Captured For The Sultan’s Pleasure

Roksolana looked around at the room she was kept in since three days ago, void of any furniture. She blamed herself for being in this predicament. If she hadn’t trusted her kidnapper, she wouldn’t be in this mess. The only thing she comforted herself with was the fact that she had no way to know what was running in another person’s mind. And given the circumstances she had been in, she had had no choice but to trust. She looked up as she heard footsteps approaching. When she saw that it was her kidnapper, she looked away.

“Still angry, my lady?” The man asked.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

Roksolana refused to answer him. He had lied to her after all. She had woken up in this shabby room instead of a ship as he had promised. He had tied her up when she had tried to run away. And then, he had refused to answer any of her questions. Forget about the questions, the man had barely checked on her. The only thing he had done in her favor was made sure her meals arrived at the right time.

Roksolana gasped as he turned her face to himself rudely. She was about to protest about the rude behavior when he clasped his mouth on her. Roksolana struggled against him but couldn’t do much because of her position. Putting all her strength in her hands, she pushed at his shoulder. Roksolana watched as he let go of her and winced in pain, then stood up. His kiss irritated her, and she swiped her arm over her mouth to erase his taste.

“I’ll advise you to clean out whatever you feel for that man because we are going to get married very soon.” He said.

Roksolana looked at Asleem in the face before replying.

“That would never happen between us.”

Asleem chuckled before he went out. When he was gone, Roksolana bit on her lower lips in worry. She swiped at the lips angrily when she still tasted him. She wondered if the sultan was okay now. What was he thinking about her? Probably that she had purposely injured him just so that she could escape. Or he could be thinking of ways to punish her for trying to kill him. And that was if he bothered to think about her or even if he was alive. Given the way she had found him unconscious the other day, Roksolana knew that the wound was a deep one. Her only prayer was that someone had heard the noise of the chest when it fell and investigated the source.

Still, she had to think of ways to get out of her predicament. Twisting her hand over and trying to undo the knots proved abortive and she stopped. She was still thinking about other ways to free herself when her mind went back to Asleem and she froze. He had winced when she pushed his shoulder earlier and Roksolana remembered that she had given the intruder a cut at the shoulder. Was Asleem the assassin? Little wonder she had always felt that the assassin looked familiar every time she saw him. Why hadn’t she thought about it? The intruder and Asleem both had the same height and the same body build.

But, why was he so desperate to kill the Sultan? Granted, the Sultan had invaded their sultanate and made them suffer. But Roksolana felt that the hatred Asleem felt for Jamal was deeper than just seeking revenge. He had even chosen to collude with Lady Miriam to bring the Sultan down. She wondered what exactly Jamal had done to Asleem. If only she knew that he was plotting the Sultan’s death, she wouldn’t have fallen into his trap. And for all she knew, he could be thinking of ways to kill the Sultan if her knife wound hadn’t killed him. If he thinks even for a moment that she knew his secret, he might kill her too. She has to keep pretending like she knows nothing and thinks about ways to get out of his clutches.