Chapter 27: Horse Riding

"You asked me to sit down," she had to force the words out, not because she wanted to speak but because she knew that if she didn t, he still had his gun.
"I asked you to sit down which means on the sofa not on the floor where there isn t even a carpet. Come here and sit down." Yet again, he patted the sofa beside his and she watched it with reluctance before he walked up there and sat down as though she was afraid of the sofa.
For a moment, she thought of her family and how amazing there lives would be if they got to see this luxury together. She had to force her tears back though, because she knew, Na im wasn t going to take it lightly on her if she dared cry. "Be at ease," he saw the way she slightly flinched at his voice and that riled him up. Everything about this girl was so hard to deal, "Damn it, Mairam! I'm not going to hurt you!"
"But you are! I'm terrified of you!" She didn t know when or how her words came out almost as immediately as he had said his and not in the usual voice she used to speak to him, in a yell, clearly her body being taken over by her fear.
He wordlessly watched her as she recoiled back to the shell she had just come out while she yelled at him a while ago. As fear of what she did register in her mind and she wondered what would be her fate now that she spoke back at him and even yelled at him. But he wasn t angry with that, he heard the words she had hoisted out of her soul loud and clear.
He was hurting her, she had said. She was terrified of him, she had said. Na im gulped down a lump in his throat before he began to speak, and this time, in a voice that was muffled with guilt, anger, sadness and something more. "This is my home, where my father lives but his place is far away from here. My whole family lives here but none of them should know about you. You re going to stay at an apartment behind this, I'll take you there tomorrow. You should always be there, you can t move around, not even come here. Hide yourself as much as I'm trying to hide you away from them." She just stared at him, and he knew, as annoying as that may be, that it would take her minutes before she assimilated what he had said and got them understood by her brain and when she did, she slightly nodded her head at him, fixing her eyes on her fingers.
...
He had taken her to one of the extra rooms he had in the chamber and she slept there. And in the morning, he asked Bilkisu to escort her to their apartment and silently prayed he didn t have to see her again. She angered him, made him feel guilty and all sorts of emotions he didn t want welcoming in his mind. He wanted to keep his space away from her and was glad that now that she was in the palace and he knew that she was safe, he didn t have to think of not fulfilling his husband duties towards her.
And for the next few days, Na im wandered between the palace and the barracks without any thoughts in his mind. He was able to keep his heart at ease that she was in a safe place where he didn t have to see her. It was Sunday morning and like he had promised his brothers, Na im got up early and showered. He donned himself in his riding attire as he called the royal stable and ordered for his horse to be ready, they had a horse riding match with his brothers. It seemed like the triplets had beat him to it because the man had told him that the horses were ready since yesterday at the request of the other princes, he only smiled.
And when he walked out of his chamber, Na im found them waiting outside, all on the backs of their horses as they smiled at him while Amjad held the bridle of his horse. He collected it with a warm and thankful smile before he hopped on it and they all turned to the location they had usually rode their horses for pleasure in the palace. As they rode, Na im found out that without intending to, he was bonding with these brothers of his and it felt good to know that among the bunch of step brothers and sister he had, there were some he could actually go along with; even though younger than him.
"Yarima Na im, we ve been discussing that Amjad said he wants to join the army when we re done with school and we re trying to convince him not to. Don t you have some horrific stories that will scare him away please? We don t want him away like you two are, we hardly see you, especially in the palace." One of the guys spoke, as he chose to refer to them as now. For they were no longer the boys he thought they were.
Na im chuckled and stared at the genuine concern on their faces. "You don t want your brother dead? Be sincere." They laughed at that because it was obvious he had found out about their biggest fear.
Softly nodding their heads, Adil and Areef replied him, "He may not be as brave as you are, Yarima. Even though you still haven t been killed, but we ve seen you suffered from that gunshot for more than a month and it was more than heartbreaking. He s someone we re used to being in our lives, having him off the grid like you will hurt."
"I promised them that I won't have myself killed, I won t be hurt either unless it s beyond me. But they're still nagging about it." He chuckled at the baby expression they had on their faces and Na im laughed along with him.
"What are you worried about, he ll be safe and I'll make sure that he's under my team. So, I'll promise y all that your dear brother will be taken care of." They whined at that and both Na im and Amjad laughed while they rode their horses faster.
"We knew it, you d have his back!" Adil said as he turned to Arif, "I told you it was a terrible idea to have Yarima Na im talked him out of this. Maybe we should try with Alan Gubro next time, he will definitely won't enjoy the idea of having his three sons into the army at the expense of being killed at any time, right?"
Na im chuckled at that, well, maybe it might work there. But if Amjad was hell bent on his choice, he d certainly win him over. "Don t play that joke on us, what you ll say might have him forcing us to resign as well." And it was their turn to laugh, "Let s see who's going to reach there first!" He challenged, and Na im didn t have to close his mouth before the wind swatted beside him as they rode faster beside him, leaving him in nothing but a peal of laughter. It was obvious that he was more into army that he had forgotten his royalty roots to have these boys more skilled at horse riding than he was.
He rode fast behind, but they took a few minutes at the spot before he was able to reach there and when he did, they all were laughing at his skills. "This is why Amjad shouldn t join the army, he wouldn t be able to ride a horse as good as we do." Amjad and Na im stared at each other before they smiled.
It was a lovely morning to spend with these three guys that harbored no ill feeling in their hearts. They took him as the older brother he was to them and it wasn t until now that Na im realized he had been in need of company and had been lonely most of his times in shehuri, expect when he visited Alan Gubro yet he had these set of amazing guys that even though younger than him, would ve been a good company.
They rode and rode and rode until they were all tired and it was Na im that suggested they went together to greet Alan Gubro, and the idea was welcomed almost immediately. They called some guards and handed the horses to them to be taken back to the stable before they marched to his chamber. Na im wasn't much included in their conversations as he had little to offer, he only listened and laughed when they did something funny. And they always did something funny.
They waited for their arrival to be announced to Alan Gubro and he gladly asked them to be ushered in. When he saw Na im in the midst of his brothers and unlike how he was usually reserved to himself, he looked comfortable and at ease with them, it showed on his face that he was pleased and Na im understood his feelings even before he mentioned them.
"I was just about to have breakfast," he began. They were about to offer him the traditional greetings for the king when he quickly waved his hand at them, "Look, boys, on a Sunday morning a boy greets his father, not the king." There was a warm smile on his lips and they all smiled at him. Every time, the respect they had for their father intensifying in their hearts. "Bring more breakfast, I'll eat with the boys." He had ordered and it only took a few minutes before the table was filled and the boys were all on the dining table eating alongside a down to earth king.
The breakfast was joyous yet in silence, but from their eyes that emoted the warm and good feelings in their hearts, one could see the bond slowly growing between them. They had a warm chat afterwards and that was when Adil and Arif lodged in their complain about Amjad that wanted to join the army. He replied to everything humourly, taking sides when he saw the other winning or loosing and they ended up a bunch of laughters at the end. Yet, Na im knew sooner or later, Amjad would be summoned in that very living room to have a more serious conversation with Alan Gubro. They wished him to have a good day before they excused themselves and he followed their retreating backs with a smile.
He had always hoped that Na im would have a good relationship with his siblings and that was why even when Ya Gumsu came to him with her request of Babagana joining the army shortly after Na im did, he agreed. Because he knew with them being in the same profession as well, there were higher chances of them becoming as close as he wanted them to be. But it seemed the only relationship he hadn t given much to, was that of him and the royal triplets and it seemed to be blossoming naturally between them.