No one noticed that Princess Cora-Jane was missing until her other personal attendant, May, entered her chamber. Magdalene was supposed to be on duty for the week but today, it was close to mid morning and she had not seen Magdalene or the princess. It was definitely an issue because Princess Cora-Jane was always a morning person and she would make sure that everyone in the palace was awake even before the rooster crowed.
May had decided to attend to the princess for the day so she had gone to the princess' chamber without seeing Magdalene.
The young lady was furthermore alarmed when she saw the note on her bed. She turned around when she heard a muffled voice behind her.
"Magdalene!" May rushed to her best friend's aid. "Who did this to you?" She asked after releasing the other lady.
"Mudhin Amal, the Sultan of the Islamic Empire. He took...he took Princess away and I couldn't do anything about it..." Magdalene trailed off in tears.
"Okay, calm down, we have to give this note to the emperor. Come." May said and led her shivering colleague to the royal court.
"Mudhin!" Emperor Augustus shouted after reading the note. Amal had proposed war between the two empires with three threats.
If Augustus refused to fight, Princess Cora-Jane will be killed.
If Augustus agreed and won the war, part of the Islamic Empire would be given to the Roman Empire along with the princess without hesitation.
The last one was that if Amal won the fight, the princess would be stuck with him as his slave and mistress till death.
Henry was panicking. How would he be emperor now? Amal was known for his ruthless ways. He was capable of killing the princess at any moment even if he would never get anything good out of it. Henry had to get the throne at any cost but how? Currently, the future of the Empire was in the hands of that devil of a Sultan, Mudhin Amal.
Cora refused to eat the food Amal brought. He was already growing restless. He couldn't sleep because of her loud sobs at dawn and now she won't even eat anything. He felt like strangling the young lady to death but then, that won't be fun at all.
"Do you want me to feed you?" He asked in a sarcastically sweet voice,both of them had to force themselves not to cringe. Cora shook her head.
"Then eat and stop wasting my time, woman!" He roared. "If you think that I'm wasting your time, then let me go!" Cora didn't know where the courage came from but she also roared at him.
Amal hissed and then chuckled in frustration. "Princess, I would also like to let go of you but you see, you wouldn't like my idea of letting you go." He held her by her neck and squeezed it, Cora had to open her mouth, gasping for air. She scratched at his hand so that he would release his strong grip.
Tears sprang into her eyes. Amal's eyes darkened with wickedness. "But you are too gorgeous to die right now." He let go of her. Cora coughed, films of sweat had coated her forehead.
"I hate you!" Cora croaked out in a hoarse voice while trembling. Amal chuckled,"really? Well thank Allah you do because the feeling is very mutual, beautiful one. Make sure that you finish the food by the time I return or else you wouldn't like what I would do to you."
With that, he stormed out. Cora cried as she slowly ate the food. It was afternoon when Shaban came to see Cora. Cora was asleep then. Shaban took a cup of water and poured it on Cora's face, causing her to wake up with a start.
"Come on, we are going to going to have some fun." She said in an evil tone as she took out her dagger. Cora panicked as she tried to get away from her when Shaban raised her dagger. The weapon tore Cora's already flimsy night garment, leaving her in a revealing dress.
Shaban pulled at Cora's hair and stabbed her thigh. "Ah!" Cora cried out in pain. She managed to push Shaban away after backhanding her.
Shaban didn't give up. She stormed towards Cora and slapped her back. She literally dragged Cora out of the tent to the open, where Amal's soldiers were.
They began laughing and throwing things at Cora. Cora felt humiliated and dizzy too due to the blood she was losing.
Amal rode back to camp and what he saw set his brain and heart on fire. Anger clouded his vision at the state of his captive.
"SHABAN!!!" He shouted in fury. He got off his horse and stormed towards his scared looking sister.