33 Chapter 33: Love Potion

"Shirazad tells stories with such ease," Mehrnaz said in front of people. "Indeed, when she does it, it looks so easy."

Finally the project of making new books for students in the kingdom was over. Shirazad felt free and was happy it was over, though she had enjoyed the project itself... just not some of the company.

The most important courtiers in the castle such as Mehrnaz, who were responsible for ceremonies and festivities and for different departments of the castle, were more often than not of noble birth themselves. Recently, there was a new addition to the courtiers - Shirazad's old friend, Yuna. It had been over an year and she had gotten married to a childhood friend. Now Mehrnaz happened to spend quite a lot of time with her.

"Shirazad seems kind," Mehrnaz told her. "But do you know what things she has been doing behind my back? She is speaking ill of me to the Chief Supervisor. I would never have believed that she could do that."

"Why would she do that?" Yuna wondered.

Mehrnaz shrugged.

"You would never have expected that of her, would you? Just come, come here and I will tell you. The Chief Supervisor came a few days ago and scolded me in front of everyone because of Shirazad. Everybody saw it. She is too hypocritical. She is always so very nice in front of people. Have you ever seen her behave badly to me in front of others? But don't underestimate her."

Yuna was thoughtful. She remembered the situation with Lord Lhasa and other times she'd spoken with Shirazad.

"Huh, she's been kind of silent recently," Yuna noticed. "But I thought she was a nice person... Why didn't you tell them you're innocent? You have the right to protect yourself!" Yuna said.

"She is the... Queen," Mehrnaz answered. "But look at her true nature!" She sighed. A minute of silence. She touched Yuna's hairpin. "You look so pretty today!"

"Thank you," Yuna smiled. "I just bought it yesterday."

***

Shirazad was in the garden but the weather was too cold. She went inside and one nobleman, Lord Berthan, saw her.

"Your Highness," he said, "don't stay out in the cold, you may catch a cold."

As she came in, he greeted her, and put his hand on her back. He was a little bit older than her and though Shirazad noticed his gesture, she felt too uncomfortable to tell him to remove his hand. Because it wasn't even a hug, it was just a slight touch. Maybe she was just a child to him; her father used to greet her in a similar way.

But the king saw them and approached them angrily. Perhaps he thought he had a beautiful wife whom he had ignored, and now other men had started vying for her attention.

"Well, then, Your Majesty, Your Highness, I will take my leave," Lord Berthan said. Even before he had left, Shirazad could feel Shahryar's anger and was really uncomfortable. She stared at the ground as he came closer. At first he stared out of the window and did not look at her either. Then he turned around, raised her chin up and kissed her on the lips.

Shirazad's heart skipped a beat and she felt numb. But more important than that, she was shocked. He'd never kissed her before. Why did he do it now? There were many people staring at them in the distance. And kissing in public places wasn't exactly the thing back then, so Shirazad felt really scared. Her legs felt weak as if she would fall on the ground.

He took advantage of her surprise as she did not oppose him and could not think of a way to escape.

Everybody was staring at them. Shirazad did not even have to turn her head because she could feel all eyes on her. This had to be the longest minute in her life. ...And she'd thought he was the kind of person who wanted to avoid rumors, not create them on purpose...

***

In the evening, Shirazad was reading a book in her room, then she left it on the table.

"I can tell from one look at this book that the writer is a man," she said to Annuvaniya. "All the female lead ever has to do is just be pretty. She doesn't even have to say anything. ...Literally, she didn't even say her name to the male character!"

"But the writer of this book is anonymous," Annuvaniya pointed out as she looked at the title of the book. "So we shall never know the truth."

Indeed what a frustrating story! The man just looked at the girl and they were in love the next page.

"Men fall in love too easily!" Shirazad shook her head. "No wonder such problems happen after that; the whole problem is in the way they fall in love."

"Yes, Your Highness! Tell them!" Annuvaniya laughed.

"Ha-ha," Shirazad smiled. "Well, to be fair, it can happen to anyone. You can fall in love with a fantasy or fall in love with a person you don't know well. Or the person you love may simply change... no one ever stays the same."

"Your Highness, shall I return this book back to the library then?"

"No, I may give it one last try later on..." Shirazad replied.

Because she'd been busy with the book project recently, she hadn't told any fairy-tales to the king.

"Your Highness, do you think that," Annuvaniya started, "the king will come to hear a fairy-tale now that your book project is over?"

"AH, don't remind me!" Shirazad exclaimed. "Then I will read this book to him, I am sure he will like it. Though I do have one other idea for a story."

"What is it?" Annuvaniya asked.

"It's about a mischievous handmaiden who was trying to set her lady up with a certain someone by sending fake gifts..."

"A-ha-ha," Annuvaniya pretended to be amused. "Your Highness, I can't believe you still remember that."

"I'm out of ideas so be careful what you do unless you want to end up in a story!"

"Ah, are you threatening me?!" Annuvaniya exclaimed. "I must tell you that I have set up many of my friends successfully."

"The Handmaiden Matchmaker!" Shirazad exclaimed. "On second thought, I think you should take this book away. It is depressing."

"Why?" Annuvaniya said. "Forget the book. You'd better think about more important things. For example, you don't have a relationship with the king. ...But you've been married for some time... People might want to have a heir to the throne... Rumors against you will increase in the future. Either blaming you that you can't have children or that you don't have a real relationship with the king... What are you planning to do about that?"

Oh, so maybe that's why he kissed her in public, to convince people that they had a relationship?

Shirazad's thoughts went in another direction as she mused,

"...I am just thinking in this life it's so difficult to do something right. No matter what decisions you take or what you do, there will always be someone unhappy. Sometimes you start with good intentions, but it all goes wrong in the end again. There are so many ways to make a mistake. Everything that involves you with the world inevitably causes tension at the end of the day. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't better to just stay somewhere in the distance and observe the world but not actually participate in the events."

"But wouldn't that be too easy?" Annuvaniya laughed. "Your Highness, you don't need to stay away from the world, just stay away from Mehrnaz, ha-ha. And, it's impossible to figure out how the world works. But you should really think in perspective and think about what I told you... You can't tell the king fairy-tales forever."

"Ha! Who says so?! I can go on, and on, and on... Isn't life full of stories all the time? I can tell him fairy-tales one thousand nights and I will never get tired! " Shirazad exclaimed.

Suddenly they were both startled as the king's silhouette appeared from behind the door.

"I will take my leave," Annuvaniya said as she bowed and went away.

"One thousand nights, you say?" he exclaimed, but she did not say anything. Anyway, her words were not meant for him!

He looked around the room.

"Can you really do it?"

"Yes, of course...," she exclaimed. "...But why don't we start counting back from the first fairy-tale I told you?"

"...It would be unfair," he sighed. "You already had a big break."

He was holding a really small bottle in his hand. Shirazad noticed it but was not sure what it was.

He called Shirazad to come next to him as Annuvaniya had already closed the door. There was a large mirror on one of the walls and both stood in front of it.

"An interesting piece of news," he said, "King Zaman has returned from the conflict zone after about two months there. Now we can go to Samarkhand for the wedding. And I heard you completed the book project, so I brought you this as a reward." He held up the small richly ornamented bottle and opened it. Shirazad thought he'd let her smell it, but instead he walked around her so she was now between him and the mirror. Then he said,

"It's a very rare scent... They call it 'Love Potion'."

He put a few drops of the perfume on his finger and then on Shirazad's neck.

"...It doesn't work," she stated.

He laughed. Then he looked at the reflection of both of them in the mirror.

He stood in front of her and took a step toward her so she was just a breath away. She reluctantly took a step back. And he took a step toward her again and she took a step back... until her heel hit the frame of the bed behind her.

"I know..." he answered. This time he was so close she lost her balance and fell on the bed.

He followed and fell on the bed above her, so close he could smell the perfume on her neck. It was as if he was mesmerized. Yet he realized if he did something now, it couldn't be undone... She felt his reluctance and gently slid away from under him to the other side of the bed.

He turned to her immediately, perhaps expecting she would try to escape, but she had a rather determined expression on her face and stared back at him.

"You are afraid of me, aren't you?" she said. Indeed, she wasn't sure what he was afraid of, but she could recognize his emotions.

Now they seemed to switch their roles and he was stuck between the bed and her.

"Your Majesty, I can't understand your motives," she continued to his dismay. And she took a step toward him, "Please make up your mind because I am fed up with this game."

He was so shocked. So now he lost his balance and fell on the bed, but he grabbed her so she also fell on him. When she tried to stand up, he held her tightly so she couldn't move and she could only lie on him. He laughed.

In the morning, servants peeked into the room. When they saw them asleep, they were really surprised.

"I thought they don't have a relationship..." one of the servants said.

"Yes, they were not in love..." another one added.

"How do we measure love, Your Majesty?"