Rajah's Curse

Chapter 21: Her Promotion

When work ended, I decided to escort Jasmine to dinner. She sat and ate at the table with a fake smile as she petted me absentmindedly. The princess did not notice Prince Ali's blatant sulking but I did.

I had no pity for him. He had been a complete menace today and Jasmine still had not recovered from their fight. I hated that he had so much power over her moods. It was a struggle not to snarl at him from where I sat watching.

The fool was just so irresponsible and clueless. He had no idea what Jasmine was struggling with. No idea how lucky he was to have such a vibrant and incredible woman in his life. To him, Jasmine was some sort of playmate, but she was so much more than that and if he could not understand that, he would never deserve her company, let alone her hand in marriage.

Throughout dinner, I resisted the urge to harass Prince Ali because unlike him, I knew my place tonight. I was here to guard Jasmine from unwanted company. She had enough on her plate without annoying courtiers further souring her mood.

After dinner, Jasmine and I both went off to bed. I laid in my rooms, exhausted and worried.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how right Jasmine was. She did need more help. The two of us just weren't enough to deal with all these problems. Eventually, we would need to assemble a team and start delegating more. But finding enough competent and trustworthy people that the princess could work with...that was a tall order and would take time to think through.

I sighed.

Time. Again, I ran into that problem. And I knew even if I found a good team, I'd still have to sell the idea to Jasmine.

I sighed again.

It was hard to talk to Jasmine when she was this stressed or distracted. On a day like today, I was lucky if she understood half of what I said. It was a small miracle that she had grasped my surprise wedding idea earlier this week and that was before things had gotten truly terrible. Right now, the likelihood of me being able to convey a complex idea like a new government structure was near zero.

Jasmine just wasn't up for it. She'd looked so horrible tonight. I couldn't help but remember the last time the kingdom had been in pieces and she'd been placed in the middle of it.

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the unhappy memories. I needed to get to sleep. Even with our limited communication, Jasmine would need me in the morning.

*****

I would like to say that Princess Jasmine earned her first court position on merit and pluck alone. However, the reality was much messier.

The crisis began with my disappearance. When I was found missing on Jasmine's 11th birthday, there had been an uproar. Rumors went wild as weeks passed and no one found any sign of me. Once they determined, I hadn't left the city, people started talking about me being dead.

I had wanted to shout that I wasn't dead. I had wanted to tell them that I was a tiger and I was right here. Of course, I could say nothing.

After several months, the men who threw me off the palace cliffs were discovered. They were arrested for their crime. During their trial, they confessed to the kidnapping, my murder, and finally, they revealed who had paid them: Grand Vizier Rikisha.

Many were surprised but I wasn't. Rikisha and I had never gotten along. I was a man, a foreigner and according to Agrabah tradition, I was set to replace the sultana's position as the head of foreign policy when Jasmine married me which meant at the very least, I would unseat Rikisha as the ultimate power in that division.

However, Rikisha and I both knew I would do more than that. I had planned to fire her as soon as I got into power. She was a talented grand vizier, but there was no way I could trust her. She was far too power-hungry.