Shadows of Avarice (BxB)

Chapter 13

During their exploration, Xia and Alishba parted ways to scope out more of the area. After they were finished, they agreed to meet in the garden. They still needed to be careful not to raise suspicion. They would not touch anything; they would only look. This was only their third day here, after all. 

Xia could not believe that in this short amount of time, he had already almost kissed the sultan. Sure, he originally came to the palace to become a concubine, but things were moving too fast for his liking. If things moved too quickly, then he wouldn't be able to steal enough before he fled the palace for good. He needed to make Osiris slowly fall in love with him and shower him with gifts. Osiris might want to marry him sooner rather than later if Xia wasn't careful. Xia still planned to flee on the day of their wedding.

Thinking about this was beginning to make Xia feel bad again. From his short time with Osiris, the sultan seemed to be a nice man. He was kind to him, and it appeared that Osiris cared for the women in the harem as well. Xia knew that he would be playing with the sultan's heart by continuing to go through with this plan, but he needed to think about his family. Yes, Osiris may be upset when Xia didn't show up for the wedding, but he would get over it. Any woman in Rasea would be thrilled to marry the sultan, so Osiris would find someone else eventually. Hell, he could even marry Soraya after Xia left.

Thinking about her seemed to summon Soraya. Xia turned the corner and almost ran straight into the woman. Standing in front of her now, Xia could tell that she was only slightly shorter than him, which wasn't saying much. He knew that compared to most men in Rasea, he was on the shorter side. He didn't know if that was because he wasn't human, or if he was just unfortunate. Either way, being a petite male did work in his favor, especially during circumstances that required him to pretend to be a woman.

Soraya looked annoyed running into Xia. She shot him a glare and attempted to walk away, but she stopped herself before getting too far. She took a deep breath, then turned to face him.

"I was going to ignore you during your stay here in the palace, but it seems that I can't. Knowing that you're here irks me. Who do you think you are, coming onto my turf and trying to claim my title? I should be the one marrying Osiris, not some bitch that he found off the streets," she said, unable to keep her cool. She had her fists clenched as she looked at Xia.

Xia was a bit taken aback by her outburst. After last night, he knew that she was angry at Xia. However, Xia didn't believe that it was his fault. He didn't deserve her hostility when Osiris was the one who claimed Xia as his bride. That wasn't something that he had any control over.

He knew that he should bite his tongue and walk away, but Xia wasn't the type to back down from a fight. He also believed that this was all a misunderstanding on her end. She thought that Xia was here to take her position, but that wasn't the case at all. Once he left, he didn't care who became the sultana of Rasea. They would both need to stick this out until his departure day arrived.

But until then, he wasn't going to let someone treat him like trash. "How am I taking your position if it was never yours in the first place? As far as I know, you are only a concubine. You were never officially given the sultana's position; it was only something that you assumed when Osiris told you that he would make you his queen. However, that was never set in stone. You ended up getting your hopes up for nothing, and now you can't deal with it since Osiris wants to marry me."

She scoffed at him. "Osiris has only taken an interest in you because you're pretty, but once he comes to his senses, he'll drop you. As far as I'm concerned, the position is still mine, and it will always be mine. Unlike you, I have watched Osiris for years. I know how to rule this kingdom by his side. Do you?"

No, Xia didn't know how to and quite frankly, he didn't care. He wouldn't be here long enough to experience that anyway, but it wasn't like Soraya knew that. If she ever figured out what Xia was up to, then he had no doubt that she would be the first one to go running to Osiris. She would love to expose his lies.