The Empire: Love And Royalty.

The Empire: No Vows.

Leenah's POV.

I look at Muhammed, he walked casually so I decided to smile despite my nerves.

After the celebration in the main hall I was told Khadijah and I are attending a party thrown by the other wives. So Muhammed said that he'll entrust me to his brother's wife which made me feel nervous even though he says I can trust her.

He opens the door.
A woman walks over and hug us, she looks like she's in her early thirties.

"So I finally meet the bride, seeing you two up on that stage was exhilarating. You two look good together"

"Take good care of my bride, Baba said he wants to talk to me" Muhammed says to her.
"Okay, don't worry I'll show your wife to the hall".

"Thanks" he turns around and looks at me "I'll see you in the quarters" he smiles and walks out. I felt like running after him.

::

"I'll have someone show you around tomorrow just call me when you're ready"

"But Muhammed said he'll take me on a tour himself" I say back.

She smiles.
"Look, I know you're young and so is Muhammed but things will change, he won't have as much time as he did. The moment you're married your lifestyle changes, he'll try but I want you to understand that things won't be as romantic or normal as it was before. This is the palace and you're married to a prince, you need to understand that romance is difficult because they're a lot of other things he needs to worry about and you—you should be his safe haven, he needs to know that no matter how things turn out in the Royal courts or on the streets of the kingdom, that he can confide and feel at peace with you".

I feel everyone is blowing this whole Palace thing out of proportion, Muhammed and I aren't just husband and wife, we are friends too and I know nothing will change that.

"We're almost there" she says excitedly.

Finally we get to a huge translucent door, it looks like glass but I doubt it's actually glass, some guards on the outside push the door open.

"Our new bride has arrived" one of the women says when we enter.

The hall was huge, I mean massive. It has high ceilings and about seven or eight massive windows with plain white curtains on both sides. It had two enormous crystal like sparkling chandeliers. There's a long white and silver rug in the middle of the room running from the door to the other end of the room.

The hall looked partially empty as the only thing in it were two tables stacked with wrapped gifts. A huge rectangle table that was surrounded by chairs and another long table that was filled with fruits, snacks and different cocktails. Overall everything looked white, expensive and formal.

"That's Yasmin, she's Walid's wife, she's very cocky" Asmau tells me.
"And I'm Salma, Habib's wife."

"The one glaring at you is Maryam, she's Sadiq's wife. You are to call all the princes with 'Ya' if they are older than Muhammed. So you'll only be calling Sadiq as Sadiq" Yasmin says obviously trying to get Maryam angry.

"It's good to meet you all" I say.
"Good? What's good about it?" a girl asks, she was standing beside Khadijah.

"It's my wedding day, everything is good about it" I smile.

"Anyway I'm Rabiatu, it's great to finally meet you. Muhammed always, always talks about you" she says hugging me unlike the other women. "Come sit here" she pulls me.

It was almost midnight and it was getting late.
"Come on, it's your party" Asmau says.

::