Roksolana looked at the dough and flour one of the maids had given to her and wondered what she was supposed to do with it. When she saw another maid pour her potion of flour into the bowl containing the dough and mixed them together, Roksolana decided that must be what was required of her. She poured her portion into the dough too and began to mix, noticing how strong it was. She was still battling with the dough when a figure fell upon her and she looked up. Roksolana saw a woman looking at her with a frown on her face.
"What do you think you are doing?" The woman asked.
Roksolana felt embarrassed as the woman laughed at her when she had explained. She felt even worse when the woman had called the other maids to come and see what Roksolana had done.
Tired and angry,
Jamal felt afraid and vulnerable and got angry at the feelings and the man who had fueled such emotions in him. He needed assurance and comfort from someone. He just walked on without thinking about his destination and became angry when he saw himself standing in front of the kitchen. Why was he here? The woman in there was the last person who would even think about alleviating his worries. As he turned to leave, he saw the kitchen head running towards him and realized that he couldn't leave anymore."Sultan." The woman bowed to him when she got to where he stood. "To what do we owe such a visit? Did we do something wrong?" The woman asked, shivering and fear reflecting in her voice.Jamal thought she might faint if she continued that way. Was he always inflicting fears even in the heart of the women? How can he get out of the place
Roksolana wished she could kill the man in that instance as she looked around and saw everyone staring at her, jealousy reflecting in their gaze. All except Seyiddah and Khadijat who both looked happy for her.She knew that the Sultan had just given her more trouble than she could bear. They already hated her, even when she had done nothing wrong. Getting chosen to be the Sultan's maid seemed like a big deal to the kitchen maids and Jamal had chosen her, putting her in an even bigger mess. What had she ever done to deserve all the trouble and pains?"Okay, everybody. Go back to work. The meals won't cook themselves." The kitchen head said, dismissing everyone.Afterward, she called Roksolana to the side and explained her job as the Sultan's maid. Some of which includes
Jamal fingered his clean-shaven mustache and regretted letting Roksolana get away from him. After all, he had gone through all the trouble because of her. How did she fail to see his handsome look? He wondered as he looked into the vanity resting on a table beside his bed, smiling.She probably hadn't noticed because she was busy trying to swallow the salty rice she had brought for him, Jamal thought smiling. He wondered if he had been too hard on her earlier, but he shook his head against it, reminding himself that he could have been crueler than that. His whole thought was already centered on her and he wondered if he would be able to get any sleep at all. Jamal's body screamed at the feelings he was arousing in them.Roksolana got back to the kitchen and hurriedly dropped the food into the waste bin, not wanting the kitchen
As she opened her mouth to reply to him, Jamal kissed her lightly on the lips. He felt a little resistance from her and smiled"I won't hurt you, I promise. I won't do anything you don't like." He told her, still kissing her lightly amidst the words.It should be good since he had promised not to go beyond what she wanted, Roksolana thought. She was tired of fighting with her body every time she was near the man. For once, she wanted to know what she was feeling. She wanted to be able to define exactly what she was always feeling for the man. She wanted to know why she was always having the feeling only when she was with the Sultan. As Jamal kissed her lips again, she opened up to him.Jamal relaxed instantly when Roksolana's mouth opened up for him. He had been so worried t
"What?" Jamal yelled."Sultan, the janissaries sent words that they've thought about a solution." A man's voice answered.How had he forgotten about the threat to his sultanate? He should be looking for a solution to his predicament right now. He felt Roksolana push at him and he let go of her."Sultan?" The man called again.He had to finish his talks with her though."I'm busy. Get lost," Jamal yelled at the man.He turned to look at Roksolana and saw that she had dressed up and was trying to escape from the room without his notice. He held her firmly by the hand, preventing her from leaving. He
Lady Miriam turned to look at the man clad in black who flew into her room through the window. She watched as he sat at the edge of her bed, refusing to talk to her. She managed to sit up and rested her head on his arm. The man shrugged away from her. Miriam knew that he was angry at her and it was all the Sultan's fault. She moved closer to him again, wrapping her arms around his waist this time."How could you be so careless? You knew how important that pregnancy was in the plan." The man spoke, anger reflected in his voice.Lady Miriam explained to him how the sultan had come to her in the middle of the night drunk and how she had thought it was a good opportunity to make him the owner of the pregnancy. She explained how the Sultan had kicked her to the floor in the stomach and how she couldn't scream for help, knowing that she wa
Roksolana let go of the dagger handle. Her mouth was wide open and her hands trembled. She had expected Jamal to dodge the sword. He could have dodged it easily, so why hadn't he? Seeing him in pain hurted her beyond words. She ran to his side and helped him up."You really stabbed me, Dawn?" Jamal asked her, as he sat down on the bed.He knew it was her? No wonder she had felt like he was just toying with her earlier."Why didn't you dodge the attack?" Roksolana asked."Because… I wanted to… see if you would really… hurt me," Jamal said, stretching each word.A single tear slid down her face and she swiped it away.
Jamal opened his eyes and squeezed them shut. The light in the room hurted his eyes and his head ache. He let about five minutes go by and slowly opened his eyes, this time taking in the source of the blinding light and saw it was from the window. He looked around the room and saw a kettle boiling on a makeshift cooking stove. A man with his back to Jamal bent low over the fire, fanning the flame to life. He couldn't take in the light anymore. He tried placing his right hand over his eyes to calm himself and screamed at the pain he felt from the exercise. The man fanning the fire dropped the kettle he was holding back on the stove and rushed to Jamal's side.He helped Jamal rest back on the bed, placing the cover over him. Jamal wondered how long he had been out as his entire body felt stiff. He touched his upper chest and winced at the pain he felt. He hadn't thought the wound Roksolana gave
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