The Epic Misadventures of The Sun, Moon, and Stars

Maria

I waited for Shivani to come to meet me that afternoon. She was running 18 minutes late for our date. That just wasn't done, Shivani was almost never late. I started to wonder if she was alright. What if Moreno had locked her away in one of the towers? Nah, let's be honest, Shivani would've just ranted about 'the marvels of architecture and history' until they let her go.

I shook my head and smiled. I loved the girl, but spirits below, she was talkative when you got her started on anything even vaguely historic.

Suddenly, Shivani burst into the cafe, looking flustered. She looked normal, well mostly. She was just wearing her usual jeans and a cute grey top, plus her precious leather jacket. It had belonged to her father, and she wore almost all the time. The only thing different than usual was that she was giddy, so happy she looked like she was going to burst, smiling like a lunatic.

"So sorry I'm late Mar, you would not believe-"

"So did your date with Domina go?" I asked, a bit too cooly, I'll admit.

Her face fell, and I instantly regretted my words. Even though I probably wasn't what had made her so happy, I had no right to make her feel guilty about it.

"It wasn't a date Mar. She just came to my place, we walked through town, and then she showed me around the castle, we talked about some history,-"

Ugh, great. Domina was playing up to her nerdy side, well two can play that game, your majesty.

"- then we had coffee in the gardens, and I was briefly interrogated by her sister, YoGeni, who seemed super nice, and has my phone number for some reason and has sent me twelve texts so far inviting for trivia night at some underground bar, which definitely seems illegal,-"

Oh no, Gen invited her to trivia night? That was a family-only event. Only Dom, Fel, Nieve and I ever get invited to trivia night. Shivani had obviously made quite the impression. That or Gen had looked into the future and preemptively welcomed her into the family. I couldn't decide which was worse.

"-and here's the best bit! Oh, my Toluga, you won't believe it- She bought my father's shop! We were going to give up the land at the end of the month, but she rebuilt the whole place. It's exactly as it was before. I don't have to give the family business! I can finally live out my dream of running the place!"

As Shivani spoke, that dumb smile reappeared. The smile that used to be reserved for me, and only me. It was so bright the whole room glowed under it's influence, she brought the whole world into the clouds with her. I hadn't seen her smile this brightly since-

"Well, seems you had a great time, shame that you won't be seeing much of her in the future."

She paused, taking a sip of her drink.

"What do you mean?"

I froze, all the worst of my fears realised.

"You're not actually considering this right?"

She shifted, uncomfortably in her seat.

"Well-"

"Shivani!"

"It's not like that, Mar, and you know it!" She paused, took a deep breath and continued. "We both agreed that we'd go along with it, but of course I'd still be with you in secret, well sort of secret, and eventually we'll find a way out, that won't involve her having to marry that horrid prince or some other equally terrible noble, and we'll part ways on good terms."

"Oh you can't seriously be-"

"I can't just let her suffer!"

"But- But she's the enemy!"