Arranged.

I yawned and looked over, seeing my baby brother practically bouncing up and down in the chair across from me.

“Where are we going? Are we going to meet someone new? Is it someone who’s going to be my friend? I want a new friend, I love meeting new people!” The boy squealed and I groaned.

“No, he can’t come along as well.” I said, looking over to my Mother and Father.

Our Father nodded. “He’s right, Nentel, you have missed too many days from school, and you need to go. You will meet…this person when the time comes.” He said, and I watched my brother frown.

“Teza always has all the fun.” He pouted, and I chuckled.

“Don’t worry Nentel, doll.” I told him. “I’ll see you when we get home.”

No matter how annoyed I was at waking up at such an early hour, I couldn’t take it out on my brother. He was too innocent for anyone to be angry at.

His name, Nentel literally meant doll in Aztec. Mine meant serpent king, but that’s another story.

Nentel reached over and hugged me to him, whispering in my ear and telling me to text him in class and tell him about this ‘mystery trip’ I was going on.

I chuckled and promised him that I would, our parents eying us conspiratorially.

“You will not text that boy in class.” Mother said, and I rolled my eyes.

“Yes Mother.” I murmured, kissing Nentel’s forehead and giving him a wink.

He giggled and hopped out of the car, skipping to his limo which was already waiting for him to take him to school as he was already dressed.

His limo left, and the one my parents and I filed into was next.

“So, where exactly are we going?” I asked, looking at them both.

My Mother rested her hand on my Father’s knee and he nodded at her. “Honey, we are taking you to the airport to meet someone.”

I nodded. “Alright, who am I meeting?” I asked, and looked between the two of them.

“We had arranged a marriage for you when you were just a baby, and the other child was not yet born.” My Father spoke up and I started at him.

No chance this was happening. “…I have a girlfriend….a girlfriend I love and care about, a girlfriend I plan to marry one day. I’m not going to marry some girl that I’ve never met before!” I hissed at them, anger filling me.

I am the eldest son and I deserve to know these kinds of things. They had no right to hide it from me.

“You won’t be marrying a girl.” My Mother whispered, looking down at her feet.

I let out a sigh of relief and a laughed slipped past my lips. “Good joke Mother, you really know how to tell them” I said, but she was frowning.

“I said you won’t be marrying a girl; you will be marrying a boy.” She said like it was an everyday occurrence.

My eyes widened. I looked from her to my Father in disbelief. “F-Father, you can’t allow this to happen…I’m not…I mean...I’m not…gay.” I spat the word out.

“We didn’t say you are, just that you are marrying him.” My Mother said. “There is nothing you can do to escape this, son. This is as much a diplomatic marriage as any. The boy may not be any prince like you, but the fact that he is a boy will make the Royal Family appeal to that group.” She said, and I scoffed

“You expect me to just take this?” I growled, “Then you’ve got something else coming. I will not sit back and do nothing. I will do whatever I have to, to prevent this from happening.” I said, and she nodded.

“We didn’t expect you to take it too well…but you are taking it much better than we thought you would.” Father said and I shook my head, feeling the limo stop.

“Just wait; you haven’t heard the end of this, I will not be marrying another male.” I told them as the door opened and a petite boy stepped inside, his eyes wide and puffy, looking as if he’d been crying.

Hearing my words, he sat down and stared at his feet.

“I expect you to be kind to Elise. He has traveled far and must be tired.” My Mother spoke, and I shook my head, glaring at my parents and ignoring the boy who was now intruding in my territory.

Shutting out the world, I put in my headphones and lay down in the back of the limo. I’m afraid if I didn’t, my anger would overflow, and it’s never smart to get a King mad. Especially one that controls my life.

Maybe if I was good enough, he’d find a way to let me out of this awful arrangement.