Rajah's Curse

Chapter 34: A Surprise

Tonight, I sat alone in the princess's new study. She had moved her offices to the sultana's study because the sultan had taken back his own study and begin government work again several days ago.

This was just one of the many changes that had happened recently. Ever since we found out about Jasmine's headpiece, the princess and I had searched for more of the former grand vizier's sorcery. There was plenty to be found.

Some of the palace pillows had sleep sand in them to induce heavy slumber. There were scores of enchanted uniforms and other clothing items. Half of the seasonings in the kitchens were tainted with magicked ingredients.

We also discovered that there were multiple charms placed on the sultan. The feather in the sultan's turban decreased intelligence and the turban's ruby magnified the sultan's loyalty to Jafar. Even the sultan's beloved wooden figurines used a special type of paint that encourage the sultan to play with them in lieu of doing his actual job.

It was a similar story with most of the advisors. They all had their own cursed gemstone, "good" luck charm, family heirloom, or some other accessory that was tailored to nullify their usefulness or foster their loyalty to Jafar. It soon seemed like there wasn't a single person in court that the sorcerer hadn't enchanted in some way.

Jasmine and I were doing our best to cleanse the palace of all these cursed items and the initial results were transformative. As I said, the sultan was now a productive member of government and last week, my new reorganization plan had finally started working as intended. With the palace suddenly full of intelligent, decent, and capable people, the court was flourishing.

Jasmine and I both had less work to do. At this point, we were approving more documents than we were drafting. Most of our time these days was spend in the magician's study trying to get through the remaining scrolls to ensure we hadn't missed any evil enchantments.

But despite the reduction in government work, I had still told Jasmine that once a week I wanted to have a full night of work in her study.

I was hiding in here, like a coward. It was shameful.

A few months ago, I would have been overjoyed by how my life was going. During the day, I got to be by Jasmine's side as Rajah and see how happy and productive she was. Then every night, I became human which was a miracle each time it happened.

My blessings didn't stop there. I was on speaking terms with the princess and we were friends, good friends. I had helped her save Agrabah from a national crisis. I was regarded as a mysterious hero in the court. I had made my mark on the entire city.

And yet, there were some days where I couldn't summon a fraction of the gratitude and happiness I should be feeling. Instead, I was often fighting off a growing sense of resentment. Everyone else had escaped their curse and received their happy ending.

Everyone but me.

I sighed.

In the study, I didn't have to conceal my bitterness or pretend that I was as content as everyone else, but it didn't stop the guilt. Like anger and fear, envy, bitterness, and resentment were emotions that were unworthy of a Mujulaai prince. I shouldn't need to indulge myself to deal with them. It was another weakness I had developed from my time as a tiger.

I sighed again.

I knew that my curse, my shame, and my lack of self-control were ongoing problems that weren't going to be solved tonight. Instead, I turned my mind back to the report from our new Shehrabad ambassador. Despite the favorable trade deals and other bargaining chips she had at her disposal, our ambassador was still being completely disregarded in the Shehrabad court.