The Arranged Marriage

Chapter 9

 Eventually, I stopped crying and took a shuddering breath. I know it was foolish of me to think that this could be a normal conversation with my mom- well, as normal as telling her you're getting an arranged marriage can get- but I don't know, I thought it would go better than this.

"Kiran?" I looked up and saw Neel.

"Oh, hey!" I wiped the tears from my face as I stood up.

"What are you doing?" Neel asked, scanning my face. "Were you... crying?"

"No," I lied. "I was just... examining the floor."

"Then why are there tear streaks on your face?" Neel questioned, stepping forward.

"Because I got something in my eye," I answered. "Listen, I heard about your trial. Congrats! I'm so glad you won."

"Thanks," Neel gave me a wary smile. "But there's still more."

"Do you know what they are?" I asked. "If you do, we can get you prepared."

"I don't know," Neel grumbled. "But Ned does. Naga's telling him everything."

"What? Why?" Neel had started walking, and I followed him as he answered me.

"Obviously, they don't want me to win," Neel said. "So Ned will be able to have a head start on this."

"That's so unfair!" I complained. "Snakes always have to play dirty, don't they?"

"Guess so," Neel laughed. We reached a library and stepped inside. There were about three snakes inside, but a table at the very back was empty and had no one around it, so we walked over there. As soon as we were seated, Neel grabbed my hand and looked me in the eye.

"Kiran," he said. "Are you going to tell me what happened earlier? When I caught you crying?"

"Neel, I wasn't crying!" I lied, looking away. "Like I said, I was... uh..." Dang it. I forgot my excuse.

"You were examining the floor while you had something in your eye?" Neel said.

"Yes! Exactly that!" Why am I like this?

"Kiran, please, tell me what happened," Neel begged. "You've been here for me! Will you at least let me console you this once?"

"Neel, I... but..." Witch each word I said, Neel stared harder at me. "...Okay."

"Thank you," Neel said, sounding relieved. "So, what happened?"

I told him everything, from Ned showing up to my mom disappearing. By the end of all of this, Neel had been looking off at something thoughtfully.

"Wait." Neel blinked, then looked at me. "Your mother said that you have more power than you know about this situation. What do you think she meant?"

"I don't know," I sniffed. Actually, I hadn't even thought about that after my mother left. The only thoughts that filled my mind were how much I wished my mother could be normal, and how much I longed to have never been related to snakes, and if there were any way for me to bring my biological father back just to kill him again. But now that I thought about it, what my mother had said was pretty significant. If I could do something about this situation, maybe I would get to choose Neel over Ned without Naga interfering!

"We're in a library right now," Neel muttered. "There must be a book on this?"

"Neel, look at all the book categories," I said. "'Sneaky tricks, snake fashion, raising a snake, unlocking your snakey potential...' there's no way we'd find a book on what we need."

"Maybe we will," Neel disagreed. "'Raising a snake.' Maybe they'll have something on your snake child getting married?"

"That sounds ridiculous," I mumbled.

"Everything I say sounds ridiculous to you," Neel said, rolling his eyes. "Can we please just check it out?"

"Go ahead," I sighed, crossing my arms.

Not too long after Neel had left to find a book, he came back smiling.

"I found one," he said, plopping the book down in front of me. I reluctantly flipped through the pages and landed on one titled "Rules of a battle for one's hand: doesn't only apply to snakes."

"See?" Neel put his hands on my shoulders. "Maybe it sounded ridiculous, but it wasn't actually that bad."

"Shut up," I said, my eyes scanning the page. Okay, if I do happen to find something useful, I guess I'll say thank you. But until then, I am not about to fill this cocky prince's ego.

"Look." Neel pointed at a paragraph and started reading it. "'Although the men do have more power than the bride, the bride herself is never powerless. She can choose which contestant she would like to speak to if both seek to talk to her.' You already know that."

"Keep going," I urged him, and he did.

"'During the trials that the possible grooms face, the bride has full permission to cancel all other events and come to watch.'" Neel paused excitedly at this before continuing. "'If the bride claims to have seen either of the contestants cheating and no one has proof that she is lying, the man she speaks of automatically loses the round. And, lastly, the bride has full permission to delay any of the trials for as long as she would like.' Why would you want to do that?"

I shook my head. "We never know when that could be useful," I told him. "Anyway, this is great, Neel. Now we know the authority I have."

"I know!" Neel smiled. "Good thing we came here. Oh, and good thing I was brilliant enough to look for this."

"Yeah, yeah," I laughed. "That wasn't completely ridiculous."

I got up from my seat, and Neel walked me to my room, talking about what we'd just discovered along the way. When we reached my door, I peeked my head inside, and to my relief, no one but Poli and Kayra were in.

"Talk to you soon, Demon Prince," I said to Neel, inching my door open.

"By, Moon Girl," Neel replied, taking my hand. He leaned down to kiss it, and when he got back up, I blushed at the way he was looking at me. Oh, and at the fact that he'd just kissed my hand. "I'll see if I can figure out a way to use what we read to your advantage."

"No, Neel. You need to put energy into your own problems. Like finding out more about the trial," I said.

Neel hesitated at first but eventually nodded his agreement. "Okay, whatever you say."

Once he had left, I stepped into my room and shut the door behind me, only to be met by my two maids staring at me.

"What were you and his majesty talking about?" Kayra asked.

"Uh, just... horses," I lied. "We miss ours. Anyway, do you guys mind if I take a nap?"

"Yes, we do mind." Poli stood up. "We need to take your measurements. We're going to prepare your wedding sari, and then we need you to choose a mehndi design for your mehndi party."

"Oh." Right, I'm getting married. Which means a wedding and everything. "Okay, let's do this."