Deities of Deceit

Chapter Forty-seven

Nimah Eze | Forty-seven
SECRETS OF HIS BODY
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"Your Highness, chamber meetings are never to be interrupted," explained a guard when I arrived at the law chambers.

"It is the hour of lunch," I stated.

"My apologies, Your Highness, chamber meetings are to be interrupted by no one once the doors are closed."

"The prince isn't 'no one'," Udume proclaimed from behind me.

"My apologies. It is law," the guard insisted.

"How dare–"

I lifted a hand to silence Udume, then took a step forward. The guard flinched in his stand, tightening his jaw at my nearness. "What is your name?"

"Akpan, Your Highness." He swallowed.

"Akpan." I smiled a little in a bid to relax him, it didn't seem to do much, though, his jaw just tightened harder. "I understand you have loyalties to duty. I am grateful for it and I respect it. But, you see, I have certain obligations to my betrothed. Your Queen. One way or another, she must have lunch. You could either open those doors for me and allow me face her anger for interrupting her afternoon. Or, I will stand here for the next three hours until she emerges, and you will have to face her anger for leaving her prince standing till dusk. But of course, the choice is entirely yours." The side of my lips twitched gently.

Akpan blinked, clearing his throat as his gaze fluttered across my entourage, then back to me. The silence lingered only a few seconds. Calm easy silence for I knew in the end, the choice was not his. It was mine, and I had made it.

"Open the doors," Akpan commanded and the other guards pulled the chamber doors apart, giving way to the loud bantering booming from the chambers.

"Thank you, Akpan." I patted his shoulder once and walked past him.

The law chamber was a massive circular hall with sitting arrangements laid out in a horseshoe shape. Tall windows the size of doorways stood ajar, letting in as much sunlight and breeze. Too many high benches to count were filled with hassling men and women screaming over each other's voices in heated arguments. It was like stepping into the local market, only what was being peddled were policies, not livestock.

Perhaps I should have been a little more intimidated by the crowd of powerful people bombarding the chambers with thunderous voices, but I had grown accustomed to the power that walked the hallways of the palace. Living amongst it made me desensitized to it. It was almost the same as taking a stroll to the kitchen, or the courtyard in my home.

Her Majesty stood far across the chambers, north to my south, dressed in shimmering gold and red attire. Akwaugo, one of her advisers whispered words into her ear as she nodded. I hadn't seen her that morning, her policy decriminalizing the practice of magic for white Arjanians had just passed as law two days prior after months of fighting both lawmakers and oracles for it. We had waited until midnight to hear back from the oracles, and when news reached our ears there was jubilation amongst us members of her council, then she was whisked away to closed-door meetings, before dawn as angry protests broke across the capital.

I knew of the protests, news about it reached my ears every other day. First, it was about my crowning, which came as no surprise, then with every other week, it was about Her Majesty's new controversial policies. My siblings frequently told me about the state of things when they visited, but I had not seen it. The palace and the responsibilities it brought, kept me away from all of it. Perhaps, I did not wish to see it. For the first time in my life, life was simple, so I let myself believe my world began and ended with the mountain palace. It was shortsighted but felt good.