The King Is Mine

"I know you are afraid to climb my bed because you are my maid but I'm your King and there is no one to punish you if i don't give the order. Nima, if you are not comfortable with what I have asked you to do I can understand. I know it's hard for you but I mean no harm"

This was what the King said to Nima, a maid in his palace two years after she was assigned as a maid by the King's wife Hemes.

TWO YEARS BEFORE NOW.

Nima stood up from his mother's kitchen and hissed. There was nothing to cook and she was very hungry.

"I still won't let you go to the palace" Said the mother as she wiped away the tears that rolled down her cheek.

"If I don't go to the palace to work how are we going to survive?" Nima hissed again and while she walked away her mother sobbed vehemently. Nima walked to the palace before was prevented from entering the palace by the men manning the gate.

"I need to work here" she said but one of the men with sword infront of him approached her and said, "I have been observing you for long. You have been asked to walk away from here yet you refuse and stand your ground. Do you want to be thrown into the dungeon?. Now leave" He commanded but Nima kept looking at him. The men at the gate began to laugh.

"Is she a zombie?" asked one of them and the rest laughed at her. Nima remained standing there and not moving an inch. Then the gate man with sword in his front moved forward to hit her when he heard a voice behind him and he immediately withdrew his hand and the rest with him bowed. He also bowed. The Queen was passing and everyone a the hate was expected to bow before her. When she reached where Nima was standing Nima who also bowed called for her attention and one of the men with the Queen made to approach her to hit her but the Queen stopped him while speaking to Nima.

"Who are you?" the Queen asked.

"My name is Nima my Queen. I am here to apply as a maid, your maid in the palace my Queen. The Queen looked at her from head to toe and asked one of her bodyguards to take her inside and show her where to sit and wait for her. The bodyguard bowed and moved. Nima was happy and she couldn't stop thanking the Queen. The Queen didn't say another word as she already moved with the rest of the bodyguards that were with her. When Nima left the gate the gate man that had a sword in his front looked at the rest that were manning the gate with him and said, "The gods are with that lady; to have gotten the attention of the Queen on her first visit, surely the gods love her" The rest nodded in agreement.

When Nima was seated where she was shown to sit and wait for the Queen she was imagining herself in that expensive dress that the Queen was putting on and somehow she believed the Queen must be her age mate. She smiled at herself for being so imaginative. Just then she heard a royal command and she looked down from the balcony where she was sitting and she could see the King coming out. It was a sight to behold. She did not know when her mouth opened in awe as she watched the entourage that was meant to escort the King out. She wondered where the young King was heading to. The first time she set her eyes on him was when he was taking his wife, the Queen. The King had been married to her for over four years without any issue and the people had started to whisper. Well, Nima did not think that should be anyone's business. She had said to her mother, "The King's wife will give birth when the gods decide. We are but humans, we don't give child, it is the gods that give children" But the mother had shook her head and said, "It is not the will of the gods for us to suffer and it is their will for us to have children and be blessed. When a man is not being blessed as he should such a man needs to ask his Chi what is wrong. If the Queen has not given birth since she was married to the palace then she must be worried, she should be worried" The mother said and stood up. Nima had thought about that but did not think deeply about it.

As she watched this exit from the palace by the King and his escort she was excited. Somehow she believed the rich and the powerful are chosen by the gods before they were born; if not why would she be this poor living in the same land with the nobles. She folded her hands and watched as the gates were realised for the King and his escort to move out. "Such a handsome man. I knew he would make a great King the very day he was crowned" she said and sat back.

That evening when the Queen returned she walked to her quarters and was told that the lady she asked to wait for her was still there waiting for her. She couldn't remember asking anyone to wait for her until Nima was sent for and she appeared before the Queen. Now the Queen recalled her face and asked, "You have been waiting here since morning?"

"Yes my Queen. You asked me to wait so I have to" said Nima.

"Have you had anything to eat since that time?" The Queen asked.

"No Ma but it doesn't matter. If I were at home there wouldn't be any difference. I would prefer to be hungry here than there"

"Its been over four years I got married to her yet no child. You speak about patience; have I not been patient enough? All my noble friends would think I'm not man enough" King Exa said as he drank from the cup of wine served him by his friend, King Moban; King of Moba Kingdom, a young King, handsome too just as King Exa of Zeri Kingdom. Both Kings were young and vibrant yet very wise and wealthy.

"Hemes your wife is a good Queen" said Moban.

"She is, a very nice woman yet without a child she is not going to make me really happy. She knows this too and she is always troubled" Said Exa.

"But you know you should not make her understand that without a child she is not good enough for you" advised Moban.

"If is she is good for me and I make her believe that will she be good for the Kingdom. Zeri Kingdom needs an heir and I am their King whom they expect to give birth to that heir and my wife whom I married to hel