Empress Dosha

Chapter 57

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Here's a new chapter served with pleasure ❤️

It's a very long one

We are in the final parts of the book, so please love it to the end

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The next month came quietly, carrying with it the familiar feeling around the palace.

Peace - enough peace that they no longer walked around feeling like every conversation would end in disaster. The tension that once stretched painfully between the walls had eased. Life had begun moving again regardless.

Hafsatu changed the most toward him, she slowly began finding her way back to her son. Sometimes she called him simply to sit with her while she knitted for her coming grandchildren or sorted through old belongings.

Other times she spoke about his childhood unexpectedly, recalling small things he himself had forgotten - how stubborn he used to be whenever he lost at dambe with other boys, always blaming his small stature, when he cried after losing a race with his father on horseback, his father had told him there was no way a foal could win a matured horse, how he once refused to eat for almost a day because his father travelled without telling him goodbye. She had called him 'a father's boy' back then, recalling how close Rabilu was to him despite being strict with his troublesome behaviour.

At first Rashid barely knew how to respond to such moments, but then he quietly laughed and stopped leaving so quickly. The stiffness between them softened little by little. Hafsatu returned to fussing over him in ways only mothers could, complaining about his eating habits, touching his face absentmindedly whenever he looked exhausted, praying quietly for him when she thought he could not hear. And for the first time in many years, Rashid allowed himself to lean into it.

His relationship with his siblings improved too.

Hibba especially became inseparable from him again, she no longer hesitated before speaking her mind around him and had somehow resumed treating him like both a King and an annoying older brother at the same time. She often dragged Memuna into where he worked with his men just to disturb his peace with pointless conversations that usually ended with Rashid threatening to throw all of them out while secretly enjoying their presence.

Fa'iza who was in the palace for the time being as Ali had travelled for trade grew closer to him, especially now that her pregnancy made her spend more time resting within the palace walls. She occasionally sought his company during the quieter hours, her calm presence a contrast to Memuna and Hibba's chaos, and Rashid found himself protective of her as he had always been.

Even Nura changed toward him.

There remained seriousness between them, and the brotherly bond, it grew more. They often caught up on how things were going on with Nura's ruling over Karuye, the problems he encountered, how he solved them and the development he brought to the place. Nura got the perfect time to express his feelings to Rashid on how he did not like as he wasn't called over to the fight with the Jarawa king, talking about how he wanted to defend his kingdom. Rashid had laughed silently, telling Nura he still had little experience over these types of matters as it wasn't something to jump into like that.