The Poisoned Throne

Chapter 5

Aryavan

Aryavan watched Emeka from afar; how his body - more toned with muscles than most - worked as he pulled up the trees growing forth in their clearing; how his laughter seemed to come from the depths of his stomach; how his smile seemed to light up his entire face. He was beautiful.

“Go talk to him, for fuck’s sakes,” Imani said with a chuckle.

Aryavan pretended not to have heard him and reached down to close his hand around another emerging tree. He grabbed hold of it, twisted it around to loosen the earth and pulled.

Imani just watched him work with an amused smirk. “You know, that’s not going to help your cause.”

Aryavan looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow. “What are you talking about.”

“Brooding,” Imani said.

“I’m not brooding.”

“Of course you are.” He laughed again. “You know, most men don’t sleep with the people who never talk to them.”

“I do talk to him,” Aryavan protested.

Imani shook his head, clearly amused. “Not enough, my friend,” he said. He glanced in the direction of Emeka. “You know, he looks at you every once in a while.”

Aryavan would never admit to how his heart beat a little faster. He forced himself not to look in Emeka’s direction. “He does?”

“Look at him,” Imania commanded.

“Wha-?”

“Now,” he exclaimed, and Aryavan looked over at Emeka. Their eyes met, and it took a moment for him to understand that Emeka was smiling. He smiled back, too delayed and too stupid, before looking back down at his work, cursing himself for how ridiculous he must have looked.

Imani grinned at him. “You might want to work on your technique.”

“Shut up,” Aryavan muttered.

He pulled up another sprout and threw it into the pile that was starting to rise up between him and Imani. At the sound of someone clearing their throat, Aryavan looked up - and his before speeding heart suddenly stopped for a second.

“Kahari,” Emeka said, “I was wondering if you could help me?”

Aryavan nodded, perhaps a bit too vigorously. “Of course.”

“I promised to pick some tajy for my sister - she’s fallen sick - but I can’t seem to find any.”

 Aryavan did not need to look to know that Imani was making all sorts of faces. “Of course,” he told Emeka. “When would you like to…?”

“Now,” Emeka suggested. “If you have the time, of course.”

“Yes, of course,” Aryavan said. Realizing that he had just repeated himself three times, he looked away from Emeka, choosing to glance at Imani for moral support. Of course, he should have known that Imani was not offering - instead, he was trying hard to hide his laughter.

It took him a moment to realize that he was supposed to do something. “This way,” he muttered, walking out of the clearing in awkward strides. “There’s a good place not too far away.”

Emeka caught up with him, walking by his side. “Thank you for this. I may have lived here for two years, but I’m still quite foreign to the forest. I’m not as fast a learner as my sister.”

Nyama had quickly learned the differences in the vegetation between here and where they came from. She already knew how to navigate the forest with precision, and she was skilled in finding the right herbs quickly.