Illicit Love

Chapter 23

*Tom's POV*

"Mom?" I questioned.

"This marriage isn't right." she said. "These two do not love each other. It's clear."

"Nikki." Z's father hissed.

"Oh shut up." she replied.

I was simply surprised that Y/N spoke out and started a chain, but I never expected Mother to finish it.

"These two were forced to get married because of the King of France and me. I knew that they didn't want to get married and saw how hard they tried to stop this wedding, but my selfish reasons kept this going. I didn't want to disappoint anyone or show that I was weak, but it is clear that this is what is happening in this moment. The truth is, our kingdom is suffering. We are losing money and are close to a large food shortage. I arranged this wedding so that we could gain some help. Even when Tom mentioned ways to fix this, I ignored him. I made some mistakes, but I want to fix them. This wedding will not be happening now, nor will it ever." Mother finished.

"Nikki, this is a big mistake. I suggest you continue this wedding if you don't want to go to war." Z's Father hissed.

*Zendaya's POV*

"That's enough Father!" I shouted. "All you care about is your pride. You said that you always wanted me to be happy, but that changed the moment Mom died. Have you ever once considered that I loved someone else? Of course not. You don't care about me one bit. All you care about is your money." Tears were in my eyes.

"Sweetie." Father sighed.

"No, Father. We will not be going to war. As the next queen, I declare that we shall not be doing anything of the sort and if you don't agree then you don't have to be part of my kingdom." I stated.

Everyone had a surprised look on their faces, but I didn't care. I was tired of letting him rule my life, it was my turn.

The sigh of defeat was all that I needed to hear to know that I won.

"So what happens now?' I asked.

"That will be left up to the future king of England." Nikki answered. "It's time we allowed him to make his own decisions."

*Tom's POV*

It took me a few moments, but I finally found my voice.

"Well in that case, as to the problems with financial and food shortage, we will open up our old trade route to make some extra money and start trading wool with Harrison's kingdom for food. We will also have our gardeners start our own garden to distribute across the kingdom." I said.

"Is that all?" Father asked.

"I also want the wedding rescheduled for next Saturday."

"What?" Mother asked.

"Except this will be different. I want a double wedding. Princess Zendaya will be getting married to Nathaniel and I to Y/N."

"But that's against customs." Z's father said.

"Well it's time for a change, don't you think?"

After these decisions were made, everyone went their separate ways. There was planning to happen after all. Y/N, Haz, Harry, Sam, Z, Paddy, Nathaniel and I went to my room to talk.

"Thank you so much your majesty." Nathaniel praised. "Without you, I wouldn't have the love of my life.

"Please, call me Tom." I replied. "It was no problem."

"Well it looks as though everything worked out just fine." Paddy smiled.

"It did. Now the rest of us need to find girls before were stuck with the lovey dovey couples." Harry joked.

"Well Laura is single." Z said.

"And I have a few friends, Chloe, Phoebe, and Elysia. I'm pretty sure that Chloe is the same age as Paddy." Y/N added.

"How come I've never met therm?" I asked.

"They were out of town for a while. They should get back by tomorrow." she replied.

"Well we might not be as single as I thought after all." Sam said.

We stayed in the room and talked for a while before everyone left.

"Y/N wait. Stay with me? This time we don't have to worry about getting caught."

"Nothing is to happen though. Save that for the honeymoon. Got it Holland?" she asked.

"Of course Princess." I said as we got into bed. We soon fell asleep.