Novel Square
Save your breath
Jamal paused at the stairs on his way to his room. If what the second in command had said was true, then he had to apologize to Roksolana. He couldn’t just very well walk up to her and apologize. Knowing Roksolana well, she would ask him if he was drunk and then walked away from him. A smile crept up Jamal’s face as he thought of an idea. He couldn’t wait until nighttime to carry out the plan he was thinking about. As he went about his duty for the rest of the day, he whistled loudly. He sent for Aabdeen a while later and narrated the plan to the man he now considers as a friend. All through his narration, Aabdeen kept looking at him like he was out of his mind but he doesn’t care. As long as the plan works.
Roksolana and the rest of the women in the harem were just about to settle down to eat their dinner when Aabdeen walked into the hall, looking worried. Roksolana watched as the princess rushed to his side and asked if something was wrong. Aabdeen shook his head negatively and the princess relaxed. Roksolana couldn’t help but feel like Aabdeen was there to see her. Had something happened to the Sultan? She thought and became worried about the Sultan. She took a step towards Aabdeen, but Miriam chose to walk at that moment. As soon as she saw Aabdeen, she asked why he was there.
“Lady Miriam, I’m here to see Lady Roksolana,” Aabdeen answered.
“Why?” Lady Miriam asked.
“I need to see Lad…”
“I said why?” Lady Miriam asked, cutting him off. Aabdeen sighed before replying.
“The Sultan drank too much wine. He refused to let anyone touch him except Lady Roksolana.” He explained to Lady Miriam.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
Lady Miriam smiled to herself, careful not to show it. The Sultan is drunk? This means that the poison was activated in him. After he had left, she had worried about how she would explain to her lover that she was poisoned but the Sultan wasn’t. If she had to guess, she would say that the Sultan was drunk because of the maid she hated. But, she was thankful to her this time for helping her indirectly.
“Lady Miriam?” Aabdeen called to her, his voice a little worried.
“It’s okay. You can take her,” Lady Miriam said in reply.
Roksolana rushed out of the harem with Aabdeen. She had been famished before Aabdeen came, but now, the hunger was gone. Why would Jamal get so drunk he doesn’t even know what he was doing? She was sure he doesn’t know what he was doing because he had sent for her instead of Lady Miriam. Roksolana was grateful the woman hadn’t shown her violent self when Aabdeen had said that the Sultan only wanted to see her. When they got to the house, Roksolana rushed in. She saw the Sultan spawned to the floor, looking unconscious, and ran to his side. She tapped him gently several times until he opened his eyes.
When Jamal opened his eyes and saw Roksolana bent over him looking so worried, he felt happy. It means that despite all her cold attitudes towards him, she still cared about him somewhere in her heart. He pretended to squint his eyes at Roksolana and then mumbled some incoherent words to make her believe that he was really drunk. When she brought her ears closer to listen to what he was saying, he wrapped his arms around her and pushed her to himself.
Roksolana felt herself being drawn closer by Jamal and tried to free herself from his arms, but the hold he had on her was too strong. She fell to his chest and felt the warmth of his body envelop her. Roksolana snuggled even closer to him and placed her palms on his shoulders. She had missed him a lot since the past few days they had stopped talking to each other. She felt Jamal’s hand tighten even more around her waist and her that awakened her sense. If he was drunk, why was his hold so strong on her? She tried to free herself from him but couldn’t. Roksolana became annoyed by the fact that she had let herself be played for a fool by the Sultan.
“If you don’t let go of me this instance, I’m going to make sure you end up with a black eye,” Roksolana warned.
Jamal released his hold on her, cursing himself inwardly. He shouldn’t have held her too tight. He opened his eyes and saw Roksolana looking at him with a murderous gaze. Realizing that he had been caught red-handed, he sat up straight and tried to explain to her. Roksolana held her right hand up to stop him.
“Save your breath.” She told him and went out before he could stop her.