Herald of Steel

“…!!!…” Alexander’s lips violently twitched hearing the Queen Mother’s statement, his eyes shooting towards the two ladies.

This news was so shocking and out of nowhere that he almost involuntarily cried out for an explanation, and only managed to stop himself at the last moment, contenting himself by musing with great surprise,

‘What! Lady Inayah had son with Pasha Farzah? I thought they were only ‘friends’? So where did this… but… hmmm well, Lady Inayah’s enthusiasm does seem a bit odd. Why is she throwing such a huge tantrum over another man’s boy she only met a couple of times?’

‘And her hatred for Mirzah does seem far more than merely political. It appears much more personal. But if the Queen Mother’s words were to be indeed taken as true… all this could indeed be explained perfectly.’

After all, Alexander found it inconceivable that the Queen Mother would make such a bombastic remark carelessly without any basis.

And to further buttress this thought, given how long it had been and how far away the place of death was, for Lady Inayah to show such vehemance still… was certainly odd.

At the end of the day, it was just one death.

And if Lady Inayah was to be truly outraged over the principal of it, she should have shown the same reaction with all the killings. However, even when she mentioned the deceased maids, her tone was a lot lighter, and it sounded as if she was only using them as an example to support her true vendetta.

Hence Alexander turned very curiously to Lady Inayah, interested to hear her reply.

“…..” Yet, he was only met with a frosty look the likes of he had never seen Lady Inayah produce.

Her face was as dark as the summer thunderclouds, her red lips tightly closed into a dot and her eyes radiated a freezing glare as she sent her friend an extremely unimpressed look.

“Those are mere rumors, Seelima. Do not talk rubbish about things you have no idea about!” The noble lady nonchalantly spat, heaving her chest with an abundance of rage.

The words were harsh and sounded like the scraping of nails against wooden boards and Alexander could feel the seething anger bubbling inside her, barely being contained courtesy of the person sitting right in front of her.

It was a reaction that surprised Alexander because he did not quite get the reason for this anger. He thought Lady Inayah would be sad or surprised or perhaps even embarrassed over doing this behind her former husband’s back…thus vehemently denying it.

But why anger? And why hide it… the Queen Mother and her really perhaps as close as two women could ever get.

Alexander’s interest was thus piqued even further.

The Queen Mother on the other hand, pretended not to notice that she had just stepped on her friend’s reverse scale and flared by the accusation that her information was wrong, imperiously snorted,

“Hmmm… rubbish? Is that why you refuse to even utter his name? You even went missing for a year just as he was born!”

“…!!!…” Alexander’s heart skipped a violent beat as soon as he heard this damning evidence, and just as he starting to become convinced of the boy’s origins, his mind suddenly very fearful for he heard,

“…. See…li…ma…” Lady Inayah clenched out the three distinct syllables of the name one by one, grinding out each of them through the teeth with the fury of an unleashed hurricane.

It would have been clear to even an infant that the lady was utterly incensed and looking at the rapidly deteriorating situation, Alexander genuinely feared Lady Inayah was going to get up and slap her Queen.

“….” He really did not know what to do. He did not even know why the usually cool tempered Lady Inayah had gotten suddenly so angry, like the fiery sun.

He thought of first speaking up to rebuke the Queen Mother.

But feared what if simply his voice acts like a starting gun for the furious lady. At least for now she was managing to hold herself back.

Then he wondered if he could literally get between the two ladies and forcefully stop this.

This…. did seem to be the prudent option.

So he was just about to jump into the fray… when,

“Mother! We are here!” The mature Lady Ezaya’s chirping voice broke out from the other side of the room, as she and her trailing two sisters quickly revealed themselves.

They had all changed into a much more beautiful one piece flowery dress, with low cut V necks and short skirts that seemed to somehow mix modesty and allure into a single package. Their hair appeared to have been stylishly redone and hanging off them, there were a few bits of additional jewellry that Alexander had not noticed before.

The man’s eyes instantly lit up seeing the trio, his heart jumping up in glee, so much so that he could not remember the last time he was so happy to see someone.

And it was not because of their beauty but, of course because of the fact that their candid interjection had unknowingly diffused the gunpowder atmosphere between the two ladies.

Lady Inayah’s eyes had already started to send of threatening sparks and he really worried for the worst… as much as a man might love watching a catfight, if Lady Inayah and Queen Mother were to really do this… Alexander truly believed their alliance might shatter then and there.

So these ladies had gotten there just in the nick of time.

“Ahh… girls, you are here. Come, attend to your lord.” Their presence also gave the Queen Mother an excuse to back down, as breaking her eye line with Lady Inayah, she charmingly smiled and waved her hands, inviting them to approach Alexander.

And being left all alone, the ebony lady, although still furious, felt a bit overwhelmed by this sudden change and unwilling to cause a scene in front of her daughters also simmered down. Only the heavy heaving of her abundant chest proved the existence of her great anger, hence she let out a few great sighs to cool off.

With the two sides backing off, Alexander also finally had a time to think about all that had happened, and his most important question was of course- ‘Why was Lady Inayah was so angry? She was not embarrassed but furious.’

And the best answer he could think of was perhaps it was because Lady Inayah did not want to confess as it would make her appear unfaithful. That would have socially very damning.

Because remember in Adhania, having a physical relationship with another man without your husband’s permission was only considered something to be frowned upon and at best grounds for divorce.

However having his child… that was another ball game altogether. That called for execution… even crucifixion.

As for what was the difference between the two… well the physical differences were apparent- the former simply meant chopping off the head or snapping the neck during hanging.

The latter was far more slow and agonizing, taking multiple days, with the victim most times dying of thirst than the actual injuries. It was also socially extremely shameful, to be put on display for all to see like that, and the victim’s fate being used as propaganda.

But perhaps the true horror of crucifixion laid in what happened afterwards.

It was said a soul that was crucified was cursed, never to enter the ‘Father’s’ embrace. This was a far greater punishment than any worldly torture.

At least, here the torture evenutally ended, either you were released from prision or you died… but in the other world, it was said such a soul roamed the earth for millennia, suffering in unbearable agony every second of it, slowly breaking up piece by piece, perishing bit by bit, before finally turning to dust.

These types of tortured souls were also the origin of many myths and legends about ghosts and spirits in Adhanian folklore.

And due to its horrific nature, this punishment was mainly reserved only for the most heinous of crimes such as- murder, treason, rebellion, rape, piracy and banditry, and disloyalty to one’s husband.

While Adhanian citizens were in general exempted from this- only slaves, and free folks could be indicted.

Of course it made to be remembered that Lady Inayah was the mad king’s concubine then. So it was not even a question whether he would have made an exception for her if he ever found out. It was a given fact as true as the sun rising from the east.

Now all this was Alexander’s own conjecture.

The real reason for Lady Inayah’s reaction might be entirely different.

Perhaps it really was only a rumor meant to smear her character. That the Queen mother had been hoodwinked.

Or perhaps the real story was something entirely different that he could not even think of as he did not have all the necessary pieces.

Whichever it was, Alexander decided not to talk about it here and only chimed,

“Your Highness, I am afraid I also share Lady Inayah’s concerns here. The fact that Mirzah has killed his brother really shows he lacks and cannot be trusted. How can he be a reliable ally? I think Pasha Farzah is right to be apprehensive about leaving his family to him.”

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