by Leslie North
“Not at all, Tiana, but is it not better to gather bees with honey than with vinegar?” At Tiana’s slight nod, the King rose pulling Tiana with him. “Come, let us have lunch together.”
Oo00oO
Zara took a stroll in the palace gardens hoping to run into the King. She was disappointed when she did not see him there. Stupidly she had listened to her sister. She was into the whole fairy tale idea and encouraged Zara to go to the gardens once more and if she bumped into the King, then he wanted to see her again. Zara wanted to see him, but she did not know why.
She knew it was asking for trouble. She sighed, turned on her heel and walked slowly looking at the ground. She squeaked when she bumped into something. She held her forehead as she looked up. “Your Majesty!” she cried out and jumped backwards. She quickly bowed her head. The King smiled at her.
“You're here,” the King said. He had hoped that she would be there.
“I…I am,” Zara replied quietly.
“Take a walk with me.”
Zara stared at him for a moment wondering if she had heard correctly. The King gestured toward the path and started walking. She followed him but walked a few steps behind him. His retinue walked behind them keeping a considerable distance.
“Walk with me, not behind me,” the King said to Zara.
“I would not dare, your Majesty.”
The King stopped and took a few steps backwards. “Do I need to hold your hand for you to walk with me?” he joked. Zara's eyes and jaw flew open. She tried to reply to him but no words left her mouth. The King laughed. It was so easy to tease her. “Relax,” he said to her as he continued walking.
“Is there something on your mind?” Zara asked, diverting his attention away from herself.
“There is plenty on my mind,” the King sighed. There was always something on his mind.
“How can I help?”
The King sighed. Zara could not help even if she tried. It was up to him to resolve his present issues. For a moment, they walked in silence. The King started telling her about Tiana and Amira. Zara was not sure she should be hearing about them but she could not exactly stop the King from speaking. So, she listened quietly. He seemed rather fed up, which took her by surprise.
“I witnessed their disagreement a few days ago,” Zara said.
“Disagreement? More like the beginning of a war,” the King replied. He slid his hands into his pockets. Zara could not help but laugh. War? A bit of an exaggeration on his part. The King stopped walking and looked at her. It was the first time that she had laughed in his presence.
Chapter 5
“You laugh, but I am telling you the truth. These women drew their swords and the queen has drawn first blood,” the King said to Zara.
“It must be hard on you,” she replied with compassion.
“Don't look at me with pity.”
“I dare not, your Majesty.” Zara bowed her head immediately.
“You are meant to see this glorious, handsome King when you look at me,” the King said flatly. Zara was not sure if that was meant to be a joke but she found herself giggling uncontrollably. “And yet she laughs,” he added.
“I did not mean to,” Zara apologised as she snorted in amusement.
“No, it's good. Be yourself around me.”
“You do not know what you are asking for,” Zara warned the King. He raised an eyebrow. He was intrigued.
“Should I be afraid?”
“No” Zara smiled. “I am joking. I am rather simple.”
The King silently disagreed. She was anything but simple. There was something about her that drew him to her and he wanted to know more about her; actually, he wanted to know everything about her. They carried on walking in the garden. Zara asked a little bit more about the queen and his concubine. She was shocked with what she learnt. She always thought that palace life would be so glamorous and luxurious but it was true, not all that glittered was gold.
One of the King's maids, Alma, approached them. She bowed her head before she spoke. “You are wanted in the office,” she said politely. The King nodded and returned his attention to Zara.
“It is unfortunate but I have to return to the office.”
Zara bowed her head to him. She was not sure how she was to respond to him calling it a misfortune. He rubbed her shoulder before he left. Zara remained on the same spot frozen for a few moments. The King had just touched her shoulder. Actually touched her. She couldn’t understand why he showed any interest in her much less wanted to spend time with her. Her sister was going to love hearing about it.
The King returned to his office promptly. He had a meeting that he had completely forgotten about. Time flew whilst he was talking to Zara. His only regret was that he had spoken about his marital issues most of the time. He wished he had gotten to know more about Zara. However, she seemed like a closed person. She was not going to open up easily.
Oo00oO
Tiana was having the worst day of her life. First, the queen had forbid her from leaving the palace. When she attempted to leave without the queen’s knowledge to go into town, she found that the drivers had been forbidden from taking her anywhere. She was palace bound and furious. Amira had stopped her from getting her dresses made and now she was not allowed to leave the palace.
Second, since news travelled fast in the palace, she had heard that the King had spent his afternoon with a palace maid. Even though it sounded innocent, there was no reason for him to speak to a maid unless he was issuing an order. Tiana was unsettled. She did not like this idea of him spending so much time with a lowly maid.
“It could have been a one off occasion, my lady,” Miriam said to Tiana.
“One too many!” Tiana cried out.
“It is probably nothing.”
“Fine. But I am never wrong about these things. If they ever meet again, I want to know about it.”
“Yes, my lady. I will keep an ear out,” Miriam bowed her head.
Tiana sighed deeply. It was bad enough that she had to deal with the queen; she did not want to have another woman to deal with. She was done being merciful. The King belonged to her and she was prepared to take any steps necessary to assure that remained true.
Oo00oO
The queen was enjoying her power trip. It brought her joy to make Tiana miserable. She had stopped her chauffeur services. She knew how much Tiana loved to be out and about. That definitely would have infuriated her. However, the queen was only getting warmed up. She was not going to stop until Tiana knew her place, until she understood that she had no power that she was only a mistress. Perhaps, if she made her miserable enough, she would leave.
The queen made a trip to the King's office later that day where he found her waiting for him outside his office. When he asked her why she waited for him; she could have simply sent a maid to summon him to her quarters, she told him that she wanted to spend more time with him.
They returned to Amira's quarters together. She had the maids prepare a special supper for the King consisting of his favourite foods. Her plan was to feed him his favourite foods and then have him spend the night in her quarters. She had to win the King back and she knew that Tiana would be angry about it. It was perfect.
The King enjoyed the dinner. The food and wine were great. The conversation was perfect. It had been a while since the King had enjoyed the queen's company. After dinner, they retired to her bedroom. The queen was pleased that everything was going according to plan. She slipped into an appealing nightdress and got into bed with the King. She leaned in to kiss him, but instead of responding with passion, the King gave her a chaste kiss, but refused to go further. He simply wanted to go to sleep. The queen had not anticipated that at all.
The next morning, the queen had breakfast with the King and acted as if nothing had happened. She did not want to show him that it had bothered her. Her mission was to keep him happy and annoy Tiana. It was a well-kept secret that the King refused any sexual liaisons with her. Tiana w
ould have no way of knowing that the King did not touch her unless he told her, so it was still a winning situation, but Amira knew that if she was going to produce an heir things would have to change soon. She made sure to kiss the King goodbye as he left for the office. She knew that kiss was going to be the talk of the palace. News always travelled fast.
And indeed, it travelled fast. Tiana threw her breakfast plate on the floor as she sat there huffing with anger. Her maids asked her to calm down but she couldn't. She was too angry. She knew the queen was doing all of this to get under her skin. The queen was flaunting her power and humiliating Tiana. The whole palace was talking about the kiss and how the queen walked with the King from his office. They were saying that the queen was back as his favourite.
“She will never win back the King's heart; she never had it,” Tiana said to Miriam.
“The King is very smart, he will see through her. Do not worry about her winning him over,” Miriam said to Tiana.
Miriam was Tiana's friend long before she became the King's mistress. When she was brought to the palace and became the King's official mistress, she brought Miriam with her as her head maid. They were very close and Tiana routinely confided in and plotted with her.
“Fine, I will sit back and see how far she goes, but I will be prepared to hit back.”
“Yes, my lady, allow the queen to play all her cards.”
“I have to get pregnant before her,” Tiana said with a tight smile. That shouldn't be too hard for her to achieve, so long as she could prevent the King from copulating with the queen instead of with her. If she was with child, then Amira could do nothing to her. The queen may have drawn first blood, but she was going to make sure she drew the last.
Chapter 6
The King sat with his queen and mistress for their weekly breakfast. The air was thick with tension. The King ate his breakfast silently; he expected them to fight about something. He simply wanted to finish his breakfast and leave as quickly as possible. While he could tolerate them individually, collectively they had grown intolerable. It was now worse for them to be together because of the past week. Despite appealing to Tiana to behave, he knew that she was going to hit back any time soon. There was no way that she would let the queen do what she wanted with her. She was not that type of woman.
“You look nice today,” the queen said to Tiana. The King almost choked on his drink when he heard her. Was Amira really complimenting Tiana? Never in his relationship with them both had he witnessed that. Tiana looked up and gave her a forced smile. She could hear the sarcasm in that statement. She was saying that she looked nice in her old clothes, rubbing it in that she had prevented Tiana from getting new clothes made for her.
“Don't I always?” Tiana asked. She knew the queen wanted a reaction out of her. The King saw Tiana smiling at the queen and frowned. Obviously, something was happening. He sighed and shook his head.
“Hmm,” Amira sounded and sipped her tea.
Tiana picked up a knife and looked at the queen. “Shall I cut you...,” she paused for a second. The King whipped his head in her direction. “A slice of melon, my queen?” she finished her sentence with a smirk. The queen narrowed her gaze. She wanted to grab the knife and cut her instead.
“Please do,” the queen said. “It is your place to serve those of a higher station than you.” She returned the smirk. Tiana cut a large slice and put it on a plate before handing it to the queen.
“I hope it’s not too small.”
“You're too generous.”
“No, my queen, you are more generous. No woman can share a husband as easily as you do.”
The King grunted and put his cutlery down. The atmosphere had grown increasingly uncomfortable and the veiled comments were disrespectful. They always fought in his presence as if he was not even there. “That is enough,” he said to them both and stood up.
“Your Majesty!” Tiana and Amira both cried out.
“I will leave you two to fight freely.”
“My King!” Amira said and stood up from the table.
“I am warning the both of you now; do not fight in my presence again. You will respect my position and at least pretend to get along, or not speak at all. In fact, no more meals for the three of us.” The King walked out. It was about time he stopped these painful meals. They were not doing anyone any good. He had let them get out of hand and now it was time to step in. The King headed to his office. At least he could bury himself in work for the next couple of hours. He had a few meetings lined up for the day that he needed to prepare for.
It was nearing lunchtime and the King was looking forward to having lunch with his friend, James. He had been in meetings all morning and had grown tired of them. Between his bickering wives and the constant jockeying for power among the local sheiks, he was in desperate need of some peace and counsel.
The King's maid, Alma, set the table for the King and James. When he arrived, she served them both. James bowed to the King before he sat down. The King was pleased to see him; he was his closest friend and confidant and the King realized that it had been too long since they sat down together. “How are your girls?” the King asked about his daughters.
“Females are hard to deal with,” James replied. The King laughed.
“Tell me about it.”
“It will be worse once they get into their teenage years. It already feels like they are.”
The King laughed before he responded. “I always thought your girls were sweet.”
“To you, maybe,” James sighed. “How are your women?”
The King shrugged his shoulders. “Troublesome as always.” He took a sip from his glass. He updated James on what had been happening in the palace. To his surprise, James laughed. The King raised his eyebrows.
“Pardon my laughter, your Majesty, but it started off with dresses?”
The King realised how stupid it sounded. “Exactly, my friend. You should have seen how it was during breakfast this morning.”
James laughed again. The queen was all right before Tiana appeared. It was simply bitterness. When the King first agreed to a political union with Tiana, she was quiet and almost humble; however, the sudden rise in station coupled with attention from the King got to her head very quickly. It was a shame to see them turn out like this, fighting over trivial matters.
As the two men finished their meal, the King knocked over the yogurt sauce and it spilt on his sleeve. He grunted and picked up a napkin to wipe it off but it left a small stain. Alma offered to take it to the laundry, but the King refused and rose, stating that he would take it to the laundry himself.
“Why?” James asked. It was odd that the King was going to the laundry.
“No reason,” the King said and left the room. He headed to the palace laundry with his retinue trailing behind him. As he entered the laundry, the maids scrambled into position and bowed their heads.
“Your Majesty, what brings you here?” the laundry supervisor asked.
“I have a stain on my shirt,” the King replied.
“Your Majesty, you did not have to come, you could have summoned one of us instead.”
“It's one of my favourite shirts.”
Alma creased her eyebrows slightly. The King did not have any favourite shirts.
“I will personally get it clean for you,” the supervisor bowed her head.
“You do it,” the King said and pointed at Zara. All the maids turned to see who he was pointing at. Zara stood there with her eyes wide open unable to move. The King started walking toward her. Rachael, who was standing next to Zara, quickly elbowed her friend to get her moving.
“Your Majesty,” Zara said, her voice was as small as a child’s. Alma nodded to herself. The King had come to the laundry for Zara.
“I need you to wash my shirt and have it in my quarters by tonight. Will that be a problem?”
“Not at all, your Majesty.”
“I will also need a shirt to change into right now.”
> “Please, follow me.” Zara bowed her head and led the King out of the room. They went into the sewing area where there were changing rooms. “Please wait in here whilst I get you a new shirt.” Zara scrambled out of the room.
Zara gaped at the selection of shirts before her. How was she to choose a shirt for the King? She grabbed a few and delivered them to the King. It was better to let him pick for himself. She could not possibly know what he would prefer or suit him best.
“You are always in some sort of panic mode when I am around you,” the King said to Zara as she presented the shirts to him.
“Erm…it's just that…well…you're the King!” Zara could barely string a sentence properly with the King unbuttoning his shirt. She felt her cheeks turn red. “Would you like some privacy?”