“He invited me to stay in one of the rooms,” Malakai said casually as he sipped his coffee. While plenty of people booked Travelodges nearby or crashed on any flat surface or sofa, only Ty’s inner circle were allowed to stay in the extra rooms in the six-bed farmhouse. Malakai was inner circle, which meant, as his girl, I was too. And I had to make this thing believable for the show, and the show had to be listened to for my internship. So, I had to go.
Malakai must have noted the stress on my face because he leaned forward, urging me to meet his gaze. “Hey. I’ll obviously sleep on the floor or something.”
I swallowed. “It’s not that. I’m just um . . . “ I inhaled deeply. It was easier if he knew. “I just get a little nervous with intense, close, social situations. I haven’t had the best experience in the past.”
Malakai’s brows gently furrowed. “But FreakyFridayz.”
“Is open and public and I can melt into the background. This is me being part of a group. It’s different.”
Confusion still softened his face, but he nodded. “It could be intense. We can figure out another event to—”
“No. I’ll gear myself up. It’s important that we’re a credible couple and being at a weekend away together at one of your boys’ birthdays helps that.”
“You sure? I’m cool with what you’re cool with.”
I inhaled deeply and shot him a valiantly breezy smile. “I’m sure.”
He threw me a small, lethal slant of his lips before looking down at the calendar on his phone. “Hold up. What’s this?” His brow was raised as he read out, “RomCon . . . The Reign of Ifekonia?”
I groaned inwardly. I’d forgot to delete it from my calendar, and now Malakai was privy to my nerdiest pursuit. I shrugged, schooled myself into nonchalance. “Uh, that’s in there by accident. It’s nothing—”
Malakai’s amusement glinted. “This ain’t nothing, Scotch. You’ve got bare emojis surrounding it. Whatever it is, it’s a big deal.”
This time, I groaned outwardly. “If I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh. For your sake. If you laugh, I will kill you.”
Malakai solemnly crossed his heart.
I sighed. “So ‘RomCon’ stands for Romance Convention. It’s in London. And one of my favorite book series is a romance fantasy called The Reign of Ifekonia. It’s by this amazing Nigerian author called Idan Fadaka. I used to read it in school with my best . . . I used to read it in school. It’s like this Afrofuturistic dystopian saga loosely based on a subverted Yoruba folklore. Game of Thrones–type shit. Except better. It has warrior kings bowing down to warrior Orisha queens during battle, uses mystical politics to explain what’s happening in our daily reality.” I leaned forward. “For instance, in the last book, The Reign of Ifekonia: Search for the Sun, these translucent-skinned aliens invaded the land and acted like they were sent as Guardians from the Great Queen Oludumara in the land of light, when actually they came from the land of night and from the Dark Lord Eshuko and it’s supposed to represent colonialism and . . .” The words got stuck in my throat, my skin warming. Malakai was watching me intently. “I’m stopping now.”
Malakai shook his head, smiling. “Don’t. I like seeing what you look like when you’re into something. Your eyes light up.”
I took a large gulp of my sweet, warm swill, as if it would push back the blood that swooped to my cheeks. “It’s weird you should say that because my favorite character is Shangaya. She’s one of the main characters. She’s this regular girl who works at her dad Ogunyo’s metal shop, making weapons, fixing transporter vehicles. She discovers she has the power to conjure thunder and fire when she’s eighteen. Her eyes become fireballs when she’s angry, twilight stars when she’s happy. She becomes this vigilante warrior queen. She rides a saber-toothed panther called Tutu, because riding her calms her down when she’s worked up—”
“I get it. Itutu. Coolness. Cold.”
I titled my head. “Exactly.” I cleared my throat. “She has a love affair with this Light Guardian, a true Light Guardian sent from Oludumara called Niyo. They’re not supposed to mix. They’re from two different classes and he’s from a sect that fell to the earth ten thousand moons ago . . . anyway. I love the stories, and the author, Idan Fadaka, is coming to RomCon in London for a signing. I was meant to go with Aminah. She’s so cute. She’s not into this kind of stuff but she was willing to dress up as Yoa, Shangaya’s enemy turned best friend, who has mastery over water and winds. But her dad’s coming to town that weekend so she can’t come anymore.”