HIS ROYAL BRIDE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER 1

Xongi knocks on Kurhula’s bedroom and he allows entry. She finds him buttoning up his white mandarin shirt. The scent in the room provides proof that he has been taking a shower.
‘Good morning son’ she greets.
‘Morning mhani"
‘Mitlele njhani ka Ngobeni?’
‘I slept well, thank you. How did you sleep?’
She sighs and sits on the couch at the corner of the room. 
‘I am worried about you Kurhula’
Confusion shrinks his face. ‘Worried about me?’
‘N’wananga, I am begging you. Please try to be obedient. Do it for your mother’
‘Is this about the Kulani issue?’
She nods. The breath he releases expresses great irritation.
‘You know I love you, right?’
She nods once more.
‘I would do anything for you but marry a woman I have never met a day in my life just because she’s royalty. I don’t even know what she looks like and you expect me to accept this? Njhani marha?’
‘Don’t you trust us to pick the best for you?’
‘I actually don’t. Your idea of a perfect marriage is twisted and warped. Do you remember how you got that scar in the middle of your leg? I was seven but I remember it very lucidly’
Shame covers her whole.
‘He used to beat you up till you turned blue but all you were concerned about was feeding and keeping him happy, protecting his dignity and reputation. He almost killed you that day. I watched you bleed but you weren’t even feeling the physical pain. Why? You continued wanting to run after him! That was always your main focus’
She clears her throat and fidgets in her seat.
‘I am still your mother’
‘I never disputed that. Everybody knows that you are. I am just saying that I could never trust your judgement on what you deem to be a perfect wife. You’re going to bring me a yes woman I can’t even consult with because she’ll believe that everything I say is right. I am capable of finding a wife for myself’
‘She is on her way here as we speak’
‘She is your wife. Not mine’
‘Kurhula?!’
‘No mother. Please excuse me. I have a meeting to prepare for’
‘Are you aware that you cannot assume the mantle without getting married first? To a royal wife that is?’
‘Who is going to stop me? Let there be no king then. It’s not like I’d be devastated’
She laughs. ‘You think this is Oxford university? You’re back home. Wake up!’
She leaves him in there and he drops the hand that has his leather belt. He starts processing this whole thing.

…

[KULANI]

This is the night marking the event of my life being thrown to wild cats. I no longer have the strength in me to fight. My worst mistake was being the fastest sperm. I am fully raimented in xibelani na miceka. If it was any other day, I would feel my most prettiest but I see none of that as I stand in front of this mirror. I catch Rhandzu watching me by the door.
‘You look breathtaking sesi’
I feign a smile. I don’t even have the energy to expose my teeth.
‘I’m sorry about my tantrum. It was uncalled for’ she apologizes as she walks in.
‘It’s okay. You know I can’t stay mad at you’
She giggles.
‘It’s your big day today. I can see that you’re nervous. Don’t worry, I’ll be holding your hand’ she assures, with her hands on my shoulders. I am three years older than this little human but how she anchors me at my weakest makes me forget that I am the older one sometimes.
‘What if they don’t like me?’
She snorts like I’ve just asked a dumb question.
‘You know they won’t. You have to accept this about yourself. You’re a child of living waters. You attract only genuine people and there’s not a lot of those’
My heart almost collides into my ribs after she says this. I could never get used to these goosebumps.
‘Do you have your njeti with you?’
I nod. She knows I can’t go anywhere without my ancestral cloth. I would come back barefoot and running. She looks at my reflection in the mirror and it stares back. She gives me that adorable closed-lip smile of hers.
‘Ndauwe…’
I laugh full-heartedly. I am a bundle of jittery nerves. The dream I had last night is not helping, at all. My ancestors need to keep some things to themselves sometimes.
‘Can I ask you a question?’ Rhandzu requests. I nod inquisitively.
‘Deep down, do you feel like he’s the one?’
I stand and think, trying to ravage through my intuitive thoughts.
‘I would be lying if I said I knew’
Mom barges in and Rhandzu laughs before she can say a word. She knows how much this annoys me. She leaves me with her and I turn away from the mirror.
‘I am warning you for the last time. If they send you back, find another place to stay. You are no longer welcome here’
‘If he’s not the chosen one, there’s nothing I can do’
‘Rubbish! You keep irritating us with this virginity nonsense. You have to lose it at some point’
‘What you don’t understand is that I am not keeping myself pure because I want to impress these men you keep sending my way. I will not lose my connection with my forefathers because of intimacy with the wrong man’
‘If these forefathers of yours really exist, why are they not telling you which man you should marry? Don’t annoy me little girl. I am going to finish doing my make-up. I should find you in the car when I’m done. Nywenywadas my left paralyzed foot’ she marches out. I am surprised that my mother and I haven’t physically fought in all the years I have known her. I come really close to grilling her with burning slap sometimes.