His Queen

Chapter 28

Queen Banafsha’s POV

I woke up to the sound of Junnut’s grumblings, she was busy folding clothes and shoving things that had no reason to be shoved, she had not noticed that I was awake yet, she kept muttering to herself and making face gestures that I found funny, she was obviously angry about something, perhaps she was still angry about our argument from earlier,

I tried sitting up in my bed, I must have made a noise because she turned in my direction, when she saw me trying to sit up, she dropped the clothes in her hands and rushed to my side, she helped me sit properly and put some pillows behind me so I was comfortable.

“What are you doing Banafsha? If you needed help you could have called for me” she said looking very worried,

A smile crossed my face, it seemed the anger she felt was long gone “I thought you were mad at me that’s why you were busy buzzing like a honey bee” I said,

She looked puzzled for a few seconds before she finally understood what I was speaking about then she quickly said “No, no I was not mad at you, I was mad at someone completely different, I promise you I was not mad at you”

Her words were fast and hurried almost like she was nervous about something, this was an interesting sight, Junnut was never nervous and it had been so long since I had seen her behave like this, the last time was many years ago when she had mistakenly broken mother’s flower vase, she had spoken in hurried words just like she was doing right now,

“And might I ask who you are angry at?” I said, a smile at the corner of my lips, it was funny to see Junnut fidget like this, there was definitely something happening and it was obvious that Junnut was trying to hide something,

“No one, it’s no one I can assure you” she said and fixed a smile that was no doubt fake on her face,

“Hmm but you just said you were not angry at me but at someone else and now, you say you are not angry at me but at someone else, you are acting a bit different today Junnut, is anything the matter?” I said with a smile on my face that was supposed to encourage her to tell me what was going on,

Junnut shook her head strongly and said “No Banafsha, I assure you that there is nothing going on with me, I was just talking to myself, there is nothing to worry about, it’s time for you to have your food, you were asleep for a long time, I will go and get your meal right away” and she was gone before I could say anything else.

I watched her leave with a smile on my face, then I laughed before resting my head on the pillows awaiting her return with my meal, I was hungry after all.

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King Humair’s POV

I was glad that I had attended the event at the barracks, it had turned out to be very interesting and the time was well spent indeed, I had returned to my chambers and I was going through some official documents when my chief man servant came in,

He bowed his head in greeting then he said “Greetings Sire, it is time for your meal, may I have it brought to you or perhaps you will be dinning in the gardens today?” he said,

I normally loved to have my meals in the gardens, it was refreshing and enlightening, I could enjoy the cool breeze as I ate and feed the ducks as they swarm in the water.

I opened my mouth to say I preferred to eat in the gardens when a thought occurred to me, a smile crossed my face,

“I will be dinning with the queen, make the preparations” I said,

My chief servant’s eyes opened very widely and then a wide smile fixed on his face “Immediately your majesty, I will make the preparations and send someone to the queen’s palace to inform her” he said and rushed out.

I couldn’t help the smile that spread on my face as I thought of having lunch with queen Ifza, I knew she was going to give me a difficult time, but today I was not prepared to let her have her way, we will have our meal together and that was final.

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Queen Banafsha’s POV

I was still waiting for Junnut to return with my meal, I was getting hungrier by the second, my appetite was slowly returning, I had not had anything to eat all the days I was unconscious and when I was finally awake, I could barely eat anything but right now, I could not wait to have my meals, I just hoped Junnut would bring me some fresh grape juice and crushed Almonds, I wanted to eat something sweet right now.

Just then the door opened and Junnut rushed in looking like she had ran, the others rushed in after her, they were also looking they had ran all the way here, they were breathing hard.

“What is the matter with you girls? Are you been chased?” I asked, my heart beating my chest, I was praying that the palace wasn’t under attack because if I was the case because I would be useless and end up becoming a burden, I hated the idea of been vulnerable.

I watched as Junnut and the others struggled to catch their breath then one of them finally managed to say “The king has decided to have his meal with you and he is on his way right now”

I stopped panicking immediately, I had the worst, they had given me quite a fright, I had thought it was something important, I could not believe they ran all the way here to tell me king Humair wished to dine with me,

I managed to calm my racing heart, I took a deep breath and said “You can go back and inform him that I will not be dinning with him as I am not in the mood to eat with anyone”

The eyes of Junnut and the others went wide “Banafsha you can’t just turn down the king’s request like that” Junnut said,

“I am not eating with the king, you can go back and tell him that I have refused his request to dine together”

“Well that’s a shame since I am already here” I heard king Humair say,

Junnut and the others quickly turned around and bowed their heads, I had not heard him when he entered,

He stood there looking at me with a smile on his face, his hands were folded behind his back and his eyes were fixed on me,

“I afraid I will not be able to dine with you today your majesty” I said and kept my eyes on him,

He stared at me for a while, then he said “I am afraid that you will have to, so much effort has been put into preparing this lunch, I will so very much hate for the efforts of the servants to be wasted, so why don’t we have lunch and be done with it”

I opened my mouth to protest once more but then I looked at the faces of the everyone in the room, they were looking at me hopefully, those eyes made me swallow any protest I had in mind,

Taking a deep breath and feeling defeated, I said “I will have with you your majesty for the sake of all the effort put into this affair”

His smile increased by no more than an inch, then he said “Set the meals down by the queen’s bedside and then everyone can leave, I and the queen will be dinning in private”

I felt panic rise in my heart, since I woke up, I had been spoon fed by Junnut, despite been able to sit up, I still felt weak, my hands and legs felt very weak along with every other part of my body so if everyone left right now, I will be left alone with him and I will be unable to eat anything.

The servants set the food on a table beside my bed, it was an array of dishes and there on the table were grape juice and crushed almonds, I felt my mouth water and my stomach rumble, Junnut stood beside me and I kept praying that she won’t leave.

Soon, they finished setting the table and left, Junnut was the last to leave, she looked at me and walked out, she bowed to king Humair as she left, he had been standing in the same position since he arrived.

Once the door closed behind him, he walked over to where I lay on the bed, I kept my eyes on him as he approached, this was my time looking at him for this long, the first time I noticed how tall he was and how well he looked like a warrior, I had never noticed that his head stopped below his jaw and that today was the first time I had seen it loose, I remembered that he always had it tied back,

He sat down on a chair that had been set along with the table “What will you like to have first?” he said,

I noticed one more thing again, he had a deep voice, it was calm and steady, I cleared my throat and said “I agreed to have lunch with you because of the prying eyes of the servants, but I suggest you have your meal and leave your majesty”

A deep chuckle escaped his lips “You don’t always have to be so cold to me you know, I fail to understand this hatred you feel towards me, I will not ask you for your reason but all I will say, we are going to be together for a long time and I believe that we should try to just tolerate each other for that time, we have nothing to gain from this behavior, so I ask you this, can’t we just tolerate each other?” he leaned closer, his eyes bore into mine, his eyes were a light shade of brown, they were different, I was not used to seen an eye color of this shade, it was rare, very rare indeed.

I realized he was waiting for my answer, I cleared my throat and said “I have nothing to offer you, I have no problem if we leave like this for the rest of our lives, you had said before you have no need for a woman like me who only thought herself a warrior, so why do you come to me now and offer peace?”

He smiled and said “I had no idea my words had hurt your pride and for that, I apologize to you, I will be more careful in the future”

I scoffed and said “Your words do not affect me, so I beg that you don’t think they do your majesty”

He simply chuckled and said “I came here to have my meal not to argue with you, let’s just eat and I will be out of your sight, it seems you detest seeing me”

Those words struck something inside me, I had no idea why I behaved as I did to him, I could not think of any logical reason as to why I hated him, perhaps it was because he was the first person I lost to and I was a woman that hate to lose to anyone,

I watched as he picked up his and began eating, I will be a liar if I said I wasn’t hungry, I didn’t mind the fact that I disliked him, I would have eaten if I could.

I was not in the correct position to be able to eat, I still needed to turn my body to properly face the food table and the food needed to be dished out and maybe just maybe, I would be able to eat the food on my own.

While I sat there, thinking of how best to get myself out of this situation, King Humair suddenly stood up, he picked up a plate from the plate basket on the table, I was watching him, wondering what he was doing,

“What will you like to eat?” he said,

I watched him with wide eyes “What do you think you are doing?” I asked,

A smile spread across his face, changing it completely, this was the first time, I had seen him smile like this, it was a full smile and he looked completely different, he didn’t look as arrogant as I was normally used to,

“You obviously need help and I am more than happy to help you queen Ifza, after all what type of king will I be if I couldn’t help my queen when she needed it?” he said, the smile still plastered on his face,

I could not say anything, I could only stare at him, actually I had nothing to say at this moment in time.