Captured For The Sultan’s Pleasure

Roksolana walked out of the hall in anger. She wasn’t just angry at the Sultan and his obvious partiality, she was jealous as well. She was jealous of Lady Miriam. She was jealous of her being the Sultan’s favorite. Roksolana couldn’t help but think of how Lady Miriam would gloat at her when they were back to the harem. Even much more than that, she was worried about how the lady would treat her and the rest of the women of the harem.

If Roksolana didn’t know any better, she might be thinking that she was a little bit afraid of Lady Miriam. And why not? Every time the woman and Roksolana had had arguments, the Sultan was always on the harem leader’s side. Today was like breaking the camel’s back for Roksolana though, she had enough of the Sultan and his woman. Roksolana turned back as someone touched her by the arm. She saw a man who looked to be in his sixty years standing behind her. Roksolana bowed slightly in greetings to him and saw the man smile at her a bit.

“Your performance was brilliant. Where did you learn it? I would like to have my young daughter learn.” The old man said to her.

Roksolana looked at the man very well to be sure that he wasn’t joking. When she saw how serious the old man was, Roksolana smiled. At least, there was someone who loved her sword dance. Even though Roksolana hated to disappoint the man, she knew that she had no other choice. She gently explained to him that she had learned it from her sultanate and it was destroyed by Sultan Jamal. She turned to walk away, but the man stopped her again. Roksolana looked bewildered as the man asked if she could train his daughter. Roksolana was about to refuse him when three other people approached her with the same request. She was still deliberating on what answer to give when the Sultan answered for her.

“She’s a lady. And a lady doesn’t do such. Now, all of you disappear from my sight this instance,” Jamal said.

He had come out here because he was worried about her. Because he thought that she would be angry at him for what he had done. But here she was, standing before people who wanted her to teach their kids dancing. He wasn’t sure Roksolana knew, but a common man wasn’t supposed to talk to a royal concubine since they had almost the same power as the Sultan. He was sure these people had no respect for her because of her former status and if he didn’t correct it now, they would never learn. He watched as the men bowed before him, turned to move away, but Roksolana stopped them.

“I am willing to teach them.” She told the men.

“I just said that you are not teaching anyone anything,” Jamal shouted.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

Why was she disrespecting him in front of his subordinates? Was this how she was thinking of exacting revenge?

“And I just said I was teaching them,” Roksolana said, looking at the Sultan squarely in the eyes.

Jamal watched as the men glanced at him and then Roksolana with a confused look. He knew what they were thinking about. No one had ever dared him before and lived to tell the tale, but he was letting a woman disrespect him now. If he didn’t put an end to it now, they might start thinking he was becoming soft and might start disrespecting his authority in the future. He fixed his eyes on each of them for about thirty seconds each and watched as each one gulped audibly under his stare before speaking.

“If you don’t disappear this instance from my sight, your dead body will be the one to go to your respective home,” Jamal said, hardening his voice.

“You wouldn’t,” Roksolana shouted at him.

But her protest against the Sultan meant nothing. She watched as each of the men bowed and tried to run away. The Sultan stopped them when they were at some distance away. Roksolana watched as each of the men turned back and fell to their knees at the voice of the Sultan.

“And let me be clear, just in case. If any of you ever talk to my woman again without my permission, your dead body would still be returned home.” He told them. The Chorus of yes sultan rang loud before each of them scrambled away.

“I hate you,” Roksolana shouted at Jamal. She ignored the exclamations of the people and ran away from him.