by Kiru Taye
Ikem sat heavily on the pallet, lifting her onto his lap. He remained silent as he gently unbound her hands and removed the gag from her mouth. She sobbed with relief and hugged him tightly. He'd arrived in time. She still had a chance at a life with him. She said a silent prayer of gratitude to the gods.
"I'm sorry," he whispered gruffly to her as he rubbed her sore wrists.
Frowning, she leaned back and looked up at his still angry face. "Why are you sorry? It wasn't your fault that Edozie attacked me."
"I'm sorry I wasn't here to protect you from him."
"You saved me before he could do any serious damage. That's what matters."
"Now I have to prevent him from doing any more damage to anyone else." With his thumb he gently touched her aching lips. She winced in pain. "I'll get you a salve for this. For now you stay here."
He put her back on the pallet and stood up. Picking up the rope, he tied the unconscious Edozie's hands with it before dragging him out of her bedchamber. The look on Ikem's face told her he was going to do something really bad to Edozie. While she hated Edozie right now and wanted him punished, she didn't want Ikem to get into trouble for taking the matter into his own hands. Especially if he killed the man.
"Ikem, wait. What are you going to do with him?"
"It is nothing for you to worry about, Nneka. And for once you will obey my instructions. Otherwise you know the punishment will be severe. Don't push me." He glared at her. Though she could see his anger, she knew it wasn't directed at her.
"Ikem, I can't let you kill Edozie."
He ignored her and dragged the man outside. She tried to follow him, but he looked fiercely at her dress and shut the door. Angrily she looked down and realized she couldn't go outside dressed like she was. Her clothes were torn to shreds. She ran back to her room and changed into a new dress before running outside. Mgbeke and her children sobbed as Edozie was dragged away.
Unsure of what to do, Nneka ran to Obinna's house. He was the only person she knew who could talk to Ikem. As much as she disliked Mgbeke, she didn't want the woman to become a widow on her account. Plus, her father-in-law would lose a second son. She couldn't let that happen.
When she got to Obinna's house, she was out of breath from all the running. Luckily, the man in question was sitting outside but there was no Adaku in sight.
"Obinna, please come. Quickly."
He stood up as she approached. "Nneka, why are you out of breath? What is the matter?"
"Please, you have to come with me quickly. Ikem is about to commit murder."
"What? Why?" He stood still, frowning. She grew frustrated.
"Please let's go. I'll tell you on the way."
"Right." He followed her and on the way she told him what had happened. Looking worried, he stopped and looked her over before asking if she was all right. She told him she was fine, apart from the sore lip and headache.
"Edozie is a menace that needs to be stopped. It seems he has finally met his comeuppance," he said angrily as he resumed walking. "But still it is not for Ikem to deliver justice by his own hands. The matter needs to be referred to the elders for their decision."
"That's what I thought, too. You have to convince Ikem to stop this madness before it costs us all a lot more than one life."
It seemed Obinna understood her meaning. He quickened his pace. If Ikem killed Edozie in cold blood then his life would be forfeit. They arrived at the village square, where Ikem had tied a now-awake Edozie to a tree trunk. There was a gathering of people who seemed to be cheering Ikem on.
"You will confess your atrocities for all to hear, or by the gods you will meet your ancestors today," Ikem shouted as he paced up and down, his machete in his hand.
Nneka stood to the side as Obinna walked up to his friend, his hands raised in a placating manner. "Ikem, please calm down. You have to leave Edozie for the council. You cannot take matters into your own hands."
Ikem shook his head. "No. Edozie crossed the line this time. He attacked someone personal to me, someone dear to me. I'll not let him go until he confesses publicly. Enough is enough. He has touched the tiger's tail and he has to bear the consequences."
Edozie remain reticent until he saw Nneka. He stared straight at her, his evil intent visible in his eyes. "Is it that slut you're protecting?" Edozie nodded in her direction. "Do you think you're the only one who's had her?"
Ikem turned to look at her and stopped pacing. She sucked in breath quickly, a sickening feeling twirling in her stomach as Ikem's eyes narrowed in a frown.
"Why do you think I was in her hut today? We have been rutting like wild pigs for weeks. She promised she would be mine. I was only angry she'd reneged on her promise. I bet she plans to renege on her promise to you, too. She would rather be single so she can take her lovers whenever she wants. Moreover, she says you are not a son-of-the-soil so she would never stay true to you. You know I speak the truth. Ask her for yourself."
"Shut up!" Ikem growled menacingly, punching Edozie across the face. His blood ran cold with fury. So much of what the man said niggled at his normally tightly controlled insecurities. Most of his life he'd never allowed the fact that his father was not a citizen of Umunri to rile him. In fact, he'd worn it as a badge growing up. He'd gotten into many fights about it and won. In his adulthood, nobody dared mention it to him directly. Although he knew people spoke about it behind his back.
However, with Nneka, he'd never felt it was an issue. She'd never mentioned it to him before or shown any contempt about it. So they'd never really discussed it. Also he knew her ambition had been to stay single once released from her in-laws. He'd thought she'd finally seen sense and agreed to be his wife. Although she'd never given a verbal consent.
Fates!
She had him again. Just like she'd done that first time he'd asked her to meet him. And she'd said she'd never agreed to it. She'd never agreed verbally to marry him either.
And here I'm about to kill another man for her sake.
His chest tightened with excruciating pain. For a moment, he couldn't breathe well and had to force air into his body through his mouth. All strength departed from his body. He felt hollow. The pain of rejection he'd felt as a child when he'd realized he wasn't nw'ala did not match the pain he felt now. He'd made assumptions about Nneka that were never his to make. She needed her freedom more than she'd ever need him.
Stepping away from the tree, he lowered his machete. Behind him he could hear Obinna order some young men to untie Edozie and take him to the palace security holding cell. Sheathing his machete, Ikem turned and walked off without looking back. He'd only taken a few steps when Nneka blocked his path.
"You don't believe any of what Edozie just said, do you?" She looked angry, her brown eyes flashing fire, her arms akimbo. Flummoxed, he wondered what she had to be angry about. She'd gotten what she'd wanted above all else. Freedom.
"It doesn't matter what I think." Shaking his head, he tried to sidestep her, but she blocked him again.
"It matters to me, Ikem," she replied, peering at him with those blazing eyes he knew he was going to miss.
Letting out a resigned sign, he folded his arms across his chest. He would surely touch her if he didn't keep his hands out of the way. "Did you tell him you were never going to marry me because of my bastard status?"
"I didn't tell him anything. I was only trying to deflect Mgbeke's suspicions. She saw you delivering the firewood bundle and she started prying into our affair. It was the only thing I could think of to shut her up. I didn't mean it. She must have told Edozie."
A glimmer of hope flickered within his heart. He could see how his well-intentioned gesture would have caused suspicion. But still.
"Did you agree to be Edozie's wife?"
"I never agreed to be his wife. He had been pestering me for weeks. I was simply being diplomatic to avoid getting him upset until I secured my release. You know I'd never give myself to a man like that."
He watched her eye
s as she spoke, knowing she couldn't hide the truth from him in their dark depths. They appeared sincere enough.
"I remember you saying the same thing to me, Nneka."
"But that was different," she replied, sounding exasperated. He knew what was in her heart, but he wanted her to say it out loud for a change. It was no longer enough for him to make assumptions. He needed her to say how she felt.
"How is it different? You've never agreed to marry me. I've been the one relentlessly seeking your attention. While all you've ever wanted was your freedom. Well, you've got it now. You can live your life as a free, independent woman. I won't stand in your way."
"I won't be living very independently if my uncle marries me off to the next suitor that comes along." Her apparent frustration almost made him laugh.
"Well, you don't have to worry about that any longer. I paid your bride price yesterday, so technically you're my wife. But I release you. You are free of any obligations toward me."
She looked at him, her mouth opened, stunned into silence. When she didn't say anything for a while, he broke the silence.
"You are free to go, Nneka. Go and let me be." He turned away.
"Don't you see I don't want that freedom if it means a life without you?" He felt her cool hand on his arm, stopping him from walking away. "I'm willing to do whatever you want. I'll even turn into a meek little wife, if that's what you want."
He turned and faced her, keeping his expression schooled. Did he really want to cage this tigress? She was a free spirit by nature. He didn't want her to change.
"You lie, Nneka. I bet you will disobey my commands and argue with me nonstop."
"No, I won't," she insisted as she pleaded with him.
He shook his head and laughed. He definitely didn't want her to change. It would take the fun out of their relationship. "You just did."
"Please." She knelt in front of him and lowered her eyes. "You did promise that you and you alone would provide for my needs. Who will you have doing the job in your absence?" She looked at him seductively through her long, dark lashes, the tempting tigress. She knew exactly how to get under his skin. She was throwing him a challenge. There was no way he would allow another man to touch her the way he did. And she knew it too.
"I only have one question for you and I need the truth. I need you to say it out loud so everyone here will hear."
"Yes, I'll be totally honest." She nodded vigorously.
"Nneka, will you be my wife?" he spoke loudly so those around them could hear him.
Her eyes widened and her breath hitched. "Yes!" she shouted for all to hear too.
He understood what it took for her to make such a public declaration. She hadn't said it lightly. Drawing her up, he pulled her into a hug and whispered in her ear so that no one else would hear. "In that case, you have to be punished for disobeying my instructions earlier."
The sound of her rapidly increased breathing filled his ears. "Whatever you say, my husband."
He smiled widely. At last, he'd caught his quarry.
THE END
His Princess
With the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders and his honour at stake, can a Prince truly love a slave?
Ezinne is dismayed when her mistress presents her to Prince Emeka as a concubine to cater for his every need for a few weeks. She’s a slave whose previous encounters with men make her fear their brutality.
Yet the more she gets to know the powerful yet honourable prince, the easier he breaks down the walls around her heart. She soon comes to want him more than she wants anything else, even freedom.
But Emeka is the heir to the throne and Ezinne is a woman with secrets that threaten not just their budding relationship but a kingdom.
Chapter One
Southeast Nigeria, pre-colonization
"You stupid girl!" Princess Nonye's loud, irate voice rang out in the sitting chamber of the prince's quarters.
Ezinne gritted her teeth and bit back the rising annoyance of her own clumsiness. With haste, she withdrew the cotton napkin she kept attached to her waist beads for accidents such as this. She dabbed the water pooled on the wooden dining table, her movements controlled.
Any moment now, she expected the hot, stinging slap from her belligerent mistress whose hand was quick to connect with the face of any offending servant following similar outbursts. Stiffening her back, Ezinne kept her line of sight lowered as she should have done in the first place.
"Can you not even complete a simple task without messing it up? What would be next? The platter of food on the floor? What kind of servants do we have in this palace? None of them ever get things done correctly," her mistress ranted, raising one hand midair in a haughty manner. Then she rose from her hand-carved ornate lounging chair next to the prince's, and walked toward the dinner table.
Ezinne drew her lips tight in a grimace. She wasn't in the habit of making mistakes. With a mistress such as Princess Nonye, she couldn’t afford to get into trouble.
This time though, she had no one else to blame but herself for getting distracted. Since the royal couple's wedding, it was Ezinne's duty to serve their evening meal. They always ate together in the main chamber, a room filled with opulent grandeur and decorated with bronze sculptures and leopard fur.
Ezinne was to set the intimate table with her gaze lowered as was customary for common servants. It was smaller than the grand ornate elephant table in the King’s receiving chamber. So she should have completed the task in a speedy fashion as she always did. However, the table was carved out of iroko wood; the image of a black panther formed its base.
She’d remembered one of the palace servant’s whispered words earlier. “The table contains the spirit of the beast Prince Emeka slayed in his coming of age hunting ritual.”
Fixated by the intricacy of the beast’s features, she stared at it as she attended to her tasks before curiosity made her raise her gaze in the direction of her new master and future king of Umunri.
His aura was unlike any other she'd encountered in a man of his position.
She usually avoided men and paid little attention to them. Since her arrival in the palace, she had taken to catching glimpses of Prince Emeka when she thought no one was looking, masking her gaze with the veil of her long lashes.
Today, her bedeviled eyes didn't stay lowered for long.
Prompted by her ever-probing spirit, she had raised her stare, spying Prince Emeka as he discussed some matter with Princess Nonye.
As always he looked regal in his bejeweled crown of elaborate gems and beads, his attire of richly woven gold and black threads.
It wasn't his clothes that drew her gaze.
It was his face: the raised angular cheekbones, curved bushy brows, strong square jaw, wide sensual lips, and most of all, the piercing midnight eyes because they caught her attention, keeping her transfixed.
In a brief moment of insanity, she had wondered what it would feel like to have those captivating eyes really notice her or to feel the firmness of his lips against her skin.
It was pure madness to have such a fantasy in her mind. She had never dreamed of a man in such a manner before.
Until Prince Emeka had turned, his onyx gaze pinning her to the spot, the sound of her heartbeat rivaling the hooves of a racing antelope pounding into the hard earth. She should have taken the hint, her instincts warning her of danger.
In the moment of connection, she had forgotten where she was and her place in it. His stare raked her ample frame, spreading tingling warmth along its path on her skin. It was as if he had actually seen her; the real her—a woman worthy of desire—not the lowly servant.
A new and unintelligible longing awakened within her. It was something so outside of her grasp that she dismissed it immediately. She had told herself the warmth in his eyes had been her imagination. Princes didn't notice servants. Men in his position only trampled those beneath them.
From the way his eyes had sparkled briefly with amusement, she could
have sworn he had read her errant thoughts. With her mouth feeling parched, her face flushed in mortification. Chiding herself, she had quickly lowered her gaze only to discover the water she had been pouring into the bronze chalices had overflowed onto the table, eliciting the twisted expression and tirade from the princess.
From the corners of her eyesight, Ezinne saw Princess Nonye lift her hand to strike. Steeling her body, she closed her eyes momentarily. However, the expected blow never connected with her face.
"No." It was the gritty, sonorous voice of the prince.
Ezinne opened her eyes to find him providing a barrier between her and Princess Nonye. Prince Emeka stood adjacent. Tall and strong, he radiated authority and heat. The temperature of the air rose, swirling his masculine scent around her body. His near presence overwhelmed her mind, pulling her into a dizzy spell.
Shaking her head to clear the fuzziness, she took a quick glance at the prince. His hand held onto the princess's raised arm. Stunned, a frown creased Ezinne's face. Still, she resisted the temptation to look up at him.
Prince Emeka had come to her rescue.
But…why?
It made no sense to her. She was a mere servant and of no importance. Yet the prince's next words confirmed his baffling actions.
"Leave her be. She has cleaned it up, and there is no harm done. Come and sit. Let's eat." His voice remained calm though it had an edge of steel as he reprimanded his wife, steering her bodily to her chair.
At the unexpected but delightful reprieve, Ezinne moved backward to the corner of the room. Relief washed over her as she almost blended into the darkness. Though she would have withstood the slap, she didn't want to have to suffer the humiliation in front of the prince.