Roksolana heard voices whispering around her somewhere in her subconscious mind, her body felt like it was on fire. Forcing her eyes open, she looked at the environment she was in. She was lying on the bed in a strange room, women in hijabs and cheap clothing crowded around her. She looked at her arm and failed to see the traces of the clothes she had on before. Alarmed, she forced herself to look at her lying body and saw that she was naked. She got up and immediately regretted the action. Her back hurt badly, and she cried out in pain.
"I see you are awake." A woman spoke.
Roksolana looked in the direction of the voice. Sitted on an expensive chair was a woman clothed in the most expensive clothes Roksolana had ever seen. Expensive jewelry complemented the expensive dressing. The hijab on her head screamed expensive, with all the beads adorning it. Roksolana had never seen such expensive dressing before. Roksolana didn't fail to see the other women in the room bowing
Roksolana's stomach grumbled loudly and she remembered that she hadn't eaten anything in three days. Looking back now, she realized the people on the ship must have starved her on purpose because the sultan must have given the order to them. While she had doubted the odds before, it was suddenly making sense. Roksolana thanked her luck that she hadn't given in to his atrocious request of being one of his concubines."I'll get you something to eat." The maid told Roksolana before disappearing out of her sight.Roksolana was left to herself for no more than ten minutes before the maid was back. The maid sprayed the food she had brought in front of Roksolana who didn't bother to check what they were before devouring them. After she ate to her heart's content, she looked at the maid and smiled."What's your name?" Roksolana asked the maid."Seyiddah." The maid replied."Thank you Seyiddah but I think you should go back now to avoid getting in trouble,"
Roksolana felt like she was drowning in a pool of water. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break free. It was when she started gasping to breathe that she realized someone was trying to drown her. Apprehensive, she opened her eyes and found her head immersed in a bucket full of water. Struggling to breathe, she grabbed the hand of whoever was holding her and flipped the person forward. The culprit let out a loud grunt. Roksolana coughed until she felt her lung was cleared. She cleared her eyes and looked at the person who had just tried to kill her. She was surprised to see a man who looked like a guard on the floor.Anger filled Roksolana up as the man tried to escape. She doesn't even know the man or did anything wrong to him. Yet, he had just tried to take her life. Roksolana held the man by his collar as he tried to run away. The man tried to loosen her hold on him but she held on firmly. Roksolana felt a blow on her face and let go of the man immediately. As soo
Before he could stop himself, he was holding Roksolana in his arm, turning her every which way he could to check her for any injury. He went even as far as checking her eyeballs for any signs he could get. When he was satisfied that she hadn't been injured, he let go of her. He saw Roksolana subtly roll her eyes.Jamal looked at the man who had tried to injure Roksolana, unmoving form. His face was severely bruised and he had some cuts on his face. Jamal knew that the man had thought of Roksolana as a mere woman who couldn't defend herself, hence the reason for his rash decision. Knowing that men would probably be wary of getting on the bad side of Roksolana, he felt a bit at ease. But he still felt a little uneasy knowing that her life could be in danger?"What're all the commotions for?" Lady Miriam asked, finally appearing with a face full of makeup.Jamal knew that Lady Miriam was a vain woman, but he hadn't known it was so bad until this morning when she re
Roksolana bit her lips as she came face to face with Lady Miriam. She hoped the woman hadn't realized what had happened between the sultan and her. She didn't need to add jealousy to the woman's reason for hating her. Her eyes widened as she saw Lady Miriam walk toward her with a menacing look. Roksolana took a step backward for each step Lady Miriam took until her back hit furniture in the room. When lady Miriam got to where she was, she slapped Roksolana hard on her face. Removing the hijab on Roksolana's head, Miriam wrapped it around her neck, choking her with it. Roksolana slapped the woman's hand, but she refused to let go. It wasn't until Roksolana was losing consciousness that the woman released her."I'll make sure you regret making the sultan mad this morning." Lady Miriam told Roksolana. "Is there anyone out there?" The woman called out.A man rushed in immediately. Roksolana couldn't believe her ears when Lady Miriam ordered the man to tie her to a chair. B
"I tried to make him sleep with me but it didn't work." She heard Lady Miriam say."You know he must sleep with you, so he can believe the baby inside you belongs to him." A man's voice replied to her."I know. But, his mind seemed to be on that new slave. I tried to tempt the slave to injure me but she didn't fall for it. I thought about injuring myself to frame her, but I am afraid of hurting our baby." Lady Miriam told the man again."When can I come to spend the night with you again?" It was the mysterious voice again."If that idiot of a Sultan chose another mistress tonight instead of me, you can come over. But we should pray to Allah that he chooses me, so our plan would work." Lady Miriam said to the man."Let me go away before that woman comes back." The voice spoked.Roksolana moved away from the door as fast as she could without giving herself away. She hid herself from the house and watched as a figure she couldn't make his face
Roksolana tried to loosen the guard's hand, holding her arm tightly. Her efforts didn't yield any positive impact, as the man only tightened his hand more. She nearly cried as the man's fingers bit into the injuries Lady Miriam had given her earlier.Roksolana felt angry, thinking about how she had gotten herself into her current predicament. If she hadn't opened her mouth to the Sultan about what she saw, perhaps she would be resting her wounds right now. She should have just thought of another way to use her ace card rather than babble to the man who calls himself a Sultan. What had she expected anyway? That the man would choose her over his favorite mistress? And now only Allah knows how he would want to punish her. It could be another round of beating or throwing her to another concubine worse than Lady Miriam.Roksolana gr
Jamal watched as one of his entourage led Roksolana away. When she came to him earlier, he almost didn't believe her. He thought she might be looking for revenge, given how Miriam had treated her. But, looking back at her previous actions, he realized that she would rather kill the person herself and face the punishment than go through foul means. The woman had even slapped him that morning knowing he was the sultan and she could lose her life over her action. She had also disregarded his title and called him by his name when everyone could hear.After she had left, he had sat down and thought back about Miriam's action towards him ever since he came back from the journey. While she had always responded to his touch, she hadn't always been enthusiastic about having sex with him. Sometimes, she would just lie down like a log of wood while he had his way with her. But, since he came back two we
Roksolana stood up the moment she heard someone clear their throat, and saw Jamal standing close to her. Her first thought was to take out the knife and kill him with it, but her rational mind reminded her that it was a small knife and it wouldn't do much damage if she intended to kill the man in one go. Besides, the man seemed to be looking at her intently, like he was searching her thoughts. Roksolana decided that it would be better not to alert the man about her motive, she needed to succeed on her first try.Jamal looked at Roksolana and wondered why she was so lost in thoughts, even though he was standing in front of her. She would have slapped him or stabbed him every other day, so why not today? If he was to look deep into her soul, he might find that she still wanted to kill him. She was probably just thinking about a much more gruesome way to do it. Jamal decided that it would be bet
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