Women Of Steel | ✔

IV

Tension and thinly veiled anger cackles in the space between us, our eyes duel, neither of us ready to surrender just yet. The food before us is forgotten, not even the looks of confusion on the face of the king's sister' face is enough to snap us from our stare down.

This particular dance of disdain is familiar and frankly, it never gets out of style. It is a never ending cycle, I pour my hate and evil wishes into one venomous gaze and he watches on in amusement and well disguised anger.

The King's sister, Omolara is the most naive person I have ever known, she is just a year younger than me, and she is most pampered by her demon brother, he shelters her from the palace eyes and from the village. He ruined others yet he protects his family. Who knew villains could love?

Because of her sheltered upbringing, Omolara is rather oblivious to things that the blind would even see. She thinks the king and I are a happy couple, she thinks we have a fairytale marriage hence her sudden confusion at the simmering tension between us. Each time she looks this way, I consider popping her bubble of delusion and spitting the truth in her pretty face.

I hate the princess, I hate her because she reminds me of who I used to be, a happy child, one who was sheltered by her family. Also, she stands for everything I now hate, to me - naive women are fools waiting to be stepped on. No matter how much the king sheltered her, someone would still corrupt her, some man would marry her someday and ruin her.

If the king thinks she is safe from all the terrors of life then he is deluded, after all what comes around goes around.

Kosoko, the king's man remains silent and focuses on devouring his food, I watch him, disgusted and my mouth twists into an unconscious sneer. Kosoko is not a messy eater but still everything he does disgusts me to the core, even as he meticulously rolls balls of eba between his fist and dips in the bowl of steaming melon soup.

The steaming bowl of egusi and eba in front of me remains untouched, the thought of eating anything nauseates me. The king's food remains untouched too.

The other dignitaries seated around the mat eat and laugh obnoxiously. Apparently they are kings, lords and princes from other kingdoms, they have probably come for some important meeting with Tadenikawo and he thought this was a perfect time to flaunt his pretty wife and sister to them.

My eye twitches as a smirk carves it's way to the king's lips. He thinks this is amusing, it won't be so when I carve his eye out with my fingers.

With an inaudible sigh, the king looks away briefly to laugh at something a particularly chubby man says.
The lanterns flicker every five blinks, casting a warm glow on the room.

"Se ko si?" Omolara whispers to me discreetly. I shoot her a fake saccharine smile, bless her sweet soul - she takes it as a friendly smile.

"I feel sick." I say rather loudly, deliberately.

All eyes turn to me including Tadenikawo'. His eyes appear to send me a warning; no games now.

I smirk internally.

"Olori mi, are you alright?" The king asks in a tone filled to the brim with fake concern.

"I think I'll head to bed early." I utter aloud. Low murmurs fill the dinning room instantly.

As demanded by tradition, the queen must remain by the king during official dinners unless dismissed, god forbid the queen has better things to do than stay all night in the midst of wolves.

I rise to my full height and smile down on the guests who gape like yapping fishes. I smile even wider.

"Enjoy the rest of the evening." I say cheerily.