Lovely Concubine

by Misha Anderson

  I pushed her onto the bed and her back hit the mattress in a thud.

  My body hovered over hers, both of us breathing hard, panting, furious, frustrated by the contained desire that has consumed us for years.

  I straddle her hips and open the front clasp of her bra, freeing her breasts, fuller and softer at the touch of my hands.

  I took her stiff, dark nipple to my mouth, then the other, sucking on her breasts like a hungry puppy.

  Her fingers buried in my hair, caressing the back of my neck. I lowered my mouth to her belly, unzipped the side zipper of her skirt, and slid it over her hips, taking off her white lace panties off. I smelled between her thighs, her scent is so good, the smell of female, of intense heat. I slowly licked her small, delicate vagina up and down, sipping her taste that intoxicates my senses. She arched her back and jumped on my mouth, dripping her honey on my tongue. I guided my penis to her warm glow and I thrust it harder and harder. Sapphira closed her eyes to absorb the pleasure of being impaled by my cock, moving her hips to meet mine, our bodies brushing, merging into a lascivious and perverse dance.

  Why she doesn’t understand that I can’t let her run away? All I want is her, always, since we made love for the first time, like two innocents, discovering us together, to this day, even after so many heartaches, so many fights, nevertheless she was and always will be mine .

  Her mouth on mine fits perfectly, our bodies were made to measure for each other. We are close to enjoy, together, once again, I pull her lips between my teeth and my eyes shed tears.

  -Tell me, just once tell me what I need to hear.

  Sapphira buried her hands in my hair and pulled it away, forcing me to look at her, while an unmeasured pleasure snatched us again.

  - I love you Jafar, forever, I love you.

  After we made love, I buried my face between her breasts, while she made me cafuné.

  -Sapphira, I want to try.

  I closed my eyes, feeling her hands run over my face.

  -Me too, but I don’t know how, Jafar.

  -I don’t know either, so why don’t we find out together?

  I lay between her thighs, my body tired with pleasure.

  -Can we start today, will you stay with me tonight?

  - Do you want me to?

  I nodded, nibbling at her breast.

  - Uhm.

  -Then I'll stay.

  Sapphira sleeps like a little girl, someone knocks on the door, I look for my boxer and open the door, Nahan looks at me worried, wanting to talk to me.

  -I did not want to disturb your ... your conversation with Sapphira, but I need to talk to you, Jafar.

  I look at my naked wife and curled up in bed and I don’t give a damn, asking him to wait for me to get dressed quickly.

  Wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, we went down the stairs barefoot. Nahan is not in the room and I go to his office, sheikh Karim and Hafiq are sitting on the couch, before I close the door behind me, I feel the aura of tension hovering in the air, then I ask worried:

  -What happened, Nahan?

  Nahan hangs up the phone and walks over to me, tense, scratching his head.

  -Ademir just called me, he tried to talk to you, but your phone was off. The three men of our intelligence who were guarding Ali Borkan in Madinat'Isa were killed and he escaped.

  -How did you find him? It was my team that took him to Madinat'Isa to interrogate him, nobody knew he was stuck there.

  Nahan interrupted me, shaking his head.

  -It’s impossible Jafar, think about it, who else knew where Ali was in jail?

  I sit down, shaken to realize that the threat to Nahan is at the heart of our government.

  - A copy of Ali Borkan's file and the location where he was arrested was sent to the office of the Civil House.

  Nahan sat down beside me, visibly devastated.

  -Then my traitor can only be one of them: Mohamed or Sayd.

  I warn Nahan of the risk of his judgment once again being precipitated.

  -Nahan, it's good to remember that it's not only them who work in the office of the Civil House, there's Mustapha and Armed recently, we'd better pay attention to them all, none of them should be classed as suspects.

  Nahan scratches his chin, walking with his hand on his hips.

  -I don’t believe that Armed had the courage to attack my family, he is an ambitious man, he always wanted me to marry Sapphira, but a criminal? I think he would not go that far.

  Hafiq intervened agreeing with me:

  -It's good to pay attention to everyone, if only your intelligence knew Ali's whereabouts, then unfortunately the mastermind of the bombing is part of the high order of his kingdom. This is a time that you can’t lower your guard, do not trust anyone, Nahan.

  BIANCA

  When Nahan said he would celebrate the news of my pregnancy for two days, I thought he was just talking. He opened the door to my room and called me to accompany him.

  -Are you ready, halawi?

  I opened the door of my closet, where my shoes are and filled with doubts, I asked him the best shoes for the party:

  -I don’t know which shoes I should wear.

  -Thura prepared a simple meeting to commemorate the birth of our baby and welcome the Hassans. I put on something comfortable, our dinner will be outdoors, in the field.

  I set the high heels aside and slipped on a low-cut sandal, following the garden hand in hand with Nahan. We went to the stables area and turned right into an open area. The well-manicured grass and the fruit trees gave a bucolic air to the environment, making it even more magical.

  A huge bonfire emerged in the center, as well as chairs, rugs, and cushions in damask fabrics tucked me into the scenery of one of Sherazade's tales. On a side, a huge table adorned with flowers of the field and candles was laid with all the Arabian delicacies of Thura: kouse (lamb roasted under a layer of rice), kafta, warak enab (grape leaf cigar), falafel and tarator sauce), meeze (selection of appetizers) in addition to the sweet mahmoul, basbusa, halawi and umm ali.

  Sitting around the campfire were: Jafar, Sapphira, Thura, sheik Karim, Youssef, Brenda, Hafiq and Antonia, as well as some palace officials.

  I said good evening to everyone, and Brenda and Antonia came to me, praising my dress.

  -Bibi, you look so beautiful, ah! Now you're no longer my little girl, you're getting married tomorrow and you're pregnant, I still see you as that little girl who slept in my bed with fear of the dark. It makes you happy, does not it?

  I hugged my sister by the waist, stroking her already rounded belly.

  -Much Bre, more than I expected I will be one day, Nahan is the man of my life.

  Antonia hugged me on the other side, saying excitedly:

  -So, was it well worth it, the kidnapping, the days of trouble, if it makes you happy, that's all that matters. Remember I told you that the day you stopped wanting to control your life with iron hands, you would find your happiness?

  -You were right Tonia, it was precisely on the day of my kidnapping, that fate turned my life upside down, that very day, I found the man who truly completes me.

  Sapphira looked at us from a distance, sheepish, beside Jafar, who smiled from corner to corner. Who would have thought that the mysterious woman that Jafar had always been in love with is Sapphira? For me it was a little surprise. I apologized to the girls and went to Sapphira.

  -Good evening, Sapphira, you are welcome.

  She smiled uneasily and then told me:

  -We started with the left foot, I apologize for everything I've done, that I've offended you, you're a good woman for Nahan, Bianca.

  -And you're a good wife to Jafar.

  Sapphira denied stumbling over words.

  -No, Jafar and I do not ...

  Jafar stared at her and said in a steady, low voice.

  -If I were you, I'd think about what you're going to say, I still have a scratchy hand, Sapphira.

  Sapphira widened her eyes, opened her mouth as if
to say something, and then fell silent, smiling at Jafar, and then said,

  -You're impossible, Jafar.

  Jafar nodded.

  - I'm just warming up, najmay. (my star)

  A group of musicians play near the bonfire, melodious songs that warm our souls even more. Hafiq is sitting next to Antonia, both silent, bewildered, neither of them wanting to twist and make up. Antonia took Hafiq's hand and he subtly got rid of her touch. Tonia got up from the carpet and was leaving when Hafiq spoke up:

  -Do not you dare leave me here alone, Antonia.

  Antonia put her hand on her waist, glaring at him.

  - And why do you want me to stay by your side, if since you got here, you do not talk to me, you already know why I came here, no matter how much Karim is a grumpy old man ...

  Sheikh Karim mutters to Antonia:

  - Hey, get me out of this mess and why am I grumpy?

  Antonia interrupted him, making sheikh Karim shut up.

  -That's right, Karim. As bad as your father is, he's my friend, you know me well enough to know that I would never allow him to be guilty of something he did not do. I know I've done wrong by lying, and I've already apologized, but damn it! What do you want me to do, do you want me to crawl at your feet?

  Hafiq stood facing her face to face.

  -You can start apologizing by dancing to me.

  Antonia laughed and we all laughed too, ah! She and Hafiq look like cat and mouse, they only live fighting, but they love each other so much.

  Hafiq asked the musician if he knew how to play the song, Min Habibi Ana and said to Antonia.

  - Dance for me, just for me, just you and me, habibi.

  Antonia nodded, smiling, Hafiq pulled her by the hand and the two ran off, disappearing into the garden, ah! I'm surrounded by crazy people.

  Min Habibi Ana (Who is my love?)

  Min habibi Ana

  Who is my love?

  Aleie ule Network

  Answer, tell me

  Inta eli bhebu ana

  You're the one I love.

  Sekin bi albe u ruhe

  It lives in my heart and soul.

  Inta the balsam bi giruhe

  You are the balm of my wounds

  Inta hayeti

  You are my life

  Gharami ana ana

  My passion ...

  Sheikh Karim and Thura sat closer to the fire, getting a little further away from us all. Nahan and I joined Sapphira and Jafar, Nahan and Jafar engaged in an amusing conversation about their childhood days, and Sapphira and I, surprisingly, also talked pleasantly, without hissing and unpleasant insinuations. She was even friendly, telling me about her visit to Brazil and how much she fell in love with our lands. During our chat, It came to mind a saying that serves perfectly to sum up my surprise to know better Sapphira: "The devil is not as ugly as it is painted."

  I mention getting up and Karim extends his hand to me gallantly so that I can balance, it is difficult to balance my legs, to hold them steady, when the memories of the past whip me like a boomerang. I approach the table, and Karim takes a plate, trying a little of each delicacy, minus the falafel, I ask him why he did not get falafel, one of his favourite dishes, he extends the plate Looking away.

  -The plate is for you, Thura, if I remember, you never liked falafel.

  -True, then let me return the kindness, for the old days.

  I served a plate to Karim with his favorite pastries and handed him a glass of ice-cold karkadeh, one of his favorite teas.

  - I still love karkadeh! They have things that never change.

  I rebounded thoughtfully:

  - Everything changed Karim, we moved ...

  Karim took the plate from my hand and placed it on the table, holding out my hand. His fingers slid into mine, bringing me a warm feeling of comfort, recognition, warming my skin, awakening her, as if he had never stopped touching me. In seconds, he and I went back 35 years ago, when we were still so young, restless with the desire that consumed us, frightened us.

  Karim stares at me, and I do not look away from him, it's as if I can still see through that austere costume, that same gaunt and skinny man from the past, trying to woo me, irresistibly awkward by kissing me, by possessing me for the first time. He asks me in a hot and masculine babble:

  -I'm going to ask you a question, do not lie, Thurayya Abdul, did you miss me?

  How to lie? Could I? Beneath my embarrassed eyes I answer in a trembling voice:

  -Every day since you've been gone.

  Karim lifted my chin, replying in a voice suddenly icy with anger:

  -I did not leave Thurayya, you left me, when I looked for you after I broke up the engagement with Farah, you told me that I should never come to you again.

  I turn away my face from his hands, wounded by him making me a fool again and pretending that he has not humiliated me for years.

  - Of course! After everything you wrote in that damn letter.

  Karim responds louder:

  - What letter?

  -Do not play foolish Karim, the letter you wrote me over thirty years ago, saying that I was not fit to be your queen and that I should lay with Abdullah and leave you alone.

  Karim pulled me by the arm, growling furiously:

  -Show me this letter, I never wrote you a letter. Abdullah came to me in Qatar as soon as I left Bahrain and told me that you were together and that I would never be a man worthy of you. Can you imagine how I felt? You were the first woman I ever had in my life, my first love, I loved you Thurayya, all these years and now you tell me that we lived our lives apart because of a lie? I want to see this letter, but I can assure you I never wrote it.

  I asked Karim to wait for me in the kitchen and went to my room, bringing my little treasure chest. Separately and already with the paper yellowed, I opened the letter I received from him, when I invited him to flee with me.

  “Who can tell me that you didn’t sleep with King Abdullah, as you did with me? That is what you are, an ordinary woman, the king's concubine. You are not worthy to be my queen. Run away with you Never. My marriage to Farah is scheduled for a month from now, I suggest that you forget me, just as I have forgotten you, do not look for me again, Thurayya. "

  Karim's hands were shaking, he asked me to take a blank paper and pen, and he wrote me a short message.

  "I'd even recognize with my eyes closed, this is Farah's handwriting, now look at my handwriting. I can’t ask for your forgiveness for something I did not do, but what I can tell you is that my heart is torn to pieces, with anger and pain, because I never lived by your side, love of my life. "

  Karim stared at the ground, devastated, just like me. I showed him the handkerchief with his initials that I kept, Karim slid his finger with his initials engraved on the handkerchief, saying,

  -I remember that day as if it were yesterday, I missed that horse race and you laughed at me as much as you could. You've always been a difficult woman, Thurayya. I am envious of Abdullah and Faruk, they had you, Thurayya, they have been able to live with you all this time and I ... My chance was taken.

  -Faruk never had me, Karim.

  Karim looks at me in surprise, not understanding what I said.

  -But you were married, and you tell me he never had you, how could that have been?

  I interrupted him trying to get it over with, irritated that I had spoken more than I should have.

  -I do not want to talk about it, Karim, please, it's best to leave the past in the past.

  I close my chest of memories and I leave the kitchen as fast as I can, fleeing from my past, from my pains, my secrets.

  The hours go by and I shrink in my cold bed, still shaken by the revelations I made. Damn Farah that took away my chance to be happy. Damn Abdullah and Yasira, who plucked me, they took me away ... All of me.

  Karim knocks on the door insistently, wanting to talk to me, the palace is silent, everyone sleeps, except him and me, we can’t sleep. He's outside my room, and I'm stuck in my memori
es, seeing all the result of my lonely years that pass me by ... All I have is an empty bed and the burden of guilt for not having been stronger and left the walls of this palace. Karim calls me softly and I stand up slowly, leaning my forehead against the door, stroking this inert wood as if I could touch it. He calls my name lower and whispering, like a mantra. And I hurl myself against uncertainty, at random.

  I secure the knob and unlock the door, my heart, opening myself whole for Karim to enter.

  Karim comes panting, slowly into my room, closing the door behind him.

  And I bow my head, curving my lips in a smile, at the thought of the irony of fate, for right now, at this point in my life, finally, I receive with justice, the nickname with which they have always slandered me.

  “The king's concubine.”

  CHAPTER 28

  BIANCA

  I open the windows of my room and the rays of sun lick my man’s skin who sleeps peacefully, it seems crazy, but today is my wedding day. Doing a retrospective of the past months, the dizzying turn that my life took, the truth is that when I finally took my life in my hands, she presented me with genuine happiness. I left Brazil hoping to spend a vacation in Qatar, happy and innocent, and when I least expected it, I was mixed up with Antonia, kidnapped and at the very moment my eyes met Nahan's, I knew, I always knew that after him, my life would never be the same again. After I get out of the bath and return to my room, I'm already lying awake, sitting on the bed, smiling like a child who got a gift.

  -Good morning Bianca, from now on you'll be Mrs. Tarif.

  -A beautiful name, Bianca Mattos Tarif, is impressive, isn’t it?

  Nahan agreed, kissing me casually, heading for the bathroom.

  The palace is in an uproar, I go into the kitchen and meet sheikh Karim having coffee. He hums an Arabic song with his thunderous voice and Thurayya smiles shaking her head, heating something on the wood stove. I think it's funny because the little time I've been around him, I found him a serious man, even sulking, and today I see him so different, cheerful, light, apparently the air of Bahrain did well to his mood.

  Thura motioned for me to sit down and asked the sheikh Karim:

  -More mahmoul Karim?

  -Please, Zahrati. (My flower)

  Thura cleared her throat nervously and he smiled, asking me,