Queen Of Hearts

Princess Serila had had a dream where she was making love with a strange man and as she woke up she saw herself holding onto a pillow and she was mad at herself

She flung the pillow away from the bed and if fell infront of the door. She laid still. She hated to appear this way and she felt it was the work of the gods to continue to remind her of what nature is. She woke up that morning and still wanted to remain in bed. She knew also without being told that the Prime Minister would be waiting for her to show up in the court room where he wanted to discuss with her. Ofcourse she already knew what the old man wanted to talk about and she had heard it from him many times. She had grown tired of being reminded that it raises concerns seeing her not close to any man. She hissed while still on the bed before she dragged herself up and began to head to where the maid Akara had kept her regalia. She touched it and sank down on it. Just then the maid Akara entered and smiled at her frustration.

"Another day to face the Prime Minister" the maid joked.

"I hate to think about it" she said and sighed again, touching the regalia and shifting from it.

"You will rumple the cloth" said Akara.

"Let it rumple for all that I care" said Serila as she sank her back on the bed. It was obvious she was tired and uninterested.

"The man means well for you, for the Kingdom" said Akara as she went closer to her.

"I can't continue like this; pretending that I'm comfortable with the way he tries to interfer in my life and keeps making me feel like I have made a terrible mistake not having been engaged to any man till now" said Serila as she rolled her eyes.

"Should I help you dress up?" asked the maid Akara.

"Stop it" Princess Serila spoke and stood up.

"What happened to you?" asked Akara.

"Had a dream where I was making love with a man. Is not that what I hate the most in my life? Listen Akara, you will have to walk with me to meet with the Prime Minister and you will help me explain to him that I do not need any man in my life. I just want to be who I am without having to be tied to any man whatsoever"

"Let me ask you Princess" Akara was saying and Princess Serila adjusted herself to hear what she had had to ask her. "How did your parents meet each other?" She asked. Princess Serila didn't know where and why this question was coming from and so she glared at Akara for a while and then shook her head and stood up after she had sat back and walked to her wardrobe. As if she could not take in the question she turned to Akara and asked, "Why do you ask this question?" she wanted to know.

"Because you hardly allow anyone hear your story. You blame yourself everyday for what happened to you in the past yet it is nobody's fault that it happened. Your people, the people you are going to lead someday are dependent or going to be dependent on you and the man you will marry. We are all eager to have you tie the knot. I specially will make you the finest dress you have ever seen me make before; your parents gave birth to you in their marriage not outside marriage. You want to make them proud then you have to do as they did" Akara advised. Princess Serila stared at her for a while before she walked up to her and standing before her she said, "Akara it seems my joviality with you has been misunderstood. I'm still your Princess and you should be careful with your tongue. You had no right to refer to my parents" Akara knelt at once and apologized.

"I did not mean to annoy you my Princess, forgive your servant and it won't repeat itself again"

"Stop it you silly, we both know you hardly keep to your promise, you will repeat it again" Princess Serila said frustratingly and walked back to the wardrobe. Just as she stood there she realized that Akara the maid was still kneeling there and she said, "Do I have to fry an egg before you stand from there?. Don't make me look bad Akara" Akara the maid stood up and there was a smile on her lips. The Princess put both hands on her waist for she was ready to receive the explanation for that smile on her face. "What?" she wanted to know.

"It's your frustration my Princess, it reminds me when I was once in love, it appeared I had no will of mine and I followed only where my heart led me to even though my mind knew that was not the right road. You see, there was nothing I could do to stay away from the reality of my person; I was meant to love him and I loved him and it got me nowhere. You see, you are angry because you are trying to stay away from what, from where, from the path meant for everyone; marriage is not a curse, love is not evil"

"Oh it is and i will prove it to you. You don't know what love is; you don't know how hard I had to suffer and here I am trying to bring myself together to no avail. I can't think, I don't even know if I will be able to lead my people, for my heart which should be on the forefront of my leading the people is not in order. Now the Prime Minister wants to force me to something I had already let go of my life. Please do not try to remind me my past. Your position is to stand where I stand" Princess Serila walked away from the room.

TWO YEARS BEFORE NOW:

"Welcome to Aviru Kingdom my lady" Prince Zado of Aviru Kingdom welcomed Princess Serila of Akaty Kingdom. She smiled at his handsome face and it felt like she was already alone with him; she would have grabbed him and showed him just how much she had missed him with rain of kisses all over his body. He was a very handsome man and she loved him for many other reasons. She allowed him hold her as she drew nearer to him and with smile on his face he said to her, "You must be tired from the long trip" he smiled even brighter and still did not want to get the smile off her own lips. At this point she could not hold herself any longer, "Let's go to your room" The Prince frowned his face a bit and then smiled again and said, "Let's greet my father first" She nodded with a smile and then they went to the throne hall where the King of Aviru was seated on his throne. When the King looked at her he smiled and his officials nodded their heads. Princess Serila knelt before the King and greeted him.

"Beautiful Princess of Akaty" said the King before he rose from his throne, walked up to her and helped her to stand. "You are welcome to my palace, to my Kingdom" he said.

"Thank you your highness, I'm so much elated for the warm reception" said Princess Serila.

"Tell me, how is the Kingdom of Akaty?" the King was asking.

"The Kingdom is in good shape, the people can't wait to welcome you to the remembrance of my late father, the late King of Akaty Kingdom" Said Princess Serila.

"Surely I will be there. You are once again welcome to my land" The King then let go of her hand and the Prince saw that she walked away from the throne room of his father and to his own room where they both sat on the bed. The Prince held her hand and said, "There is something that I would like us to discuss"

In the throne room of the King of Aviru he sat back on his seat and said to one of his officials, "See to it that the officials that came with the Princess of Akaty are taken care of"

"My lord King, how sure are you that the Prince will be able to tell her?" asked one of the officials in the palace.

"My son will have to tell her exactly what he ought to tell her. We can't marry the Princess because that is not in my agenda. The King of Akaty is no more and I plan to take that kingdom. My son getting married to her Princess of Akaty will only make him their slave. They have their customs and traditions which states that when a Princess of Akaty marries the man will have to live with him in her own palace as her husband. That is not what will become of my son. My son must remain here. If he desires the kingdom of Akaty then I will give it to him because that is the only thing I can give to him from the kingdom of Akaty, but to allow my own son to go there, never" when he said this he stood up and added, "My son will lead my own people. That love both of them have for each other must come to an end. The Princess of Akaty is loyal to her people and she won't defy the people of Akaty and their tradition just so she could be loyal to my son. My son has to do the same; he must be made to know that here is where he belongs and from here he will stay to take whatever he wishes to take and from wherever he wishes to take it from. I have also discovered that there is nothing anyone can do about it; there is nothing anyone can say to make my son let go of the hand of that lady except if he is threatened with her death. If he wants her land to be safe without my unleashing terror in the land of Akaty he will have to reject her and let her go. I don't know my son's mind yet but whatever his mind is it won't change mine" The King then left the officials and they stood there looking downcast. They loved their Prince so much and they knew he would be so hurting to let go of the hand of Serila of Akaty. The officials of the palace of Aviru had had to understand that both of them loved each other so much.

Inside the room of the Prince of Aviru he was finding it hard to let out the words from his mouth and Princess Serila was getting Impatient with him for she was so eager to know for sure what it was that he wanted to tell her so badly.

"Is there something wrong, something so wrong that you find it hard to let the words of it out your mouth?" Asked Princess Serila. The Prince of Aviru held her hands and looked into her eyes before he said, "I can't have s*x with you now, not now and not ever again" When he said this the Princess thought he was joking. She smiled and said, "Stop joking will you and tell me what you wanted to tell me"

"This is what I wanted to tell you" he said and kept looking into her eyes. At some point the Princess felt he was not actually joking. Her smile suddenly went down and she slowly removed her hands from his and kept staring at his face. Was he actually serious? She had to think.

"I'm sorry my love" he said and she still kept looking at his face.

"He looked me right into my eyes and said he did not want my relationship with him to continue. At first I thought it was a joke and that he wanted to pull my legs. I was smiling, even laughing until I saw in his face an expression that I had never seen before and I had to drop my smile and kept staring at him" This was Princess Serila speaking to the maid Akara after she returned from the Kingdom of Aviru and from the palace of the King of Aviru where she had gone to pay a visit to the Prince of Aviru, Prince Zado. The maid Akara could see without being told that there was something wrong when she returned to the palace with her face gloomy. After she walked passed her to her room she also headed to the room of the Princess to know what had happened to her. The Princess on opening the door of her room walked in and sat on the bed. The maid Akara walked in and said, "What happened to you my Princess, why do you return in this manner?" The Princess looked at her f