Heir Apparent: A Nigerian Story.

XL

Immediately I arrived at the city I went straight to my father's house. He would know what is going on.

Cars were parked outside, not ours.
Since we got in the car no words were exchanged, Huda shed a few tears and eventually slept off. On the other hand I haven't slept for 42hrs and I know to be productive I need at least a five hours sleep but that can wait.

I park the car and lock it so no one from the outside can bother her.

I run in and meet Abba with General Abdulateef (Hafiz' father), Alhaji Aliyu (Left State Counselor), Uncle Salis, Uncle Awwal and other retired politicians.

I greet them.
"Abba can we talk?" I know it's rude to ask for him when he's with them but it's urgent.

He smiles at them "Sorry, he and his wife just came from Ulan Bator, she missed her home and so he decided to take her on a vacation, this young people and fun" he jokes "Please excuse me".

We head to his room upstairs.
Abba went as far has having a lock in his room. He puts the passcode and we both go in.

"So? What happened?" He asks sitting on the couch.
"I got the phone, we haven't seen the details yet"

He looks at me annoyed "Why not?"
"We had to rush back, your sister is on the news"

He huffs "That doesn't mean you should dump what you were doing"
I shake my head "I didn't dump anything, my aunt was arrested"

"She's the Queen, not your aunt"
"I know why you aren't doing anything but you're allowed to worry"

He scoffs "My sister being apprehended is the least of my concerns, the person behind all this is downstairs this very moment"

I sit next to him "You think it might be one of them?"
He smiles "I know it but you and your wife need to figure things out as soon as possible. I'm sure they're keeping their eye on me but they'll never suspect you"

I nod.
"Where's your wife? I hope you didn't leave her there?"
"She was tired, she's sleeping in the car"

He nods "Go home, eat and rest. No matter what don't go to the palace until I tell you to"

I raise my eyebrows "Why?"
"They are officially going to trial Mina for treason so don't interfere and sit home. This is the perfect moment to figure out what that boy found out"

I nod "But what about her?"
"I'll make sure she's just banished, she has always wanted to travel the world anyway"

"And Munir?" I ask
"Munir will become emperor".

::

Iman walks out smiling from ear to ear.
"You're back? Welcome home"

I nod "Thanks, I hope it wasn't too lonely?"
She shakes her head "Still better than being back home"
"I'm glad"

I walk around the car to Huda's side.
"What about my sister?" She asks.

"She's sleeping, I'll wake her"
I open the door and see her staring at me, I'm completely taken aback.

"We're home" she smiles.
"Yeah, let's go in" I say as I help her to her feet.

::

Huda and I haven't really had time to actually sit and check what is on Najib's phone. We're trying to be very careful because we don't know who's tracing it and until we have a secured network we don't plan to on it.

We don't want someone getting our location the moment it's on.

Hafiz and I sit across Uncle Awwal who looked at us in complete disarray.
"We can't just let them banish her" he says worriedly.

"We can't do anything about it, it's too risky to make a move" Hafiz says back.

He huffs "Surely there must be a way out"
We all stay quiet.

"Amjad!" He calls out my name "She's your aunt, we can talk to Alhaji Hammad about it and maybe he'll reconsider"

I shake my head "He won't, he has made up his mind about it".

He nods.
"A Cēosan (choosing a new heir) will have to be done as soon as possible".

Hafiz and I look at each other "But how?"
"I'll have to talk to the court, the throne can't sit empty"

"But Uncle Mustapha hasn't even been buried yet and Queen Mina is going to be banished, we can't be talking about naming an Emperor now"

He huffs sadly "I know but if it's not done there will be chaos"

The door opens and General Abdulateef stands, staring at us.
"Baba? What's wrong?" Hafiz asks.

"Hafiz, Amjad please excuse us" he says sternly.

Without so much as a word we both walk out, closing the door behind us.
"What was that about?"

"I don't know but something's wrong".
I scoff "Everything is wrong, every single thing is wrong in this Kingdom. But he's right, if a new Emperor isn't named the whole kingdom will be in an uproar".

::

Huda's POV.

I sit just staring around.
Remembering when I'd sneak here to read novels and sometimes look around.

For some reason the place was dusty, like they haven't cleaned it up since we left.
This room was all I looked forward to.

Or times when Najib and Masoud will join me just to piss Bella off, they wouldn't let me read in peace and it annoyed me but now I'd do anything to get those moments back.

The door slides open.
"Huda?"

"Sadiq?" I say smiling.
If you've forgotten Sadiq also had the Genus Rosa but he wasn't from a royal family, he and Rasheeda always felt left out and I was the only one who talked to them.

He smiles, closing the door and walking over, sitting next to me.
"It's surprising to see you here"
I smile "I know, I never thought I'd be back here with my own two feet".

He nods "I can understand why"

There was an awkward silence.
"I'm sorry about Masoud and Najib, when I heard about it you were the first person I thought of"

I smile sadly, I wanted to cry.
Being here made me want to cry, badly.

I turn and look at him "So? You're still here? Training?"

He shakes his head "No, I'm the one doing the training now"
I raise my eyebrows "What about Bella? And who are you training?"

He huffs "Bella took it a little too hard when she heard about Masoud and Najib, she left  but she sometimes stops by to make sure everything is going well here" he takes a deep breath "And we're training vassals. Three actually. You know Banjul doesn't have an heir and as you know Ulan Bator too"

I huff.
I can only imagine how Abba is feeling, knowing none of his children can claim the throne.

He smiles "But you're married now, I'm happy for you"
I nod "I would have never thought things would turn out this way".

"Yeah. I'm going to go see Bella regarding their training next week, you can come along if you want to"

I smile "I'd love that".

::