“Why would he hate you?” The door closed behind them as they exited the apartment.
“It’s a long, complicated story.” He tugged her along behind him, his long strides forcing her into a jog to keep up.
“If he hates you so much, then why take Noel? Why not come directly for you?”
“For the same reason you probably thought he’d taken Noel because of you. He knew taking Noel would hurt me most.” His jaw settled into a hard line.
“It was foolish of him to go back to Cape Ndugu. He should have known you’d go looking for him there once we found out he was gone.”
Abdalla and Yasir waited at the head of the stairs, and the three of them rushed to the first floor. This time of night, the halls were empty, their footsteps making only a slight sound as they hurried across the marble.
They were making their way to the exit when Kofi, leading the group, suddenly swung around and frowned at Dahlia.
“You’re right. He counted on Aofa cracking and sending us in that direction. Or, at the very least, he knew we’d question everyone about Noel’s disappearance, including him. If we couldn’t find him, he knew the first place we’d look was the village. Which means he didn’t go back to Cape Ndugu.” His eyes lifted toward the ceiling. “He’s in the palace.”
“But Your Highness, if he’s here, how will we find him? He could be anywhere,” Yasir said.
“Not anywhere.” Kofi’s eyes widened. “You must pay for your sins. He’s with the king!”
The three men took off running, and Dahlia raced behind them. The king’s quarters were on the third floor. The men had longer legs and were in better shape, sprinting up the stairs two at a time, with Kofi leading the way.
On the way up, Abdalla spoke Mbutu into a device attached to his wrist. Dahlia didn’t know what he said or to whom, but his voice adequately conveyed a message of urgency to the other party.
Outside his father’s apartment, Kofi jammed his thumb to the panel and the door swung open. By the time Dahlia caught up, she was out of breath, but she pushed through and met them outside Babatunde’s bedroom suite.
Kofi pounded on the door and wiggled the doorknob.
“Father, it’s Kofi. Are you all right?”
He wiggled the knob again.
Not a single sound came from inside.
“I need to get in there.” He stepped back and looked at Abdalla. “Open it.”
The big man smashed his huge foot into the door. The frame splintered on the inside, and the door slammed against the interior wall. Abdalla stepped back immediately and let Kofi take the lead.
“I have a gun. Don’t come in here!” Kemal’s voice.
“I’m unarmed.” With his arms raised high, Kofi eased forward into the room.
“Kofi, no,” Dahlia whispered.
He continued to move, hands up, until he advanced several feet inside the room. Dahlia stood on the outside, both hands covering her mouth, watching the tense scene unfold.
“Baba!”
At the sound of her son’s voice, Dahlia charged in after Kofi and skidded to a stop. To her horror, Kemal stood at the foot of the king’s bed, a gun pointed at him and Noel. The toddler, huddled at his grandfather’s side, lifted his head up and reached out a hand. “Mommy.”
“Hold onto him, or I will blow his brains out,” Kemal said to the king.
Babatunde tightened his grip on his grandson.
“Mommy.” Noel began to cry. Fat tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Kemal, please. Let me comfort him,” Dahlia said.
Kemal swung the gun at her. “Shut up.” He swung the weapon back to the king. “Move, and I’ll kill him.”
Dahlia kept her eyes on her son, only feet away but she couldn’t touch him. “It’s okay, Noel.” She put a finger to her lips.
“Shut him up,” Kemal said.
Babatunde didn’t appear to be the least bit ruffled by the current situation. “He’s a child and he’s scared. Let his mother comfort him.”
Kemal laughed without humor and, using the gun to point, said, “You can’t help yourself, can you? You have to be the man in charge. You have to speak out of turn, as if you’re in control of this situation. Get this through your head, old man. I am in control right now!”
While Kemal was distracted with the king, Kofi took advantage and eased a few more inches into the room. “Yes, you’re in charge. You have our father. You have me. Let Noel and Dahlia go.”
Kemal snorted. “Why should I let anyone go? I have the last of the Karunzika male heirs right here. I could end your lineage and alter the line of succession to the throne.”
Every muscle in Dahlia’s body froze. Surely he wouldn’t slaughter them all.
“You would throw the entire kingdom into chaos,” Kofi said.
“But when the dust settles, the people will have no choice but to accept their new king.”
“That would be Kehinde or the king’s other brother.”
Kemal laughed so hard the gun shook in his hand. “Come now, you know that’s not true. Prince Kehinde is unfit and uninterested in being king. The same goes for Babatunde’s other brother, who is too busy chasing women and strong drink around the world. We both know who should rightfully ascend the throne after the old man is dead. The only one qualified and with the right temperament to lead.”
What was he talking about? And why did Kofi say our father a few seconds ago, instead of my father? She gasped when it dawned on her why he chose that specific pronoun and what it meant.
Kemal smirked. “She doesn’t know, does she? But something tells me she’s starting to understand. Should I tell her, Kofi, or will you? Who will tell the fair princess that her husband’s title rightfully belongs to someone else?”
“You have no right to the crown. It doesn’t belong to you,” Babatunde said.
“I should have been the crown prince after Jafari died,” Kemal snarled, face twisting into an ugly mask. “I should be next in line, not Kofi. Tell her. Tell her why I should be next in line and not you.”
When Kofi didn’t start talking, Kemal pointed the gun and aimed right at his chest. Dahlia took a step back, fear clamping tight around her throat.
Kofi lifted his head to a haughty angle and said, “Kemal believes he should be the crown prince, because my father had an affair with his mother, and as the second oldest son, he believes he should be next in line. But the line of succession goes through the Great Wife, my mother, Queen Nahla.”
“I don’t believe I should be the crown prince. If there were any justice, I would have been. I would have been raised in The Grand Palace, not stuck in a coastal village with my mother, who lived in shame until her death. Why? Because she had the misfortune to fall in love with a man who has no heart and doesn’t understand what love is. A man who couldn’t stay faithful to his wife—his queen—and refused to take care of the woman he said he cared about. Never bringing her into the palace and making her a legitimate wife.”
“I did care about your mother. I built the largest house in the village for her, and I gave her money—” Babatunde said.
“You did not care about my mother!” Kemal wiped spittle from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. “You did not care about me, or that I had no father growing up and didn’t receive any special treatment, though I have royal blood running through my veins. I was considered a shame and an embarrassment, and hidden like a dirty secret. Well, I’m not a secret anymore. Get up.”
Dahlia’s hand covered her mouth. What was he going to do? She glanced behind her but saw no sign of Abdalla or Yasir. Where were they?
“I’m an old man. I don’t care about myself. Let them go and deal with me the way you want to.”
“I said get up,” Kemal said slowly.
Noel wasn’t making a sound, his face buried in his grandfather’s armpit. But when Babatunde grabbed the staff beside his bed and gingerly got to his feet, Noel pressed his face into a pillow, put his hands over the ba
ck of his head, and started crying.
“Please let me go to him,” Dahlia begged.
Kemal rolled his eyes. “Fine. Go to him and shut him up. Or I will.”
Dahlia crossed the floor and climbed onto the bed. She pulled Noel against her breasts, mashing his face into her neck. She gently rocked him and spoke in a hushed voice, encouraging him to be quiet.
“Now, oh great king, you will give me the respect that I deserve.”
“Kemal, this isn’t the way,” Kofi said.
“Shut up. You brought me here after Jafari and your mother died, as if I should be happy to serve you.”
“I gave you a job because we’re brothers.”
Kemal sneered. “How could we possibly be brothers when we aren’t on equal footing? You wanted me here because Jafari was gone.”
“That’s not true. I asked you to come because I wanted a relationship with you.”
“Then why didn’t you bring me here and try to have a relationship before he died?”
“I couldn’t hurt my mother in that way.”
“Is that the real reason, or is it because you’re as selfish as our wonderful father? As indifferent and uncaring as he is?”
“What do you want?” Babatunde asked.
“What do I want? I know I won’t get your love, so I’ll settle for your respect. I want you to bow down to me and show me the respect I deserve.”
“Bow?” The king repeated the word as if he’d never heard it before.
Rage filled Kemal’s eyes, and air blew from his nose in a loud whoosh. “Bow!”
Babatunde lifted his head high and stared his son in the eye. “A king bows to no one but his queen.”
Kemal leveled the gun at his father’s chest and the room erupted into chaos. A door at the other end of the bedroom crashed open with a bang and fell flat on the floor. Oriyeh rolled in and took cover behind a piece of furniture. Kemal fired off two shots at her before getting slammed to the floor by Kofi, the tackle audibly forcing air from his lungs and sending the gun skidding across the floor out of reach.
Abdalla and Yasir came bounding through the same entrance. As Yasir rushed the king out the door, Abdalla lifted Dahlia with Noel in her arms, from the bed. He swept toward the exit, while a slew of guards descended on the room and swarmed Kemal like an army of ants attacking a hapless insect.
27
The nightmare was over.
Sitting on the bed, Dahlia simultaneously sipped tea and watched over Noel, fast asleep with one arm around his wiggle worm. She smoothed a hand down his back and set the cup on the table. Stretching, she walked over to the window and squinted at the brightness of the sun. Another lovely day outdoors, but in here, a quiet sadness had settled over the palace. Staff smiled and remained polite, but they were watchful. She sensed their eyes on her, and the confrontation with Kemal had sucked the energy out of everyone who resided there.
Kofi came in and stopped in the middle of the room, dressed in a plum-colored suit and striped tie.
“You’re going out?” He hid his emotions well. Not once since the incident had she seen him give any indication he’d been affected by Kemal’s actions. His father behaved the same way, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Just another day like any other at the palace.
“I have a meeting with Alistair Davies.” He shot a glance at Noel. “How is he?”
“Better.”
Last night marked the first night he hadn’t woken up. Quite a change from the first two nights, when he whimpered while he slept and woke up several times, only going back to sleep after she rocked him and whispered soothing words.
“And you?” he asked.
“I’ve been better, but I’ll be fine.”
“You haven’t been eating.”
Dahlia shrugged.
“You should eat. To keep up your strength.”
She hadn’t been eating much because she didn’t have much of an appetite. “You’re right. I’ll have Mariama bring me a glass of orange juice and some toast.” She shifted from one foot to the other. “Is there some reason you never told me Kemal was your half-brother?”
She remained dumbfounded at Kemal’s plot to punish the king and Kofi. He used his knowledge and ability to travel throughout The Grand Palace without suspicion to leave the note for the king and slip undetected into Kofi’s bedroom and hers, using the escape room as Oriyeh suggested.
He raised an eyebrow. “You think I kept it from you on purpose?”
“I don’t know. Did you?”
“He was sensitive about it.” Kofi shrugged. “He never told me so, but I knew he didn’t like admitting he was the illegitimate son of a king.” He shoved a hand in his pants pocket. “He was bitter, but I had no idea just how much. The fact that we were brothers was an open secret. Everyone knew, but we never discussed it with anyone, or with each other except for once or twice that I can recall. I would have told you eventually, but it simply never came up. When I brought him into the palace, I thought I was doing the right thing by establishing a relationship with him. And the entire time...” His eyes focused outside the window. Clearly, Kemal’s hatred for him and his father left Kofi speechless.
“What’s going to happen to him?” Dahlia asked.
His jaw and lips tightened. “My father has signed a decree. He’ll be hanged.”
A cold chill swept down Dahlia’s spine. “H-hanged?”
Kofi kept his eyes trained on the mountains in the distance.
“A-and Aofa?” she asked.
Sadness settled over his face. “Justice will be served.”
“How?”
“She will be hanged, too.”
She rushed over to where he stood, emotionless, unmoving, and grabbed his arm. “No, that doesn’t make any sense. Kemal forced her to participate.”
“She poisoned our son to get him away from the birthday party and hand him over to Kemal. She was an active participant in the kidnapping of one member of the royal family and the attempted murder of another—the king.”
“He threatened her grandchildren, Kofi. She would’ve never participated in his crazy plot otherwise. I agree, she should be punished, but hanged? Even Kemal, what he did was wrong, but we’re all still alive.”
“He threatened to wipe out our entire line and throw the country into chaos.”
“Then lock him up and throw away the key, but you can’t kill him. Does the council know? Did they approve the king’s decree?” She would speak to them herself if she had to, to convince them to overrule the king’s decision.
“We don’t need The Most High Council’s permission. Zamibia is an absolute monarchy, which means the king has unrestricted power, and anything he says is law. The royal family chooses to include the council in their decision-making, to give the people a voice.”
Dahlia blinked. “The council has no power?”
“They are advisors. Nothing more. Their power is limited to duties extended to them by the king.”
“All right, fine. Still, he’s your brother. He’s Babatunde’s son.”
“A brother and son who wanted no part of the life he was offered and threatened to murder us. Do you understand what that means? If we don’t enforce the law, what do you think will happen? Someone else will try. Our son won’t be safe in his own home, or anywhere. None of us will be.”
“This...this is barbaric,” Dahlia whispered.
Kofi’s mouth shifted into a sardonic smile. “You pulled a dagger on Aofa.”
Her cheeks flushed. “In the heat of the moment, I made a mistake.”
“You didn’t make a mistake. There’s a bit of barbarian in all of us.”
She hated she couldn’t change his mind. “I wish there was another way.” Her throat became tight with emotion.
“The law must be obeyed.”
“Babatunde would listen to you. You have the power to grant Kemal and Aofa mercy.”
“Yes, I do. But they did this. Not me, and not my father.”
“I’m not going to change your mind, am I?”
“No, you won’t.”
Quiet descended between them.
She wrapped her arms around her waist, suddenly feeling cold and distant from him. They would never see eye to eye on this matter, and sadness filled her when she recalled Aofa’s tear-filled eyes begging her for mercy. Yet there was nothing she could do.
“How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t expect my meeting to last long. Why?”
Clasping her hands in front of her, she said, “You and I need to talk, about us, and...things.” She owed him an apology for the accusation she’d thrown at him when she panicked over Noel.
For a split second, his expression tightened, and then he dropped his gaze to fiddle with his cuffs. “I agree. We have plenty to talk about.” His chest lifted up and down as he breathed in and out deeply. “A lot has taken place over the past few days with the arrest of Aofa and Kemal. We’ve since confirmed there were no other people involved. During all of this, I’ve been thinking about you and me and Noel.” His gaze shifted to their son asleep on the bed and remained there for a long time. “I’ve decided to send you and Noel back to America.”
Dahlia’s hand touched her throat. “Excuse me, what? Why?”
Expressionless eyes looked into hers. “I can’t risk another incident like what happened this weekend.”
“Unless you have another half-brother who’ll kidnap Noel and try to murder your father, I think we’re safe.” Dahlia laughed shakily. “Kofi, where is this coming from?”
“You were right. I told you I could protect you, and I didn’t.”
“I know what I said, and that’s precisely what I wanted to talk to you about. I was wrong. I was emotional when Noel went missing and the things I said...they, they were said in a panicked state. You’re not Superman. I don’t expect you to have super powers and protect us all the time. We have guards and other measures to keep us safe. Kofi...” Her throat went dry, and she swallowed hard. “I don’t want to leave.”
“The decision isn’t up to you. I have made the decision.” He glanced at his watch.
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