I was drinking their liquor.
I poured myself a good glass of rum or something similar, eager to take the edge off. If I was going to survive this party, I better be sloshed within the hour.
The alcohol stung as it went down my throat, but I embraced it. That was exactly what I needed. A way to forget all the things in my head that didn’t want to be forgotten.
Mamma’s ascension. Banshee sign language. Thea...
I emptied the glass and poured myself another. With my broadest smile, I turned to all the guests and heaved my glass. “A toast!”
The chatter died down and all eyes turned on me, desperate for what I was going to say. Someone else might have basked in all this attention, but it was lost on me. I wanted a quiet life, with simple things. Like drinking coffee with Thea and Bàs, unaware or undisturbed by the rest of the world. A silent life.
The awkward coughs and shuffling students brought me back to my reality. There was no quiet life for me.
So I did the only thing left to do.
“Who’s ready to party!?”