Queen of Persia ✔️

chapter twenty-four

Arman finally had the chance to see Parisa in the morning that day. The sight of her powering over everyone made him prouder than ever. He carefully walked her down the hallways, intertwining his fingers with hers.

"I have a surprise for you," he informed her. She turned to look at his mischievously mysterious face. He had a devilish smirk tattooed on his mouth as he avoided making eyes contact with her. She smiled knowing if he were to look at her, he would accidentally tell her the surprise and spoil it. Arman came to a stop, standing behind Parisa. He placed his hands over her eyes, walking her to their destination. Once they arrived, he let go of her face standing in front of a door. When Parisa realised what the door was, she slammed her hand onto her mouth, eyes wide open.

"Are you serious?" she asked in a high-pitched voice. It was the war room. He had brought her to the war room during the day. He silently pushed open the door, and when Parisa saw the generals inside the room, she contained her excitement. But what she couldn't believe was that he had brought her to help, during a live meeting. She elegantly walked into the room with her head up high just like Arman had once told her.

"Gentlemen," she acknowledged them. Their mouths suddenly dropped wide open when they saw a woman inside the planning room. No woman had ever stepped into this part of the castle. But Parisa was familiar with the structure of the room. After all he had once brought her here.

"The one who came up with the wonderful idea of giving the Romans the unexpected, was your queen," he finally informed them, only for them to gawk even more. Their jaws were almost brushing the ground at their shock. Parisa looked at Arman, appreciated the fact that he had given the credit to her. She looked across the room to see Jahandar who looked extremely proud and happy. He nodded his head, giving her a small wave. After a few solid minutes of silence, one general finally spoke.

"Shahbanu, you are truly a genius. Not to be rude or anything, but I would have never thought the idea was from you," he confessed. Parisa however appreciated his honesty. Better bitter truths than kind lies.

"Thank you, general," she smiled in return. Her face was screaming with excitement, and Arman noticed it completely. He allowed them all to sit around the table observing every bit of the map. A few of them threw some ideas around as a plan, but none of them were effective enough to conquer a country.

"Sarvaram, maybe we should have troops awaiting them at the north" one general noted.

"They have weapons ready at the north, the only opening is through the main east entrance," Parisa informed them, pointing at the map. The men thought for a while, observing her idea. And she was right. That was their only way.

"Shah and Shahbanu, what do you think is the best plan?" he asked. Arman looked at Parisa for an answer. And as always, she had the answer.

"I say we stop sending troops for now. We then send them a peace letter. And because they have lost a lot of the people, they will be forced to agree. As a peace treaty, they will be required to host a party. Now there are two options, we can either stop the fight completely, or we can get revenge once and for all," she explained as the men looked at her with shock once more. Her ideas were better than anyone's. No man knew the things she did. In her mind, she had decided to go forward with the second option. No matter how quickly her heart ran for peace, it was always going to be just a dream. She knew that as soon as they signed the peace treaty, the Romans would cause a massacre. The enemies had to pay for the things they did. They had to pay for the destruction and deaths they caused for no reason. After all, they were the ones who started the war.

"I say we get revenge for our people. Once we are in their territory there is nothing they can do," Arman finally answered. Once and for all, they all agreed on one specific answer. Revenge. Sweet, savouring revenge.