Captured For The Sultan’s Pleasure

Jamal released his hold on her and he looked into her eyes intently.

“I believe you, Dawn. I agreed that I might not have believed you at first but that was because you were so full of vengeance that I couldn’t trust you. If you had told me about what you learned later, I would have believed you completely without a doubt,” he explained to her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Sultan,” she apologized too.

“I think I like it better when you call me Jamal,” he told her.

“Or you mean you like it better when I yelled your name?” she asked and chuckled.

He chuckled too and held her hair to play with them.

“You can stop wearing hijab from now and always let down your hair instead,” he told her.

“Do you mean it?” Roksolana asked in a suspicious tone.

“Yes. You can stop wearing ladies’ attire too whenever we are alone and you don’t have to learn all those sewing and knitting and embroidery that makes you injure your fingers,” Jamal added.

Roksolana looked at him in doubt. There’s no way he meant all he was saying, is there? He was a stubborn man who only did as he deemed fit and he never gave in to anyone either. So, why was he telling her all he was saying?

“Why?” Roksolana asked in a small voice.

“Because I love you, Dawn. Because I only want to see you happy all the time. Because I figured out that I can’t live without you and if making you have your way is the only way to make you stay with me, then I’m willing to take it,” he told her.

Roksolana beamed at him, her eyes sparkling with happiness. She had fallen in love with him for a while now but she hadn’t said anything because she thought that he would never be able to love her in return and he might start running away from her if she told him how she felt for him. She knew that she should tell him that she would think about it but she was too deeply in love with him to play that game.

Besides, the only regret she had when that cruel man had tied her and she had thought that her life would have ended then was how she had never confessed her feelings to the Sultan. When the man had offered to step down from his throne for her sake, she knew at that moment that he felt something for her as well and that added to her regrets. Now that fate was kind enough to give her another chance, she wasn’t ready to waste it on acting like a proper lady should.

It wasn’t even like she had ever behaved like a proper lady should, she thought with a chuckle.

“I love you too, Jamal,” she announced.

Jamal let out the breath he had been holding unconsciously. When she had taken a while to answer him or even acknowledge his words, he had begun to lose hope a little. When she had laughed a little while later, he had completely lost the little hope he had left. He had thought about how he would have to work extra hard to make her fall in love with him since giving up on her was not in his option. But now, his mind was at peace.

“And, I think I am already used to wearing skirts and the hijab and I don’t want to change again,” she told him.

“Thank you, Dawn.” He told her, smiling sheepishly. “There’s one more thing though,” he added.

“What is it?” she asked.

“You are pregnant,” he told her simply.

Roksolana looied at Jamal to see if he meant what he said. When he wouldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear, she held her stomach. Jamal placed his hand on hers and she looked at him. She smiled at him at first, then the smile quickly progressed to a laughter. She was so happy about the news she had just heard that she didn’t know how to express her happiness other than to laugh.

When Aabdeen heard the loud laughter coming out from the Sultan’s room, he knew that the Sultan had delivered the good news to Roksolana. He chuckled lightly as he knew that the two of them would have to come clean about how they felt for each other. If not for their sake, then they would do it for the unborn child.

“Do you know why there is laughter ringing out from the woman who had fainted about an hour and a half ago?” Asleem asked Aabdeen.

“I do but it is not mine to tell,” Aabdeen answered.

“Then, who can tell?” Sodeeq asked.

“Myself or Dawn.”

Everyone heard the Sultan’s voice and they all looked up. They all stood up in respect as the Sultan and Roksolana walked down the stairs to where they were. When they got there, the Sultan clapped Sodeeq by the shoulder.

“I’m sorry I failed you, Sultan. I should have told you the minute Aamil showed himself to me,” Sodeeq said in apology.

“No, my friend. I should be apologizing to you for not knowing my friend enough to find out that someone else was posing as him. For that, I am sorry,” Jamal apologized to his best friend.

“It’s okay, Jamal. You have enough responsibility as the Sultan already,” Sodeeq said.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“I’m sorry I doubted you,” Roksolana said to Sodeeq.

“Lady Roksolana.” He said respectfully. “If you hadn’t doubted my loyalty, I might have died in the hands of that wicked man and his lover. So, I have you to thank for saving my life.” He told her.

“How about the bodies of those two?” The Sultan asked.

“I already alerted Lady Miriam’s father and he took her remains away for burial. I already had some of my men bury Aamil too,” Asleem spoke up.

“Thank you for your help, general Asleem,” the Sultan said to him.

“I’m sorry I doubted you too, Asleem,” Roksolana apologized.

“I would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes, Roksolana. So, don’t fret about it.” He told her and slapped her lightly on the arm.

“Hey! Don’t do that to my woman!!” the Sultan screamed at him immediately.

“He’s my friend, so you don’t need to yell to him that I am yours,” Roksolana told the Sultan.

“But he can’t hurt you. Not with your current condition,” Jamal argued.

“What condition?” Seyiddah asked, baffled.

“Yes. What condition?” Roksolana’s father asked him.

Roksolana laughed and wemt over to her father to hug the man. She ruffled her brother’s hair and the boy didn’t fail to slap her hand away as he always did.

“Everyone is asking you, Sultan,” she said with a wide grin.

“Sultan Selim, I wanted to tell you first in privacy before telling the others and I also wanted to ask you for something precious,” Jamal told the older man in hope that the man would grant him the privacy he had asked for stylishly.

“It’s okay. You can say it here, Sultan Jamal. Everyone here is family and friends,” Sultan Selim said.

Jamal sighed as he felt his hope dashed. But knowing that he couldn’t waste more time, he shrugged and spoke up.

“Your daughter is pregnant with our child,” he told the man.

“She is?” Sultan Selim asked in a voice that didn’t know any surprise.

“I am,” Roksolana answered her father.

“So, I…I wanted to ask if…if you don’t mind giving…her hands out in…marriage to…me,” Jamal stammered the words out.

“Wow! Almighty and scary Sultan Jamal lost for words? It’s a first,” Sodeeq said, making fun of his best friend.

“Shut up!” Jamal shouted at him.

“Is that how you would be shouting at my daughter?” Sultan Selim asked.

“No…no…no, Sultan,” Jamal stammered out again.

“Abu,” Roksolana called in a pleading tone.

Sultan Selim looked at Jamal and sighed before he spoke.

“As long as she wants to marry you, I agree,” he told the nervous Sultan and nearly laughed as the younger man shot his eyes straight at Roksolana.

“Will you, Dawn?” he asked her, uncertain.

Roksolana pretended to think about what he had just said.

“Just say yes already. Princess Azeezat and I know how much you love the man,” Seyiddah said to her.

“Of course I was going to say yes to him. I just wanted to act a little like a lady in front of you all,” Roksolana pouted at her friend.

“We all know you are nothing like a lady,” Princess Azeezat spoke up.

“Remind me to change my friends later, Jamal,” Roksolana told the Sultan, looking at her friends in pretend anger.

“Do I have your approval now that she said yes?” Jamal asked Sultan Selim.

“You do,” the older man replied.

“You have mine too,” Abaan said in an authoritative tone and everyone laughed.

“I know I said that you and the people of your sultanate can leave but it would be an honor to me if you can stay for our Nikaah,” Jamal told Roksolana’s father.

“You let my people go? When?” Roksolana asked.

“Ever since the day he first brought you over for a visit. Abu only asked us to stay until you and the Sultan can get it into your brwin that you love each other,” Abaan told her.

Sultan Selim cleared his throat. “I wasn’t planning to leave without seeing my daughter wedded,” the man answered Jamal, ignoring what Abaan said.

Princess Azeezat got up from where she sat and went over to her friend.

“So, we have a wedding to plan?” she asked Roksolana.

“Of course we do,” Seyiddah answered and got up too.

“Yes, but there’s something I need to do first,” Jamal said solemnly.

“What is it?” Roksolana asked, worried about the Sultan’s grim look.

“Come with me and you’ll find out,” Jamal told her. “Aabdeen, can you come too? I know it’s a lowly thing to ask you to do but I need someone to announce the wedding to my people.” He asked the other Sultan.

“I can do it for you since I am still your special advisor and physician,” he conceded.

“Let’s go,” Jamal commanded.

Curious about what the Sultan intended to do, everyone in the room followed despite not being asked to. Jamal found out that he didn’t mind one little bit and he marveled at how much he had changed ever since Roksolana had appeared in his life. Much as he resented Aamil for the trouble he caused, Jamil would still be forever grateful to the man for lying to him and making him attack Roksolana and her sultanate.

Else, he would never have met her or any of the amazing people that now flooded around him.

“Do you know why I call you Dawn?” Jamal asked Roksolana in a hushed tone.

“Because that’s what my name means?” she answered, confused.

“No. Because you came into my life at the time I feel like I couldn’t go on anymore. Your presence gave me the strength I needed to carry on when I was at my weakest. That’s why you are my morning dawn,” he explained to her.

Before she could say anything, she heard Aabdeen making the first announcement.

“This is to announce to all that the leader of the harm, Lady Roksolana, had been chosen to be the Sultana of the Wadai’ sultanate,” Aabdeen announced to the group of people talking at a corner. Everyone went on their knees immediately.

“Greetings to the Sultan and congratulations to Lady Roksolana for her new position,” they all chorused.

“Thank you all,” Roksolana answered their greeting.

And that was the way it was as they walked. Sultan Aabdeen would announce the wedding to the people, they would congratulate her, and Roksolana would appreciate their greetings. They finally got to the harem and the same process was repeated.

“Thank you all and please get up,” Roksolana told them.

“Thank you, Sultana,” they said in unison and got up.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard about everything that happened today and I know you all must have worried about everyone. I sincerely want to thank you all for your cooperation with the men guarding you,” Jamal began.

“Thank you for thinking about our safety,” one of the women spoke on behalf of the others.

“But from today onward, this harem ceased to exist. I want everyone to pack their things and return to their family. If there is a man any of you like, I assure you that you are free to get married to him,” Jamal finished.

“Has anyone from the harem done something wrong, Sultan?” the lady spoke up on the behalf of others again.

“Not at all,” Jamal assured them. “I just want one woman,” he told them and looked at Roksolana.

“Thank you for your kindness, Sultan,” the women of the harem said.

“Let’s go, Dawn,” Jamal told Roksolana.

As the Sultan held her hand and they went away from the rest of the people, Roksolana thought about how she had met the Sultan and she smiled. At that point in time, if anyone had told her that the man would mean a lot to her, she would have cursed the person. But as he led her on to the path that was to be the start of their future, she admitted to herself that she belonged to him with every fiber of her being.

As long as it is with him, I’m ready to go anyway or do anything, she thought with a wide smile.