“You know, this time next year we could be anywhere in the world, doing anything,” said Nova.
“Hmm?” Yemi sighed with her eyes closed.
“Think about it. If you weren’t queen, what would you be doing with your life? What would you want if you didn’t have this huge destiny?”
Yemi raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like you’ve thought about it for me.”
“Come on,” Nova replied. “Use a little imagination. Luzon could gift you a ship. We’d sail east, tour the world. Be entertained by people who find you fascinating instead of the source of all their problems. We’d settle down someplace and make friends of our own choosing.”
Yemi opened one eye wide enough to see that Nova appeared tobe serious. “All these plans of yours seem to be for me. What would you do withyourlife in this fantasy?”
Nova shrugged. “My usual helpful violence, probably. Become a local champion. Build you a house you don’t have to wear a mask to leave.”
Her voice took on a wistfulness Yemi had only noticed maybe a handful of times before. They’d talked a lot about their future, much of it jokingly. Yemi had always assumed they’d both been resigned to make the best of the choices they didn’t have.
“You’ve never dreamed about us… building a world together? Being queen of a place we no longer have to fight for?” Yemi asked, hesitant, as if this was their shared dream unraveling.
“I never needed the crown. So far, it looks extremely stressful with minimal perks.”
“Fair point,” Yemi admitted. Still, she was worried. Nova had a strong dutiful streak but this stress and strain could very well be approaching her limit. Of all the things she knew she’d have to do, she’d never once considered she might have to do them alone. What if in regaining the crown, she lost Nova?
“You understand this isn’t optional for me, right?” Yemi asked quietly.
Nova nodded slowly. “I understand you believe that, yes.”
“My family has bled and died to give me roots. Their bodies arehere. I can’t just abandon them.”
“Of course.” Nova fidgeted. “My job is to keep you safe. I guess I just… gravitate toward scenarios that make that easy.”
“You have a very pretty imagination,” Yemi told her.
“Thank you.”
“But you’re not a very good liar.”
“Thank… you?”
Yemi watched yellow birds with long tail feathers coast on an updraft overhead. Their freedom registered as a lazy metaphor while she was lying here, trying to talk Nova into the prison of the life she needed.
“I know all of that is what you really want,” Yemi sighed. “And it’s nothing less than what you deserve. It hurts me that I’m not able togive it to you. Not in a way that wouldn’t make me completely unbearable to live with for the rest of our lives.”
“I’ve handled you pretty well until now, and you’re only semi-bearable.”
“Hush.” Yemi sat up. “How’s this: When we get home and everything is right again, I decree you’re given a Day of Days. It’ll be a massive sporting festival. Food, tournaments, the whole thing. People will come from all over the world for the privilege of being beaten up by you. And then, when you’re finished, you can come join me every night in what will come to be known asourbed.”
The corner of Nova’s mouth lifted in a smile, and Yemi felt infinitely better about everything in that moment. “That does sound like a good time.”
“And then you’ll be given land. Somewhere west, out in the country. You can build a cottage on it, and we’ll summer there and entertain as many weirdos—including your sister—as you’d like.”
Nova gave an impressed nod. “It’s a solid compromise. After this, I’ll definitely deserve my Day of Days.”
Yemi laughed and kissed her hand. “We’ll have our peace. I promise.”
• NOVA •
Nova’s feet tingled. Yemi’s head was cutting off their circulation, and her butt ached from the unmoving position she’d maintained in the grass so Yemi could sleep. Even resting, Yemi’s brow furrowed and her jaw clenched. Nova had always been endeared to her drive but frowned at a niggling suspicion: Maybe Yemi was simply incapable of peace.
There was romance here—the two of them beneath the stars lost to the world and far from the oppression of the throne—but Nova couldn’t feel it. She didn’t want a title or a Day of Days. She wanted a bath. She wanted the feeling back in her fucking toes.
