Her Darkest Secrets

32: The Proposal

"I will step down on one condition, and one condition only." Selene raised her head condescendingly as she looked Nova dead in the eyes. "You must get married." She glanced at me before she added, "To a man."

Nova laughed, she actually laughed. I stared at her in concern. Had she finally snapped?

"You know that's why I ran away the first time right? You can't force me to marry some random guy!"

"The next time you leave, you are NEVER welcome back." Selene walked around to the other side of her desk and sat in her chair while crossing her toned legs and clasping her hands on her desk. "And I'm not forcing you this time. You choose who you marry, but it has to be a male from our own species."

"You're giving me an ultimatum." Stated Nova. "That's not exactly free will."

The queen shrugged. "That is my condition, take it or leave it."

Before I knew it, Nova was storming out of the room in anger. I got up to chase after her, but something inside stopped me. I was just as pissed as Nova was, and there was something I had to get off of my chest. 

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked Selene while standing with my hands clenched into fists at my sides.

"Excuse me?" No doubt she didn't expect me to talk to her like that, if at all.

"Do you even love Nova at all? She's your fucking daughter, she's not some employee you can push around and treat like shit. Nova deserves happiness and I can't wait for the day she gets rid of you." I shocked myself with what I said, but I couldn't stop the words from pouring out. I curse a lot when I'm upset. 

The way Selene was looking at me was unusual. I couldn't quite put it into words but I dare say she almost looked...hurt. I left the room before she could respond and hurriedly made my way back to Nova's room. 

I found Nova trembling in her bed with frustrated tears streaming down her face. I cuddled her in my arms and gently stroked her hair as she laid her head in my lap. I didn't bother telling her what I said to her mom. I didn't think it would change anything. Eventually Nova's cried had slowed down and she softly slipped into sleep. I took this time to text Riddian and let him know what was going on. 

Bad news. 

Nova's mom won't let her be queen unless she gets married. 

To a MAN.

Fuck. What is she going to do?

Idk. She's sleeping right now. 

I don't see Nova as the type to get married because mommy said so.

Yeah, she's def not. I dunno what to do though.

She's really upset. 

We'll figure something out. We always do.

Thanks <3

(:

I know there was nothing Riddian could do to help in this situation, but it still felt good to tell him. I couldn't help but be offended by what Nova's mom said. Like I know marrying a man is tradition with Light Sprites, but I couldn't help but think maybe she doesn't approve of same sex relationships? We never flaunted our relationship in front of her family or anything but obviously Selene didn't like me. I was a human who knew of their secret, was living in their royal mansion, and also happened to be sleeping with their trouble maker daughter. Yeah, that didn't give me many brownie points.

 Nova rustled awake and rotated so she was looking up at me.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"My mom's a bitch." She said with a straight face.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Yeah she is."

"It's not funny. She's ruins everything. She knows exactly how I feel about you. Why else would she ask me a to marry a man?" Nova huffed.

"I know." I leaned down a kissed her forehead gently. "I'm more worried about you than myself. What if this is the only way you can become queen?"

"I wont do it." She shook her head and sat up quickly while stretching her arms in the air.

"Nova..."

"No. I won't leave you Teegan. Don't even think about it." She slid off the bed and opened her bedroom window to let in fresh air. I got up to follow her.

"Some things are more important than me, though!" What was I saying? I didn't want her to leave me.

"No! You are the only person in my life who has ever meant this much to me. I'm better when I'm with you. I refuse to lose that. I will abandon my home and live with you and the other humans like I have before." She was yelling at me, but I could see tears welling up in her eyes again. She wasn't angry. She was sad at just talking about us breaking up.

"I'm sorry, please don't cry." I grabbed her and hugged her tight. My heart was happy to hear she would do anything for me. I was also full of guilt. She had just mended her relationship with her sister and was finally back in her childhood home. She could be her true sprite self here. Living with the humans would mean going back into hiding and basically living a big lie. Not to mention I had would have to lie to everyone too.

 My phone started ringing in my pocket. I pulled it out and checked the screen.

"It's Riddian." I looked at her guiltily.

Nova nodded and sat back on the bed. "Answer it."

"Hey."

"Hey, are you with Nova?" He asked.

"Yeah, she's right here."

"Put me on speaker."

I pushed the speaker phone button and sat next to Nova while holding the phone outwards between us s we could both hear clearly.

"Okay, we can hear you."

"Okay so, Teegan told me about what the queen said. It's bullshit honestly. You deserve to make your own decisions, especially about something like that." He paused waiting to see if either of us wanted to respond. We just looked at the phone in silence. "What I'm trying to get at is...i might have an idea of how to satisfy the queen AND make it so you don't have to marry some asshole."

"How?" Nova asked.

"I'm so glad there's a phone between us right now." Riddian mumbled.

"Just spit it out, Rid!"

"Nova could marry me."