Jamal woke up feeling a hot searing pain rising from his left arm and right stomach. His whole body felt like something heavy had been placed on it. He opened his eyes to find someone resting on him. Who had dared to do that, despite knowing that he hated being touched?
"Get up this instance, if you still want to live." He commanded the person.When Jamal didn't get any response from the person holding him tightly, he rolled the person to the floor roughly. He was surprised to find a knife firmly holding itself in his arm, he yanked it out and threw it across the floor. That was when his eyes fell on the person he had handled roughly.Looking at Roksolana on the floor, the fresh injury on his arm, and the knife on the floor, Jamal was able to connect the whole picture. She had attempted to end his life again. Jamal realized that something must have happened to make her fall unconscious and fail in her new mission.Grunting, he got up and got medicines and bandages from the medicine cabinet. After cleaning up the wound and bandaging himself, he examined his stomach. Seeing fresh blood oozing out of the bandage, he took off the soaked bandage and used a fresh bandage.He heard the door unlocked, and looked up to find Sodeeq standing by the door trying to figure out what was going on. Jamal knew when the situation registered itself in his best friend's mind when the other man's eyes widened. He saw Sodeeq running towards him and smiled."Laillah. I leave you alone with her for a few minutes and you already have another injury?" The man asked, examining the wound on his arm."I'm fine. It's just a scratch," Jamal told him."Let me put her somewhere else. Far from you, Sultan," Sodeeq tried to convince him."No!" Jamal shouted, a little too forceful. "Just get me a rope to tie her with." He finished.Sodeeq looked at Roksolana with a murdering gaze before going out of the room. In a minute, he was back with a rope long and thick enough to tie a lion. Without a word, he began to tie the one who the rope was meant for. He was done in a matter of five minutes and out of the door again, leaving Jamal to his thoughts.Jamal looked at Roksolana's unmoving body and sighed. As a Muslim sultanate that served Allah, women were nothing in the community, other than tools for childbearing. Yet, this was a woman who was skilled in fighting and did not wear a hijab or clothing meant for women. Jamal could not deny that he was fascinated by her. After all, she was the first woman to ever injure him. And that too, twice in a single day.If he was honest to himself, he would say that he had been fascinated by her while in her sultanate. Her cloth had clung to her in all the right places, showing the perfect curves of her hips and her exquisite long legs. Even though her hair was packed into a pony, Jamal had been fascinated by the way it flowed with her movements. She was a beautiful woman and he wanted to be with her. He had underestimated her earlier when they fought because of her beauty. He hadn't been willing to kill her because of her beautiful face too. He had hesitated to kill her family because he saw the sadness that crossed her beautiful face and he had wanted to erase that.Jamal was surprised to find himself getting aroused by the thoughts of the woman. He who has a harem full of concubines. He could have any woman he cares for, regardless of her status or who she belonged to. He wasn't starved for sex. Even when he wasn't interested in having sex, the women tempted him with their bodies, until he could no longer hold his urges. He had even had sex with 2 women at a time before. But, here was a woman who made him feel like he's been sex starved for days. Mere looking at her unconscious form on the floor made him wish he could tear off her clothes and have his way with her.Jamal knew that he had to get out of the room while he still had little control over his treacherous body. He stood up and moved to the door, opening it. Taking one last glance at Roksolana, he went out of the cabin and closed the door firmly behind him.It was almost nighttime when Jamal spotted a moving figure along the rail of the ship while he was discussing with his shipmaster. He didn't give it much thought until he noticed the dark pony hair shaking itself as the figure moved. He would recognize that hair anywhere. Knowing that Roksolana had somehow cut herself loose and was trying to escape made Jamal angry. He handed over the piece of paper in his hand to the man beside him and ran as fast as he could over to the woman who was responsible for his pains.Roksolana moved as stealthily as she could. She had woken up to an empty room and was bonded. She had deemed herself lucky when she saw her knife with a bloodstain on it a few feet away from her. With little effort, she had cut herself free, pocketed the knife, and dashed out from the room. She had been disappointed to find herself on a moving ship, which she knew nothing about the location it was headed to.As she moved quietly along the rails, she prayed no one w
"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 wome
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,"