The night stretched long in the palace. Aleerah thought the moment had passed when she left the chamber, but the Sultan was not a man to let silence linger. The next evening, he summoned her again.
The guards bowed low as they opened the carved cedar doors. Aleerah stepped inside slowly, her eyes lowered. Azmir Khalid sat reclined upon his divan, but his gaze settling on her.
"You avoided me again today."
"I did not avoid you, my Sultan. I was in the women's quarters, serving as is expected of me."
He shook his head and she started again trying to explain herself "Sultan..."
"Do not call me Sultan especially when we are alone. I am your husband. Say my name."
Aleerah was hesitant but she spoke, barely audible"…Azmir"
Azmir with voice soft, almost breaking ,"Again..."
"Azmir "
" Good. I feel you are my wife when you call my name but,Expected?" he leaned forward, elbows on his knees "Do you think I married you to see you buried in embroidery and gossip among the harem?"
"It is what a wife does. It is safe. My father taught me that if I keep to duty, there will be no trouble."
Azmir Khalid coldly said"Your father… always your father. Do you think his words protect you here? This palace does not move at his command. It moves at mine."
Aleerah quietly replied, "He only wanted me safe. He feared for me. He trusted you."
Azmir Khalid Sa'id with voice hardening: "Safe? Safe from what? From me? I am not a beast, Aleerah. I am a man,a man who desires his wife. Do you find that shameful?"
"No, my Sultan. But desire is a fire I do not know how to answer. I have only duty. Obedience. That is all I can offer."
Azmir Khalid Sa'id striking the armrest with his hand, "Obedience without heart is ash! I did not choose ash–I chose flame!"
Aleerah flinched, but lifted her chin, courage trembling in her voice.
"Then perhaps you chose wrongly, my Sultan."
A deadly silence. His chest rose and fell with restrained fury.
"Do not test me.."
Aleerah steadily said "Because you are not a common man. You are the Sultan. And I… I am the wife your throne demanded. I cannot be more than that."
Azmir Khalid stood pacing the floor, "You think I cannot make you more? You think your heart is yours alone to guard? No, Aleerah. Hearts bend, just as kingdoms do. And yours–" , he turns sharply, eyes piercing "–yours will bow to me."
"A heart cannot be conquered as a land can, my Sultan. It must be given."
"Then give it!"
Aleerah ,shaking her head, whispers "It is not so simple."
Azmir Khalid with voice breaking with frustration "Why do you resist me? Am I so hateful to you? Have I not shown you patience? Restraint?"
Aleerah: "You have given me more than I deserved. I do not resist you out of hatred… but out of fear."
Azmir Khalid snapping "Fear of what? Speak!"
Aleerah said after a long pause, softly "Fear that I will lose myself. Fear that I will no longer know who I am when I stand before you. My father told me… he said the Sultan is a just man. That I must serve you, submit to you, never trouble you. That was his only way to protect me. So I hide my fire. I bury it."
Azmir Khalid said grabbing her wrist and ulling her close, "And do you not see? That is the torment! I do not want the shell of you. I want all of you,your fire, your fury, your defiance, even your hatred if it must be so! But not this—this hollow obedience that stabs me with every glance!"
Aleerah with voice trembling but steady: "Then you ask for what I cannot give. Because if I give it… I will no longer belong to myself."
Azmir Khalid held her wrist tighter, eyes wild, "Then belong to me!"
The words crashed like thunder between them. Aleerah's breath caught, her pulse racing. She tried to pull back, but his grip only tightened.
"You cannot demand that which is not freely given. My Sultan, if you truly wish my heart, then you must let me keep it until it chooses. If not…" her eyes lifted to his, calm despite the storm "…all you can have is obedience. Nothing more."
Azmir Khalid's chest heaved. His hand slowly loosened, as though a battle raged within him.
Azmir said hoarsely, "You drive me to madness, Aleerah. Every night I tell myself I will command you as I command all others. But every time I look at you… I find I am the one chained."
Aleerah said gently, "Then perhaps we are both prisoners, my Sultan."
For a long moment, silence ruled. The Sultan turned his face away, his shoulders rigid, his breath uneven. Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, he dismissed her.
"Go. Before I lose what restraint I have left."
Aleerah bowed low, but not before she caught the storm in his eyes were something darker.
As she slipped out into the night corridor, she felt no relief. Only the deepening dread that the Sultan's desire was no passing flame. It was an inferno that would not rest until it consumed them both.