The Sultans Heirs

{Confliction}

Nabella

I stared in shock at my uncle Rasheed. Barley processing the words he was saying.

Early morning, my uncles summoned us to the grand hall for an urgent meeting. Muna practically dragged me out of my room to get me to come. My brothers were dealing with the same problem, too.

We were all still in shock at what happened to our eldest brother. None of us spoke; we just sat silently, waiting for our uncles.

When Malik still hadn't arrived, we started to worry until our uncles arrived and broke the horrible news.

They told us Malik had taken his horse and raced off into the forest at night. Then the guards followed him, but they found him hanging from a tree by a rope. They said that he hung himself due to the shock of what happened to Adam.

Even though they said that, I knew it couldn't be true. Malik would not do that to our parents. He would not do that to us. It was true that he was the closest to Adam, but he wouldn't go as far as taking his own life.

"Liars! Malik wouldn't do that!" Zado yelled. My uncle looked down as if the thought of us not believing them irked him.

Jellal suddenly stepped forward; he was the only one of us who didn't look like he was about to break down at any second. "Show us the body."

My uncle snapped his gaze up at the command. Their eyes were slightly narrowing as he took in Jellal's demeanor.

"If you want us to believe you, show us the body." He said. Just as my uncle opened his mouth to speak, our palace physician spoke up. "If you may, I would like to explain the situation."

This palace physician, in particular, is a very trusted man who has worked for us since before my father was even born. He has been there for every death and every birth, always confirming them.

My uncle eyes him with a slight hesitation before gesturing for him to continue.

"As you can see, young royals, the death of your eldest brother was very traumatic to the point where it caused another brother of yours to take his own life at just the thought. We're worried about what one of you would do if you saw the body in person."

He looked from me and then at the rest of my brothers before continuing. "I checked on Prince Malik's body and can confirm that what your uncles said is true."

Those words right there are what pushed me over the edge. It got quiet; no one said anything. The only noise that could be heard was the heart-wrenching sobs and tears that my brothers and I were shedding.

I would never have believed it without seeing the body, but this physician was trusted. He always confirmed every death. There was no reason not to believe him. Especially if he said, he had seen the body himself.

Three Days Later

I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, replaying the events from a few days ago.

How can this be possible? How is it possible for me to lose two of my brothers in less than a week?

What makes it worse is that neither of my parents is here. They don't even know about any of this—not until they come back.

These past few days have been hell. I hadn't left my room in the past three days, and from what I heard from Muna, neither did any of my brothers. I hadn't eaten a single bite of food since I heard about what happened to Adam, and I could no longer lift myself off my bed after what happened with Malik.

I no longer had the energy to do anything. I couldn't even cry because that's all I have been doing. My eyes were so dry and puffy from crying that I could no longer blink without feeling stinging pain.

I heard the door opening and closing, followed by the clicking sound of footsteps that I'd learned to recognize.

Muna grabbed my hand. "Your Highness, I am begging you. You need to eat. You can't stay like this."

I ignored her. That's all she has been asking of me, but I've always ignored her requests.

She sighed, set the tray filled with hot, fresh food on the table next to my bed, and picked up the old tray with the now cold and untouched food she had brought me this morning.

"You can't continue to do this to yourself. It won't bring your brothers back or make you feel better."

I ignored her once again and turned my head to face my pillow. She took that as a sign to stop trying because she stared at me for a few seconds, squeezed my hand, and then walked out.

I closed my eyes and reminisced my memories of Malik and Adam. I couldn't help it—I couldn't stop thinking about them.

The image of Adam, my kind and humble brother, and Malik, my intelligent and teasing brother, appeared in my head: their smiles and laughs. I recalled when Malik teased me about every minor inconvenience and how Adam defended me whenever I got in trouble with our parents.

Just like that, I started crying again. I thought I had run out of tears, but I was wrong. I knew that if I didn't stop crying soon, my eyes would hurt too much to even open, but I didn't even care. It hurt even more to hold it in.

Hours later, I heard faint chatter of maids outside my room. It wasn't loud enough for me to catch what they were saying, but it was loud enough to know that there were plenty of them. I slowly sat up in bed and opened my eyes. It stung in a burning pain but wasn't as bad as I'd thought.

I slipped out of bed and quickly put on my silk robe, which was draped over my armchair. The slight chilly air breezing through my window gave me goosebumps all over my body.

The chatter got louder with each passing second. I walked over to the door and swung it open to find Muna and six maids with her. They all stopped talking and stared wide-eyed at me.

"Why are you all huddled around my bedroom door and talking so loudly?" The maids looked at each other, and one pushed Muna slightly forward, encouraging her to answer my question.

"Your Highness, we wanted to inform you about the conflict between your brothers and your uncles."

"What conflict?" My annoyance quickly turned to confusion. "Your two youngest uncles have decided they would move into Prince Adam's and Prince Malik's rooms since they are more suitable as royal chambers, and your brothers won't allow them, so they are arguing over this matter."

Saying I was angry would be an understatement. How could my uncles even think of moving into my brothers rooms when it hasn't even been a week since they passed.

I quickly rushed out of the room while Muna followed after me. There is no way in hell I'd let them move into their rooms just like that. As if they are now just spare bedrooms open for the taking.