Visiting his mother was one of those duties Malek begrudgingly took on. It wasn’t that he disliked her, not like he disliked his father. It was more about how he didn’t have the energy to do anything more than to go to work and to go home. But her incessant nagging when the length between visits became too long was enough to convince him to get out of bed. He stumbled over the empty bottles that littered the floor of his apartment. He thanked every god he knew for the lack of a hangover.

It took no time at all for him to get ready. He left his apartment and walked the short trek to his mother’s. She had moved after his father had died because she couldn’t stand to live in a house surrounded by memories of her husband. Suffering through pleasantries with various neighbors and coworkers, he opened the door to the new house without having to search his pockets for a key. His mother never locked the damn thing despite him telling her how dangerous it was to leave it unlocked. However, when he entered the sitting room, things didn’t go on like normal. His mother didn’t bombard him with complaints about how he never visited her. No, he heard her laughter and the laughter of someone he hadn’t wanted to see right now. Why was Mynoria here?

His mother and Mynoria were smiling, which was an immediate cause for concern. The second cause for concern was when his mother spotted him and asked, “How come you didn’t tell me you were in a relationship? And you proposed without letting your mother know?”

Malek froze in the threshold, his shoes halfway untied. “What?”

Raisel laid a hand over Mynoria’s and gave him a stern look. “Don’t think feigning ignorance will get you out of this! I can’t believe Mynoria had to introduce herself!”

“It’s no trouble. You know your son can be secretive about the strangest things,” Mynoria answered.

Malek’s eyes zeroed in on her ring finger. A gold band with a sizeable rock decorated it. The ring was beautiful, but Malek didn’t give it to her. He hadn’t been aware they were in relationship, especially since he’d only seen her three times in the past year. He couldn’t deny that he felt something for her, but that something was not love.

Malek cleared his throat, “Mynoria, can we please talk outside?”

“Of course,” Mynoria stood and walked with him to the back balcony. 

“Why are you here?”

“Why am I here?” she rolled her eyes, “We’re engaged. Why wouldn’t I be here?”

“I’ve barely seen you in the past year. Two of the visits only lasted an hour!”

“I was busy, and now I’m not. My time is all yours for the foreseeable future.”

“So, you decided that we should get married.”

“I was waiting for the right moment. That reminds me, you don’t have your ring.”

Malek watched in shock as a ring materialized on his finger. The platinum band shined in the low light. He raised a hand to touch it, somehow surprised at how solid it felt. It couldn’t have been more than thirty grams, but it weighed his hand down. The magnitude of the situation hit him all at once. 

Malek whispered, “A ring?”

“That is traditional for Erasima, no? I don’t want anyone questioning the sanctity of our betrothal.”

Suffocating thoughts circled Malek’s mind. Engagements and future weddings were the last thing on his mind. They weren’t in a relationship, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to be in one. 

Malek shook his head, “I can’t accept. I’m not ready to be engaged to someone.” He tried slipping off the ring, but it wouldn’t budge. He pulled harder on the thin piece of metal to no avail. It was when he saw the self-satisfied smirk on Mynoria’s face that he realized the pointlessness of it. The ring wasn’t coming off.

“Having trouble there, darling?” The sickly-sweet crooning set Malek’s teeth on edge. 

“Mynoria, get this ring off.”

She grinned, “I won’t be doing that. If I say we’re engaged, then it’s final.”

“Mynoria!” He was bent over in his effort to remove the damned ring. Panic swelled the longer the ring stayed on his finger. 

“I already told your mother. Don’t make me look like a liar.”

“Mynoria, please.” Resorting to pleading had never been more humiliating, but he would get on his knees if it would convince her. Tears dotted the corner of his eyes, making him feel even worse. He didn’t want to overreact in front of her.

Malek knew he should feel lucky. A man in his position only looked better with a wife. However, Malek had wanted to go slow. He wanted to get to know Mynoria and all of her quirks. Not to mention the fact that she was a demigod. She would live forever, and he would live for the next fifty years at most. When he died, he wanted to leave a mark on her world, proclaiming to all who knew and would know her that she had fallen in love with him. That she had taken the time from her godly ambitions to entertain the affections of an ordinary man. Because, at the end of the day, that’s all he was. An ordinary man trapped in a city he hated surrounded by reminders of the person who made him hate it.

All of a sudden, he wished Neve was there. She would know how to cheer him up. But she was living the life she had always wanted. A life that obviously had no space for him anymore. Distantly, he remembered her saying something about visiting an old friend and her sister. Why couldn’t she have taken him with her?

“Oh, darling, have I made you upset?” Instead of mocking, Mynoria sounded concerned. Malek looked at her with his wet eyes, nodding. “I didn’t think you would be so burdened by the thought of being my husband.”

“We barely know each other. I can’t.”

“That’s the problem? You don’t have to know someone to marry them. Think of this as insurance.”

Malek stood his ground, “No, the last thing I want is for my marriage or my love to be for political gain. I don’t want to be stuck with someone who makes me miserable.”

Mynoria’s lips were set in a hard line, but she didn’t look angry. “I don’t recall ever making you miserable, doll.”

“Because you haven’t been around long enough to! Would you listen to me? I’m not wasting my life stuck in a loveless marriage.”

She waved her hand, and he jerked forward. Invisible ties connected his ring to her. When he was close enough, she grabbed him by the face, angling his head toward her. “You may not love me now, darling, but you will. It’s written in the stars, don’t you know?”

“I thought fate didn’t exist.”

She hummed, “It doesn’t.”

“So, how would you know that I’ll fall in love with you?”

“Because I said you would.”

Malek gritted his teeth and tried to pull his face away from her. She kept her grip steady, not allowing him to move. “Has anyone ever told you how arrogant you are?”

“No, I’m sure they were too afraid to do something as foolish as that,” she laughed.

“Well, consider me the first one.” Malek relaxed in her hold. The entirety of his body weight being held up by her. “Do you even love me?”

"I can do you one better. I need you."