Chapter 9 In the presence of the sultan

Roksolana felt bored being left alone all by herself for two days. Ever since the incident between her and the general had happened, he had stayed clear of her. His assistant, Sodeeq had suddenly gone missing from her presence too. Even Ayeshat hadn't come around to check up on her. As a matter of fact, no one had bothered to ask her if she was hungry or wanted to eat. They hadn't even brought a plate of food for her to even think about rejecting. She was so famished right now, she wouldn't mind eating even a human.

Roksolana felt uneasy about it all. It felt like this was a calm before a storm. She didn't know why, but she felt like Jamal was up to something. What it was she didn't know, but she knew it had to be bad. Judging by her experience of him, she knew he must have given the order for no one to come near her or even act as if she existed.

Was he still angry at her about the incident? After walking away from him and calming down, Roksolana had realized that she had been wrong with her actions. No matter how provoked she was, she never should have slapped the man. She had opened the door several times to go and apologize, but her ego had stopped her each time. She had justified her actions with the fact that she had every right to be angry at the man since he was responsible for the death of her family.

She had also given that another thought and realized that the man was simply following orders from his Sultan. No one can ever disobey the Sultan, that is if the person wanted to live for another day. If reversed was the case, Roksolana had realized that she would have killed his family too. She had also realized that the general wasn't so bad since he spared the women, even if he had done so to enslave them. She knew that being a slave was better than being dead. And if luck was with them, many of them could end up being concubines to high-rank officers or even as a slave to wealthy people who would treat them right. It was a chance at life and she was grateful he had given them to those he could.

Roksolana was jolted out of her thoughts when she realized the ship had stopped moving. She ran out of her room to the deck and she saw the men bringing out goods and boxes off the ship. She also saw some women and children of Dar Sila being helped out of the ship. Roksolana realized they must have gotten to the sultanate of the general, wherever that is.

"You." A voice called out. Startled, she turned towards the voice and saw a soldier standing behind her. "What are you standing there for? Go and join the others." He commanded.

Roksolana was glued to her feet. She hadn't given much thought to what would become of her when they arrived at their destination. It was true she had been given special treatment above others during the sea journey, but would that continue now? Was the general still intending to make her his concubine? Does she still want to refuse the offer other women would die to take?

She felt herself being dragged and gasped. The soldier dragging her was not trying to be gentle with her. Roksolana tried to make him loosen his hold but because she hadn't had a bite to eat in two days, her pull was weak. She watched as he kept dragging her, finally stopping where the other women are. Roksolana grunted as the man let go of her suddenly and she fell flat on her backside to the floor. She stood up with the help of the others and eyed the man wearily. She was about to give him a piece of her words when she saw Jamal getting down from the ship.

Roksolana was surprised to see that he was no longer in common clothing or the general's clothing. He was now dressed in elegant wear only befitting the royal family. She didn't fail to see Sodeeq was now in a general's clothing instead. She saw Jamal looking around as if he was searching for something or someone. As soon as their eyes met, she saw the man looking at her for about five seconds before he looked away from her completely like she had been dismissed from his sight.

Thinking he probably was still angry at her about what happened, Roksolana took a step forward to go to him. She halted when she heard the echoing footsteps of what felt like thousands of people walking. She looked back and indeed saw thousands of people all coming from the inner part of the land. A man dressed almost in identical clothing to Sodeeq led the squad, followed by an army, then civilians made up the crowds. As soon as they got to where Roksolana and the others were, they all went down on a knee.

"Sultan." They all said at once.

Roksolana was surprised. The Sultan was among the people who raided their sultanate?

"Rise."

Roksolana heard Jamal's voice command. She turned to look at him. He was the Sultan? No wonder everyone feared him. And with the realization of the fact came anger. Roksolana realized he could have spared her family but he chose not to. He could have chosen a peaceful talk with her father but he chose to destroy them.

"How dare you be the Sultan?" Roksolana busted out, unable to control her anger.