"Sultan."
Jamal turned to find Sodeeq standing behind him, spotting a black eye and looking worried. Jamal realized that Roksolana must have gifted his best friend with the look. He tried to contain his laughter, but couldn't. The woman was a fierce tiger. His woman was a fighter."I'm not sure what is funny, but your lady had refused to eat even a bite since three days ago," Sodeeq explained.Jamal rushed out of the bed, straight out of the room. If she hadn't had any food for three days, she would be trying to kill herself. Was that how much she hated him? He flung the door open as soon as he got to her side. What he saw made his heart sink. Roksolana was lying on the floor, looking vulnerable.Roksolana felt weak after starving herself for three days. Her heart continued to mourn the death of her family and tribesmen after she couldn't summon tears anymore. She missed the meadows at her home. She missed seeing little children run around. She missed seeing women wearing hijabs going to and fro, trying to get everything ready. She missed teasing her little brother. She missed training with Asleem. She also missed sitting down and watching her father rule the people.Her mind registered that the door was opened, she hadn't even bothered to look at whoever the intruder was. She was too weak to argue with anyone today. She just wished she could sleep and never wake up again. That way, all her pains will be gone. She felt someone pick her up and walk but she didn't care. Somehow, she felt secure in the arms of whoever it was and she leaned even closer to the person.Jamal felt miserable seeing how the spirited woman looked. He was even more concerned about her when she tried to get even closer to him than she already was. He knew she was not in her right mind, considering that she had wanted to kill him days ago. The hunger must have messed up her mind, clouding her judgments, or she was too weak at the moment to carry out her mission.He sat down on the bed, with Roksolana sitting on his laps and her head resting on his chest. Sodeeq brought in a plate full of food a minute later, still looking worried as he walked out. Jamal picked up the plate of food and made Roksolana inhale it, before dropping it."Do you want to eat?" He asked her."Abbu." The woman on his lap responded instead."You need to eat," Jamal tried again."Abaan." She muttered instead.Jamal realized she was hallucinating about her family. When he checked her temperature, he realized that she was running a fever. Knowing that he had no other choice than what he was about to do, Jamal prayed it all ends well."Eat, Roksolana and we can go see your father after that. He's still alive, I promised."He picked up a spoonful of food and brought it to Roksolana's mouth. At first, there was no reaction. He was about to give up when he felt a weak hold on the spoon he was holding. Jamal realized that he had managed to break through her will. After feeding her, he forced her to drink medicinal herbs too. Then he laid her down as gently as he could on the bed. He covered her up with a blanket and sighed.He had lied to get her to eat since he doesn't have the intention of taking her to see her father. He wondered what her reaction would be when she woke up and understood how he had fooled her. He knew all hell would be freed if she remembers anything at all. It wasn't letting him see her father that is the problem, it was knowing she would start devising ways to run away from him. And knowing how stubborn she was, Jamal had little doubt that she would succeed in the mission.He sat down on a side of the bed and watched as she slept. The worried lines were still visible on her face despite being asleep. She looked haggard and tired. Her dress was dirty, as were her shoes. Her hair looked tangled and scattered across her face.She needs a bath. Jamal thought to herself. He took the hair out of her face and smiled.He got out of the room and beckoned to the first man he saw."You. Get a maid here for me in two minutes." He commanded the man, who scurried off to obey the order. The man was back in minutes with two maids in tow."I need you to draw a bath. Also, get some lady's clothes and a hijab. Get some lady body oil too. I want everything ready before an hour," Jamal commanded the maids."Yes, Sultan." The maids answered in a fearful tone and rushed out to get it done.In an hour, everything he commanded the maids was already in the room. And as luck would have it, Roksolana was awake too. She still looked like she needed some more rest, but Jamal was not ready to give her that time. He was already growing impatient, thinking about how she would look in the clothing. Before coming in, he had instructed the maids not to call him Sultan in her presence. For a reason he didn't understand, he didn't feel like revealing his identity to her just yet."Just get up if you are awake already," Jamal told Roksolana.Roksolana was startled out of her wit by the voice. She was also surprised to see that she had a little bit of strength. Even more surprised to find herself on the bed that smelled like the man she had been trying to kill."Aren't you getting up?" The voice asked again.She turned in the direction it came from and saw the man responsible for her misery standing by the side of the bed, hands crossed like he was ready for a fight. Flagging him on the two sides were two women. Roksolana wondered why they were there. She wondered if he had brought them to protect himself from her. She however dismissed the thought as soon as it came. Roksolana might not know the man but she knew he wasn't a coward. Still, she felt like hurting him however she could."You brought women to protect yourself from a mere woman like me?" She asked.Jamal laughed at the cynical way she said it. He didn't care that the maids looked at him like he was an insane man or even the fact that rumors were bound to circulate. He didn't even care that a woman had questioned his prowess. He was happy to see that she was okay now since she could talk to him the way she did. He was also glad she didn't remember anything about how he made her eat her food earlier. After a hearty laugh, he moved closer to her on the bed until he was face to face with her."As if." He said in a whisper. Then he straightened back to a standing position, before answering her loudly. "They are here to help you take your bath and get dressed.""I'm not interested," Roksolana told him, which earned her collective gasps from the maids."I didn't ask for your opinion. You have just thirty minutes to bathe and get changed." The Sultan told her, then turned to the maids. "Make sure she is clean from head to toe." He instructed them."Yes." The maids replied. One of them immediately moved to undress her."If any of you touch me, be ready to be bedridden for a long while," Roksolana warned the advancing maids."Let me be clear, Dawn. If you aren't out by thirty minutes or if you try to injure my maids or you try to do something funny, then I'm coming in to bathe you myself," Jamal told Roksolana."You wouldn't dare.""Try me." He told her. "As soon as you are done with her, bring her to general Sodeeq's room." He instructed the maids, before turning to leave the room.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