Roksolana stood up and looked the woman straight in the eyes. She lifted her right hand and would have retaliated if princess Azeezat hadn't stopped her by holding her hand. She struggled against the princess's hold on her but the other woman held on tight. She looked at the princess who shook her head before releasing Roksolana's hand. She was tired. Tired of everything and everyone trying to dictate her life for her. She was tired of people telling her which way to live her life. The entire sultanate seemed to suffocate her and her very existence. She stared at the harem's leader for one long minute before walking away. At the door, she saw the Sultan walking in with Aabdeen. Without stopping in her tracks, she hissed at the two of them.
Jamal looked at Roksolana in amazement. Had she just hissed at him? He knew she was angry at him, but that doesn't give her the right to disrespect h
Roksolana strode into the kitchen casually as if she had never left in the first place. She saw the kitchen head giving instructions to some of the kitchen maids and ran to hug her. In dealing with her affairs, she had almost forgotten about the woman and the trouble she went through because of her. Roksolana held the woman tightly but was surprised when the woman pushed her back a little bit. Was the kitchen head still angry at her? Roksolana knew that she owed her an apology. Roksolana was even more surprised when the woman bowed to her."Lady Roksolana." She said, loud enough to get the attention of the other maids in the kitchen. Roksolana watched in horror as every maid in the kitchen left their chores and bowed to her."Greetings, Lady Roksolana." They chorused.Roksol
Jamal thought that he might have made a mistake in his judgment. He had paced about his room all morning, watching as the table was being replaced. His thought had traveled to the way he would make love to Roksolana on the new furniture, slowly and gently this time. The result of the thought had been instant arousal he couldn't control. When he was tired of his predicament, he had gone out of the house to pick up Lady Miriam in the hope that her presence could help his situation. He had even had the thought of taking her to his house to at least eradicate the presence of Roksolana in his house. He had purposely given her the cold shoulder too, hoping that his body would understand that he was fighting against her and the feelings she aroused in him. But the sad and disappointed look on her face when she saw him with Lady Miriam hunted him. He had to get back to her and make her see reasoning. They couldn't go on having arguments forever. They had to c
Hassan heard footsteps behind him and his fighting instinct kicked in. Judging by the heaviness of the steps, Hassan knew that it wasn't just a person who was after him. They had to be about four people behind him. It couldn't be his subordinates, they would have called out to him. He wondered who was bold enough to try to apprehend him despite his position in the sultanate. He turned to a corner and hid.When the footsteps sounded closer, Hassan peeped from his hiding place to see who it was and was utterly surprised to see that it was the Sultan. Hassan pondered on why the Sultan was after him, acting stealth about his movement. He doesn't remember doing something to offend the Sultan, so he was disturbed. Hassan saw the Sultan looking around for him, then walked away when he couldn't find him. When the Sultan and his entourage were gone, Hassan came out of his hiding place. Perhaps t
Jamal paused at the stairs on his way to his room. If what the second in command had said was true, then he had to apologize to Roksolana. He couldn't just very well walk up to her and apologize. Knowing Roksolana well, she would ask him if he was drunk and then walked away from him. A smile crept up Jamal's face as he thought of an idea. He couldn't wait until nighttime to carry out the plan he was thinking about. As he went about his duty for the rest of the day, he whistled loudly. He sent for Aabdeen a while later and narrated the plan to the man he now considers as a friend. All through his narration, Aabdeen kept looking at him like he was out of his mind but he doesn't care. As long as the plan works.Roksolana and the rest of the women in the harem were just about to settle down to eat their dinner when Aabdeen walked into the hall, looking worried. Roksolana watched as the princess r
A few minutes later, Aabdeen came into the house. Jamal looked at him and saw that he was trying hard not to laugh. Jamal fixed his gaze upon him and dared him to laugh, the other man raised his hands in surrender. The Sultan got up and dusted off dirt from his clothes. He heard Aabdeen laugh at him hard and Jamal narrowed his eyes at him. That didn't stop Aabdeen from laughing. If anything, the man's laughter grew louder. Jamal removed one of his shoes and threw it at the other man who simply stepped out of the way. Jamal picked up a small stool and ran after Aabdeen. The other man ran out the door."Told you it wouldn't work," Aabdeen shouted on his way out, still laughing.Jamal stopped running after the other man, walked back to the room, and sat on a chair in the room. Looks like he had just made matter worse than before, he tho
Roksolana hadn't bothered to look up when she heard someone clearing their throat and saw her friends stand up hurriedly from their seats and bowed. She knew that it was the Sultan. Only he could command such respects from the two women who were with her. She knew that he had probably come around to check on the women in the harem or perhaps, he had come to be with his favorite mistress. Besides, she was still angry at his silly act towards her yesterday. When the princess had tapped her, she knew that the other woman was trying to tell her she was being disrespectful but she didn't care. He should just go away from the hall and go over to Lady Miriam's quarter. When Roksolana heard the retreating footsteps of her friends, she knew that they had betrayed her."Where are you two going?" Roksolana asked her friends who didn't bother to answer.
Aabdeen was lost in thought as he walked to the harem. How had he ended up as an errand boy? Worse, he had endangered the life of his sister, thinking that he was protecting her. It wasn't until after he had written and sent that letter that he had made a grave mistake. He had tried every subtle means he knows to get the letter back before it got to Sultan Jamal but his efforts had proved futile. His fear of the Sultan harming his sister as a form of revenge had been confirmed when the general had suggested that she be held captive. His heart had nearly flown out of his chest at that moment and had only relaxed when the Sultan had kicked against such idea vehemently.His first mistake had been when he had sent that first letter to threaten the Sultan of Wadai' sultanate. He had counted on the Sultan's bad reputation of being easily angered over everything to help him, but his plan had failed
Jamal was still trying to determine how to approach Roksolana when she arrived when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw that Aabdeen had arrived, and thankfully, Roksolana was with him. He didn't know what method the other man had used but he was grateful he had returned with Roksolana. Aabdeen bowed slightly and left, leaving him alone with Roksolana. What should he tell her first? About his feelings? Or should he apologize again?" Did you ask that I be kidnapped over just to keep staring at me?" Roksolana asked.Jamal decided against telling her about his feelings instantly. She wasn't ready to hear that. He wasn't sure if she was ready to hear his apologies either. With her current mood, there was only one thing that could make her happy, and Jamal would give her that. He grabbed hold of one of her hands and took her
Jamal released his hold on her and he looked into her eyes intently."I believe you, Dawn. I agreed that I might not have believed you at first but that was because you were so full of vengeance that I couldn't trust you. If you had told me about what you learned later, I would have believed you completely without a doubt," he explained to her."I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Sultan," she apologized too."I think I like it better when you call me Jamal," he told her."Or you mean you like it better when I yelled your name?" she asked and chuckled.He chuckled too and held her hair to play with them.
As Jamal kept running with an unconscious Roksolana in his arms, he kept praying to Allah that she had merely fainted because of either fright or how she had witnessed the death of her captor and not because Aamil had done something wrong to her before his arrival at the scene. When he heard Roksolana whimpering a little as he kept running, he slowed down in his run.He still blamed himself for the torture she went through. If he had noticed that she was missing all those times that she had been gone, then he would have looked for her everywhere. If he had listened to her and reasons about why she kept asking those weird questions about Sodeeq, then he would have guessed that something was fishy somewhere. If he had searched for her a little harder all through the night, then he might have been able to find her a lot sooner than he did.And to think that he wanted to turn away from the building because he had been suspecting the wrong person makes him want to s
Jamal took a step backward when he heard the name that the man had used. There was only one person who called him such a name in the entire sultanate. From what he also knew of the person, he was already dead. How possible was it for a dead person to be alive again? When Jamal looked at the man again, he saw his eyes flashing fire and dagger at him."But…" Jamal started but couldn't find a way to express his thoughts.He could remember that day quite well. Jamal and his brother, along with their mother, and Sodeeq and Sodeeq's brother had all gone into the building to play hide and seek. Aamil, Sodeeq's brother, had been the one seeking while the rest had gone into hiding. Jamal and Sodeeq had hidden together since the two were inseparable friends while Jamal's brother had gone with their mother to hide. They had been so engro
Roksolana woke up feeling disoriented. When she looked at the room where she was, she couldn't remember where she was or how she had gotten to the place. She tried to look around some more to study her surroundings but her head felt like ten building blocks had been placed on it. When she tried to touch the place that hurt, she saw that she was tied to a chair and she winced. She whipped her head slightly to remember exactly how she had gotten into the predicament she was in but nothing appeared in her brain or even tried to appear. She was blank like she had suffered a memory loss.She was still trying not to panic while trying to remember how she got to being tied to a chair in what seemed like a half-burnt room with all the blackness that even years of abandonment has not been able to erase away completely. One thing she knew was the fact that even though she couldn't remember how she got
As Jamal and his entourage marched on to the locations, fear was already radiating on the Sultan's face. Beads of sweat had already adorned his forehead, showing that he was not just afraid internally but also externally. For all that he cared about, the general could have killed Roksolana by now, and yet, they were still walking instead of racing to the location. If he hadn't killed her yet, the man could be molesting her or beating her up to punish her.He couldn't understand what exactly was the grudge between the general and his woman. Where it was, it had to be a lot for the general to have kidnapped Roksolana and held her captive. Or maybe Asleem was right in his observations and words and the generous was truly an enemy instead of the best friend Jamal thought that he was. But why would the general be trying to kill him? What could he have done to the general to warranty him trying to
Jamal stretched on his bed to relax his strained muscles and body. After Roksolana had left him and Aabdeen in the morning to discuss, Aabdeen had come clean with him and told him about who he truly was and why he had done everything he did. Of course, Jamal had been very furious with the other man and had even sent him away from his sight but he could understand the other Sultan now that he was alone. The man had just wanted to protect his people and everything else in his sultanate.But it still hurt him that the man had lied to him. During the period when he had met the man he thought was simply a physician, Jamal had grown fond of the man to the extent that he thinks of him as a friend instead of the mere physician that the man was supposed to be. So, finding out that the man had lied made him feel a little betrayed. Yet, Jamal found out that his thought was not centered on punishin
After they got away from the fighting ring, Jamal stopped dragging her along with him at a fast pace and just walked slowly but he still didn't let go of her hand that he held on to. Roksolana didn't mind how fast or slow they walked because her mind was centered on the burnt scar she had seen and not on the speed of their walking pace. Each time she tried to erase the doubt in her mind that the scar wasn't the same as that of the assassin, her head kept reminding her that she was just trying to cover up for the general.As soon as they got into the mansion that the Sultan lives in, Roksolana saw Jamal looking at her in an odd manner and she wondered what was going on in his mind. Could he be angry because she had gone to the ring without informing him first? Although she did get permission from him to train, she realized that she should have still let him know when she was going. If sh
Next? Roksolana thought. She was right about Lady Miriam since she had just heard about what she was doing next."We kill the king. This time, he won't be able to escape since I already got everything into place." The strange yet familiar voice Roksolana always heard from Lady Miriam's room responded."Are you sure it will work this time?" Lady Miriam's weak voice said to her lover."Very sure. The Sultan would be breathing his last before a week from now," the man answered.Roksolana got angry. At first, she wanted to open the door and confront the two lovers but she decided against it instantly. She knew that her confrontation would only stop the attack temporarily and Jamal's life would still be in danger. If she
She pointed to Aabdeen next. "This means that you are the Sultan of Jedi? Why then did you disguise yourself? And you were both going to kidnap me? Why?" Roksolana asked with a surprised tone.Aabdeen sighed and rose from his seating position beside his sister. He knew that he had only two choices and that was either to kidnap the Sultan's favorite mistress or tell the harem leader the truth. He decided to just kidnap her but his sister spoke up before him."Yes, we are from the Jedi sultanate and he is my brother. It's also true we wanted to kidnap you but it was because we had no other choice and that was why we did everything that we did," she explained."You had better start explaining yourselves before I let the Sultan know about your true identities," Roksolana told them in an angry tone. She felt betrayed by the people she thought were a friend to her and Jamal because they turned out to be a charade.Princess Azeezat took her time