Aisha sat on her mattress while the maids massaged her legs. She was feeling a slight pain at her ankle joints and believed that a massage would ease her pain. It was quite relaxing as Cecil and Monica were very good at it; they were her favorite maids.
"Does it feel any better, my lady?" Monica queried, with a smile on her face. She had been assigned to Aisha as a personal maid the day Aisha was brought into the Castle as the King's new concubine.
Aisha had been so nice to her that she treated her like a sister. Cecil used to work for another concubine, but when her Mistress passed away from an illness, the other Queens and concubines rejected her, so Aisha had to take her in as a second personal maid. They both loved and adored her because of her kindness and humor, she never treated them badly like the other Queens and concubines would do to their maids.
"Yes Mona, I feel much better now, thank you so much," Aisha replied and smiled back.
"My lady, please stop thanking me when I do this things, its my responsibility as your maid, the King would be pissed off if he finds out that a woman of his harem said such words to a mere slave like me," Monica replied.
"No Monica, every human being deserves to be complimented when they do good work, I have told you to stop treating yourself like you don't matter, you are no different from the rest of us, you were just unfortunate." Aisha replied.
Cecil smiled. "You are so nice my lady, you are the only one who thinks that we slaves deserve respect as well, no one else thinks that way… I am really happy to serve you, and if the gods wish… then I would serve you for as long as I live," she said, expressing her gratitude.
Aisha chuckled and waved her head, she decided to take that as an exaggeration, but the painful truth is that no woman ever leaves the King's harem alive, the only way to leave there was as a corpse, even for the maids. They were bound to serve the royal house for as long as they lived.
Aisha wished she could do something about their conditions, if it was up to her, then maids were supposed to be given more freedom than they received, they deserved the right to quit when they chose to do so, they deserve to fall in love and get married as well, they deserve to have a life other than serve others for as long as they breathe.
But unfortunately, there was nothing much she could do about any of those. Only the King could make such adjustments to the rules and regulations, only him can grant such wishes. She doubted that the King would listen to her if she made such a request, he might be nice to her but he didn't care to the extent of changing those rules for her.
If her unborn child could be the King, then she would have had hope of bringing about such changes in the future, but there was no way that her unborn child would become the King in future; to begin with, she didn't know if she would even have a male child and even if she did, there were two other boys born to the King already. To crown it all, she was not even a Queen; she was just but a concubine which means that her son would be a half-blood prince.
"Don't you two at times dream of living like free women?" Aisha suddenly asked, curiosity in her tone.
The maids went quiet, they stared at each other and then at Aisha… Monica was the first to speak up. "What are you saying my lady? You know we would be executed if we should ever say something like that out loud, it is impossible for people like us to live freely ever again," she said in a whisper.
"That is true my lady, moreover, no woman is really free in this kingdom, they are all treated like slaves and commodities, both the slaves and freeborn. That is the life we are all subjected to, the difference is that the freeborn woman has a few rights to herself that slaves like us are not privileged to." Cecil said in support, she was quite brilliant even with the primary education that she received.
Women were not allowed to study beyond the primary level as it was seen as a waste of resources. Why train the female child if she would end up being a man's wife or sex doll.
Their little discussion was interrupted when Queen Saudat walked into the tent. The maids stood up and bowed, then they took their leave immediately. It was forbidden for the maids to be around while two royalties discussed, unless they were granted permission by the higher authority present.
Queen Saudat was not just any Queen, she was the King's first wife and was feared by all the servants and slaves in the castle. Even the other Queens were scared of her because of her evil ways, no one had the guts to report her to the King as it always backfired. But if there was one person who was never scared of her, it was Aisha.
Not minding that she was just a concubine, she did not let Queen Saudat intimidate her in any way; they have had clashes a few times in the past and if Aisha was a vengeful person, then this would have been her chance to get back at the arrogant Queen.
Aisha stood up from the Mattress and smiled. "So let me guess, the almighty Queen had come to plead with me, so that I don't spill her secret… What took you so long? Your ego? Or did you think I didn't have it in me to tell the king?" Aisha queried.
She was at an advantage right now so she doubted that the Queen would have the courage to fight back as usual, but she had another thing coming.
Queen Saudat chuckled. "Oh Aisha, you are so Naïve… did you think that I am in any way scared of you and your little threats? I heard that you had sent a request to see the king which was granted. Congratulations on that, but if I might ask, why did you not proceed to tell him what you saw me doing? or did he not believe you?" she retorted.
Aisha was surprised, she could not believe how a person could be proud of their evil deeds. "Of course, why am I surprised? You are a terrible person, tell me how you are able to live with your conscience after what you did the other night? Do you have any shame in you at all?" she fired.
"Shame? Why should I be ashamed? I sought pleasure somewhere else and it is none of your business, if you told the King, he would have never believed you, rather he would have you punished. You were wise after all to choose not to tell him, but that would not save you for seeing what you shouldn't have seen." Queen Saudat uttered and laughed.
There was confidence in her tone and the way she laughed, Aisha knew that something was up. The queen would certainly not keep quiet and watch her image be tarnished, so what could she have done.
"Queen Saudat, what have you done?" Aisha asked in a cold soft voice as she stared at the Queen with scrutinizing eyes.
"Oh Aisha, I have a surprise for you, it will be here any moment. I hope you enjoyed your time with the King yesterday, because it will be your last." She stated in a cold dark voice.
Just then, two of the royal guards stormed into the tent. It was unusual for them to barge in like that, so Aisha knew for a fact that something was wrong.
"My queen, my lady," the men bowed simultaneously. "The King requests that all men and Women in his castle be gathered at the courtroom immediately." One of them announced.
Aisha looked at Queen Saudat and she smirked. Something was not right, but what could it be?
To be continued!!