Lioness | Erik Killmonger

Chapter five: The luckiest man alive

' What is a king
Without a

Queen '

Chapter five: The luckiest man alive

The tribes of Wakanda poured through the palace doors in a river of red, green, blue and white. Over their heads a dozen of banners whipped back and forth in the warm wind, emblazoned with their tribe's sigils.

From the window, Anjla could see them arrive in their thousands. There came one of the chiefs that sat in the throne room the previous day, her red hair pasted with red clay matched her red traditional wear - as did her subjects. And, there another one came with his amazingly large lip plate and green fitted green suit. A reasonably tall woman walked beside him, with striking dark skin that glowed under the setting sun with a face that matched the woman Anila had heard the Dora Milaje talked reluctantly about in the halls. Nakia, Anila remembered bitterly.

Anila's lips formed into a tight knitted frown when she saw Nakia lower her head as she walked aside her tribe. Why was she attending the celebration? Was she planning something? Anila questioned herself quietly.

She would've stayed at the window if it had not been for Adnan wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

"Do you usually stay at this window?" He hissed.

"Adnan!"

Adnan snorted. "Sorry, I forgot- you're a married woman and you're not allowed to be touched by anyone but your husband: King Killmonger."

"What are you doing in here?" Anila asked pushing him away, and pushing past him and toward the dresser.

"I came to see you of course," Adnan said. He swiftly turned to face her. "To see if you are still willing to leave with me."

"Are you still thinking of that?" Anila laughed half heartedly. "It's not easy for me, Adnan- I told you this before- I'm married."

"But he doesn't love you like I do!" His words tumbled out unexpectedly. "And I know you still love me too- we can anywhere Anila, don't you understand?" He took a step closer to her, his hand stretched out awaiting to feel hers close over his. "We should leave at midnight even, it'd be easy- this place is going to be filled with Wakandans and Killmonger will not even care to notice you gone."

"This all sounds very dangerous, Adnan," Anila told him after thinking a while. Before he could say anything more, the click of heels could be heard approaching the door.

"It does- but, please Anila- meet me at the falls. Take the risk because we can finally be together. Finally."

Anila lowered her head quickly. Her eyes rising to meet Adnan's when he crept toward the door as the dressmakers and servant girls flooded in. "Queen Anila?" A dressmaker called respectfully, the little woman's ridiculously long sleeves swept across the floor when she reached for Anila's arm. "We have been told to prepare you for the celebration."

Anila exchanged a final look out Adnan when he turned to the door, and Anila to the women.

*

When the grand set of doors were swept open, Anila could taste the sweetness that tainted the warm Wakandan air. In the hall, countless pillars had bouquets of wisteria and gardenia hanging down. Servers swarm through the sea of people on light coloured marble floor, strewn with petals, carrying silver trays of fruit so ripe that they explode in your mouth at one bite - melons, peaches, plums - a sweetness that Anila so longed to taste since leaving Asharn.

Despite the sound of music and voices trapped in the space, her footsteps rang off the marbled floor and echoed throughout the hall. Her hands were carefully positioned over her stomach, her shoulders pushed by back in way that made her chin lift and lips part ever so slightly. When the trial of her dress glided against the floor, the shifting bodies of her onlookers stirred round to watch. The queen.