"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.Roksolana watched at the fading figure of the man's body and sighed. Understanding that from the little time she had been with the man, he would make true his threat if she wasn't out by his allocated time or if she injured the maids. It's not like she would do that anyway. She wasn't about to let out her anger on innocent women who might be victims of their circumstances just as she was. She undressed and got into the bathing pot. She was surprised to find the water warm and relaxing.She didn't fail to notice that the maids were afraid of coming near her, judging by the distance they were from her. She decided to relieve their fear."I won't hurt you. I just said that out of anger."The two women moved to her immediately and began to help her. They shared companionship in silence for a few minutes, until one of the women broke the silence."You are lucky to get the attention of the Sultan." She told Roksolana."What Sultan?" Roksolana asked."She mean
Roksolana felt bored being left alone all by herself for two days. Ever since the incident between her and the general had happened, he had stayed clear of her. His assistant, Sodeeq had suddenly gone missing from her presence too. Even Ayeshat hadn't come around to check up on her. As a matter of fact, no one had bothered to ask her if she was hungry or wanted to eat. They hadn't even brought a plate of food for her to even think about rejecting. She was so famished right now, she wouldn't mind eating even a human.Roksolana felt uneasy about it all. It felt like this was a calm before a storm. She didn't know why, but she felt like Jamal was up to something. What it was she didn't know, but she knew it had to be bad. Judging by her experience of him, she knew he must have given the order for no one to come near her or even act as if she existed.Was he still angry at her about the incident? After walking away from him and calming down, Roksolana had realized that she had
Jamal simply looked at her, before choosing to ignore her again. Roksolana was surprised by his actions. He had done it twice in thirty minutes and it was getting on her nerves. What was with him and the treatment he was giving her? Jamal readjusted his clothing at the sleeve, pretending that he hadn't heard what Roksolana said. He was boiling with anger. He had arrived at his sultanate only to find the shore empty, devoid of any security. His brain had immediately told him that they could have easily been besieged if it was an army from another sultanate that found that weakness against them. Turning to the second in command, he spoke. "Why was the shoreline not guided?"The man trembled as he answered, "I left people here for security. I didn't realize that they slacked off, Sultan.""You didn't realize?" Jamal barked in anger. The other man fell to his knee immediately.Roksolana became afraid of the man she was looking at. This was no longer the man sh
Jamal watched as she was dragged off, her knees scraping the floor and her voice still pleading for the men he had already ordered their death. He wondered what type of woman she was not to care about her own life. Any other woman would be on her knees pleading and groveling for her life. Jamal knew flogging a woman thirty times is like offering death to the woman the hard way. If the flogging doesn't kill her, her body would be marred for life. And a woman's beauty is in the spotlessness of her body."Sultan, stop them. She's just a woman and thirty strokes of the cane would kill her," Sodeeq pleaded to Jamal."Choose then. Your men staying alive or her not getting flogged," Jamal offered Sodeeq.Sodeeq's eyes widened at what the words implied. The sultan just gave him a chance to make a choice and that had never happened before. It was a pick one, leave one choice. If Roksolana got flogged, his men's lives would be spared. But if he chose Roksolana instead, he
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