Xerxes never said anything about taking an escort with him to the celebrations. This woman needs to know her place. He turns around ignoring her but Lady Oma holds onto him. "My Lord!" she whines,
"Let go Oma," he tells her, evidently irritated. What has happened to this man? Sure he's always been so cold to her but now he's becoming too distant and it is making her uncomfortable and sad.
"My Lord, I dressed up for you today. Surely, you would want me by your side during the celebrations"
"You just assumed that."
Lady Oma feels a slight pain in her chest from his words.
"My Lord this is so unfair. You have been acting like I don't exist lately"
"Good, you noticed"
This man honestly doesn't care about her feelings!
"It's because of Saya isn't it?"
Xerxes glares at her but she doesn't flinch, she's angry.
"Ever since that wretch came in her-"
"You will be wise to choose your words carefully," he warns before turning back around.
"She is a wretch!"
Xerxes immediately grabs her by the arm and slams her against the wall of the stairs, her head hitting the concrete. "M-My Lord" she stutters, a bit teary.
This woman really needs to watch her tone. He doesn't want to take her as an escort! Is that too hard for her to comprehend? But wait, there might be a silver lining to this woman's madness. If he goes without an escort, his brother will get suspicious. That man is known for getting every single woman he stares at into his bed. It will disgust Xerxes if he ever trails eyes over his woman, so throwing a dry bone at a dog to save the juicy one for oneself is not a bad idea. The dog will be too busy enjoying the one it has to even think about the possibility of a juicer bone in hiding.
This will be killing two birds with one stone, clearing Oma's conscience, which he honestly doesn't care about, and keeping his brother's eyes off his woman, that he cares about.
"Very well," he says, letting go of her. Lady Oma smiles widely believing that her tears have touched him. She latches onto his arm like a leech and walks with him towards the throne room. As they reach the ground floor, music, laughter and cheers fill the air. People make way for him and Lady Oma, cheering for them as they walk into the throne room.
*
"My Lady please do not conceive of such an idea," Nabir pleads
"And why should I not? It is my mind after all," Saya replies facing her, her fingers still trailing the window.
Nabir looks at her sternly. "The King-"
"The King is not here, he will never know Nabir," Saya interrupts.
"He said under no circumstances should I allow you to leave this room. You are pregnant My Lady! He worries about your health"
"And yet he took me this morning. If I hadn't gotten out of the bath, we would still be at it."
Nabir tries so hard to contain her blushing. "It's alright, I can already see your face turning red," Saya says as she sits on a chair by the window, looking outside. Nabir clears her throat, "You're saying that as if you didn't want the king to take you. From my knowledge here as a maid, the king never forces women."
"Of course he doesn't, women gladly throw themselves at him. I never said I didn't want him to, all I'm saying is the reason he gave isn't valuable because he took me this morning"
"My Lady, how can you be so comfortable saying this?"
"Saying what? That he took me?" Nabir nods blushing. Saya can't understand her, surely she has been taken by the commander, why should she feel embarrassed to say it out loud to her friend?
"Don't worry Nabir, I'm only like this when I'm with you."
"I still think it is a bad idea to leave the chambers"
Saya sighs. "Have you ever wanted to be literate?"
Nabir is taken aback by this random question. "My Lady, why would you ask such a thing?"
Saya stares at her, waiting for an answer. She sighs, "Yes, but it hasn't been something to disturb my conscience."
"It seems to me that women being illiterate has become so 'normal' now that women don't even care. They don't know how much is taken from them when they cannot read or write."
"My Lady"
"Knowledge is power Nabir. That is why men don't want us to be literate. They are afraid of what we might do, who we can become, what we can accomplish. There are so many women out there with so many ideas of how to better this kingdom or theirs but they are rotting away. All they care about now is who will marry them, or how to look pretty."
"That is how it has been My Lady"
"That is not how it must continue. This chain that has been attached to every woman since birth is a burden that women are forgetting, a burden that some don't even realize."
"But there are a lot of women that don't care about being illiterate. Why would they want it now?"
Saya chuckles. "Giving advice to a complete ignorant is like rain falling on a dry stone for it to harbor life"
Nabir frowns in confusion at this. Is she calling her ignorant?
"How will women want to be literate when they don't know the power it holds? It is when you show them what they're missing, advising and convincing them is as easy as a lay with the king"
"My Lady don't let anyone hear you say that"
"That a lay with the king is easy? Why? He has bedded so many women that if a single lay with a different woman each time could give you 3 extra years of life, he's already immortal."
They both laugh but Nabir clears her throat shortly after, "But in all honesty My Lady, don't say that out loud. By the way, what does defying the king have to do with all this?"
"Nabir, the king sees me as some fragile item. Of course he's going to believe that because that's how I portray myself to him. But I need to do this and get back to the room without his knowledge just so he knows that my brain and body is not that fragile item he thinks of. Eluding the guards he set up will be easy as a lay with the king, and when I actually tell him I left the room, he will not believe it, unless I actually bring back proof. Of course he'll be mad, but he'll wonder how someone like me could do that. That's when he'll see my true colors of how powerful a woman can be."
"My Lady,"
"He'll never know what hit him," Saya says with a grin.
"My Lady, are you literate?"
"Will you help me or not?"
"My Lady please answer me."
"Once you've had a taste of power, you'll always want more."
Nabir has never seen this side of Saya before. Her fragile, silent, and childish nature is gone. This person standing here is an entirely different human being. She is a leader, one that will fight for what she believes is right.
"I won't stop the cycle of women born in chains, I will break it"
This woman here will forever have Nabir's respect and will forever have her to be of service.
"I will follow you My Lady. How do you plan to elude the guards?"
Saya stands up and looks out the window. "We won't"
"Pardon?"
"We won't be leaving these chambers, because the first step to get the king in the palm of my hand is to earn his trust, that's how I will get his heart, and ultimately have him do whatever I please."
This is getting a bit scary for Nabir, why is she talking like this? Saya turns around with a warm smile. "Did I scare you with my speech?"
Nabir nods, making Saya laugh. "Please don't take this side of me to heart. It's the first time it has ever shown itself, it's always in my head. I have never voiced it out before," she says smiling.
"I think that is scarier," they both chuckle.
"Don't worry! The Saya that came to this land is still me, I just want women to be better off so that if they're in a situation that they can't find a lover, like myself, they can turn to knowledge."
Nabir nods at her words. "I don't think that's your situation though"
"Pardon?"
"The king is fond of you. He cares about you My Lady"
"He does care about me, I care about him as well, maybe a little too much. If these feelings develop I'm just scared he won't reciprocate and I'll just be heartbroken" Saya explains in all honesty.
"I don't think you need to worry about that. The king has done so many things he hasn't done for other women before. By the way, that lay with the king analogy really needs to stop."
"Am I lying?"
"No, only if you're mistaking the king for his brother"
"His brother?"
*
"Brother! It has been a long time!" a man says walking up to the king. Xerxes sighs, this is going to be a long day.