Women Of Steel | ✔

I

Hell will break lose in mere seconds, I watch in almost fascination as Prince Oluwatobiloba of Ile Alaafia stares down the King of Ile Wura.

The tension thickens in the air and I want to shrink away at the thick scent of it, the King's cabinet watches in curiosity. The King places both hands on the big swell of her stomach and shifts just so slightly on her throne, a permanent scowl etched on her brows, it makes her look intimidating and gives her the appearance of permanent fury but it is an unconscious action.

For as long as I've known Demilade, she has always looked furious at the world and her every action is a defiance. The prince however is usually the poster child for serenity and calmness, but not now -- now he looks furious, the vein in the left side of his forehead bulging visibly. I clench my fist in my lap, quenching the urge to smooth his head.

The prince and king only have eyes for each other and it is nothing romantic, everyone in the war room wanders why, I see it in their eyes. The Prince's aides watch warily as if they have walked unwittingly into a trap they were not warned of. There have been rumours about who could be the father of the King's unborn child, some think it is my dead brother, other think it is the now dead forest king, I have suspected it was the prince.

The cabinet slowly suspect that now. Oloye Babatunde stands but a quick gesture from the King makes him settle back. The war room is built with long wooden benches on each side of the room and made to sit so that the sitter is facing the king, the prince and his aides oddly seems like criminals brought before justice.

"Bow," The King, Demilade, commands. Her voice is emotionless, nothing betrays what she is thinking, in the  midst of wolves, it is a skill I have admired for long -- among other things I admire about the King.

Tobiloba looks like he wants nothing more than to oppose, and he does. A gasp echoes in the war room, mine included. The faces of his aides blanches in fear even further.

Wariness flickers swiftly in the King's face before morphing back into indifference.

"I will not repeat myself twice," She warns, her hands still resting protectively on her pregnant stomach.

The Prince explodes. "You filthy liar." He swears.

"You dare call the Kabiyesi a liar? Shut your mouth boy or I will shut it for you, in the most unpleasant way possible." Babatunde shouts, voice booming and I flinch at the sound. Babatunde tells no lies, he will snap the boy prince in two without blinking.

"Stand down, Oloye." Demilade says, tone full of warning. She shifts on her throne, the throne that was once my brother's. Anger fills me at the reminder.

"When did you plan on telling me? Or did you never plan to?" Prince Tobiloba shouts, anger making his voice thick. "Was this all part of your twisted plan? Ode ni mi." He curses himself.

Demilade rises, or rather, she wriggles like a worm out of her tight chair. Already, the guards at her side tense in alertness, ready to catch their king if she falls. The look she casts them would wither flowers.

"Is this kind of leader you are, Prince Tobiloba, the king who puts his feelings before his kingdom. I expected better from Ile Alaafia." Demilade muses. "Is this the kind of men Ile Alaafia send to me?"

Tobiloba seems to catch himself, he straightens and tries to school his emotions but still his anger leaks in waves.

He bends until he is prostrating before her in the customary greeting, but I catch the murderous glint in his eyes. He is trapped now, he cannot rise until the king touches her scepter to his back, Demilade watches with her head tilted in contemplation.
She lets him and his aides prostrate until they are filled with shame.