AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I never intended to marry Hasan. He is a vicious brute who beats his servants and has wanted to do the same to me since the moment we met. I had hoped to bankrupt him by forcing him to build a palace that I would never be satisfied with. Then, when he was so deeply in debt he could no longer continue, perhaps he would give up his suit, and he'd be forced to release the servants he has abused for so long."
Father's eyebrows rose so high they disappeared into his jewelled turban. "How did I not know this about him?"
Maram lifted her shoulders in a delicate shrug. "Perhaps only women gossip about such things, or perhaps he hides it well from anyone outside his household. But you sent him with me on a trading expedition, where he tried to turn me into his whore. He did not succeed, and has hated me ever since. I had no idea you were unaware of his true nature, Father." Though it didn't surprise her. Vizier Ali must have known, and worked hard to conceal it from the Sultan.
He frowned, evidently deep in thought.
Maram let the silence build. Her father would fill it when he chose to.
Finally, he said, "So you don't wish to marry Hasan, but you do want this other man? This prince? He will make you happy?"
"Yes, Father. Aladdin will make me happy." He already had.
"But he will take you away from me, to his own kingdom."
Maram had never seen her father pout before, but he looked dangerously close to doing so now. "Father, I will make it my mission to make sure Aladdin likes it so much here in our city, that he never wants to leave his palace. You will have to travel a little further to see me, but not so far as you think."
He nodded. "I'll summon Hasan and his father, and tell them the news. They certainly won't be happy when they hear."
No, they would not. Especially Hasan.
"Can you wait until I have left the palace, Father? I fear Hasan's anger will make him do something...reckless, when he hears the news."
The Sultan smiled fondly. "Of course. I will wait two days – will you be ready then?"
Maram nodded. She was so used to travelling, she and her servants could have her room stripped in an hour, if need be, to catch the tide. But never before had she felt that leaving a room would change her life forever. Now, there would be no returning from a future that was so unknown. Could anyone truly be ready for anything the future held?
"I shall," she vowed.
TWENTY-SIX
All the way home, Aladdin should have been walking on air, but he couldn't help but worry. The man he'd seen this morning, beating his slave, would not like losing Maram. What man would?
If another man – a real prince, perhaps – were to appear in the palace and persuade the Sultan that HE was a better match than either Aladdin or Hasan, Aladdin would not simply stand by and accept it. Not unless he truly believed someone could make Maram happier than he could.
The moment he got home, he dug out the lamp and summoned the djinn. Without waiting for the djinn to ask for orders, Aladdin said, "I need you to protect the princess in the palace you built. She'll bring her own staff, I'm sure, but she'll need guards and...I don't know what. And you. If all else fails, I need you to protect her."
"As you command, master. If I may suggest..."
Aladdin looked up. The djinn wasn't normally any more helpful than he needed to be. Not like Kaveh. "Yes?"
The djinn ducked his head. "I suggest placing the lamp in the palace treasury, so I will always be close by if Princess Maram needs me."
Something in the djinn's tone made Aladdin suspicious. "You are not to speak to her, interact with her in any way, or permit her to see you, unless her life depends upon it," Aladdin added.
This didn't seem to upset the djinn at all. "Yes, master."
Aladdin decided he must have imagined it.
"If I may not speak to her...can you tell me if she liked the palace?"
Aladdin hesitated for a moment, but he couldn't see any reason not to answer. "Yes, she did. So much that she agreed to marry me because of it."
"Does she not reside in her father's palace?"
"Of course she does."
"Then why would she want another?"
