Captured For The Sultan’s Pleasure

Jamal stood by the entrance of the room, watching as the royal physician fed Roksolana some herbal medicine with a spoon. She had remained unconscious for three days and he was beginning to get really worried about her, but the doctor had assured him that it was due to the medicine doing its work.

The only thing that had made him stay calm was the fact that she was no longer coughing and her temperature had returned to normal. Her wounds were healing nicely too and she seemed to be breathing well. She had also stopped muttering in her sleep.

When Jamal had first heard her mutter a man’s name, he had been furious. But then, she had mentioned two other names and he had realized she must have been calling for her family. He felt guilty about that knowing that he could have alleviated her worries about her family but he had chosen not to.

Jamal was particularly curious about which one of her family was Asleem and just how close the two were because of the way she kept calling the name. He had sent one of his men to make an investigation about the man and he had been furious at what he found. Knowing that Roksolana had been nearly given in marriage to the man had made Jamal’s blood boil. He had made Sodeeq move the man from tending to horses to the hard labor of mending fences.

Jamal wondered if Roksolana was in love with the man and If that was the reason she had refused to be his woman. He also wondered if Roksolana’s father would have approved of him if he had gone to the man for Roksolana’s hand in marriage. Not that he was planning to do such a thing anyway. What had Roksolana loved in the arrogant man for her to miss him this much? Why couldn’t she just forget about the man and be with him voluntarily?

“Sultan.”

Jamal was jolted back to the present when the physician called his name a little too loud.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“What did you say?” Jamal asked the man.

“I said that I am done with her dose for today.” The man said.

“Okay. You may go,” Jamal told the man.

The physician bowed slightly and turned to leave. The Sultan stopped him and reminded him of his warnings as he had always done every day. He had told the physician to tell anyone who had asked him about the health of Roksolana that the woman was badly injured. He had told him to say that because he knew for sure that Lady Miriam would stop the physician. When he was done with his reminder, the old physician nodded his head slightly and walked out of the house.

As soon as Jamal saw that the old man was gone, he sat down beside Roksolana. He checked her temperature and saw it was even better than the previous day.

Since he had brought her in three days ago, he had hardly left her side. He delegated as much work as he could to Sodeeq and his other janissaries. The ones he couldn’t delegate, he had done them as quickly as he possibly could and returned to her side. He also stayed by her side when it was night. He didn’t want her waking up by midnight needing something and no one would be there to help her. He felt like maids wouldn’t take care of her the way he would have done it himself and the guards might slack off when they knew he wasn’t there. That was why he chose to stay with her himself.

More than her needing something in the middle of the night, Jamal worried about her safety. It bothered him that someone had made his guards unconscious. It had even bothered him more than the guards hadn’t seen who did it. They couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. And he knew for certain that Roksolana had been the target of whoever they were.

His suspicions had fallen on Lady Miriam and the man who had tried to drown Roksolana a few days after she arrived. He had rushed to the prison the man was held in and beaten him to a pulp while demanding an answer. Judging by how badly the man had ended up looking, Jamal knew that it wasn’t him. Which left Lady Miriam alone. He wondered what she wanted from Roksolana and why she hated her so much.

He had nearly gone to Lady Miriam to ask her why she was after Roksolana’s life and had barely restrained himself. Perhaps, Roksolana had seen something before she lost consciousness. Jamal just had to wait for her to wake up. If Lady Miriam had been involved though, he would make sure she was removed from his harem. He would also make sure that she suffers for the deed.

Roksolana coughed once, before muttering the name Jamal hated hearing her say. Why does she keep muttering the man’s name? He saw her tossed around on the bed for some seconds before staying still. Why wasn’t she still not awake? It was almost evening already.

Several seconds later, she opened her eyes as if his thoughts had summoned her to awaken. Jamal let go of her hands and stood up from where he sat, watching as she tried to adjust her eyes to the light in the room. He crossed his arm over his chest and saw when recognition lit her face.