Hello and thank you to anyone who reads this story and reviews it! I'm really sorry for the delay; I actually wrote these chapters a while back but was not satisfied with the way they sounded, so I spent a lot of time trying to fix them. As I mentioned previously, I am new to fanfiction (or any fiction), so I am always appreciative of constructive reviews.
"The Indian Princess Farah has arrived" added Roshanak as she gave the dark Prince the update of recent events. "But, she will not be a problem. I will take care of her in no time."
"The sooner that annoyance is out of the way, the better" snapped the dark Prince.
"She will be easy to handle" remarked Roshanak with a sniff. "I have heard stories of her relationship with Sherfiruz, but surely she is nothing special" she remarked, perhaps a bit more confidently than she actually felt.
"Don't be so sure of yourself" snapped the Dark Prince. "Sherfiruz, that imbecile, was willing to delay his mission to reclaim his throne for her. She is no mere plaything for him."
This touched a nerve for Roshanak because deep down inside, she knew he was right. She had seen the way Sherfiruz had looked at Farah when she entered the hall and even as she left. He had never looked at her that way.
"And neither am I!" snapped back Roshsanak angrily, trying to hide her own insecurities. "I am perfectly capable of getting what I need from him."
The Dark Prince, recognizing Roshanak's anger, quickly moved to dissipate it.
"Of course you are" he said seductively, placing his fingers underneath her chin, and drawing her close.
"That fool doesn't deserve a woman like you. So intelligent, so sharp, so…desirable" he purred into her ear.
Roshanak loosened in his hold and relaxed. "Just as I promised you," she said as she reached to put her hand to his face, "we will rule together, you as King, and I will be your Queen. It is just a matter of time… "
As she moved to place her lips upon his, he quickly drew away.
"Time that I do not have, Roshanak! I grow weak" he snapped. With a grunt, he continued, "I must return to the amulet. The next time you summon me, I expect there to be more progress…and then we can speak of what we need to do with the boy…"
With that, the Dark Prince retreated to the amulet, leaving Roshanak feeling a bit dazed and incredibly unfulfilled. He was her only way out…she had to do as he said.
If one wanted to understand Roshanak, one only needed to look at the story of her life. She had been married to the King as his first wife in an attempt to strengthen the Persian bloodline and create a link of power for her family within the palace walls. Roshanak's father, a distant relative of the late King Shahraman, was a greedy, selfish fellow who only knew how to use his family, especially his, children as pawns for his own dark interests. Roshanak had lost her mother at quite a young age and was brought up since childhood by her paternal aunts, women who shared their brother's unscrupulous qualities. Roshanak was schooled in the art of deception from a young age but never experienced any real love or care. As a result, she was struggled with the idea of giving or even knowing how to receive love. Roshanak's goal in life had been to enter the palace, seduce the King to favor her alone, produce a male heir, a crown prince for the Persian throne, and to become the queen, effectively securing her family's place of power among Persian royalty.
None of these goals, however, had materialized as she had desired. King Sherfiruz was a fair and kind husband, but her charms never seemed to produce the effect she wanted, and he showed no special favor or attention towards her. Then, he had married the Greek Princess Anemone, an annoyance, but when she found out both of them were pregnant at the same time, she had been furious. Although Roshanak ended up giving birth to a son and Anemone a daughter, Anemone's daughter was healthy, Roshanak's son was sickly from birth, and to top it off, she had not been named queen although she had produced a potential heir.
It was about a year ago that Roshanak, filled with rage, hate, and anger, found herself in a secret secluded area of the palace containing shelves of old tomes filled with spells and potions. She was drawn to a particular volume that a stone amulet hidden within within its cover. She had accidentally scraped her finger on a jagged edge of the old book, and her blood had fallen onto the amulet and had released the Dark Prince. Although she had initially been afraid, he had calmed her, reading her innermost thoughts, promising to fulfill her heart's desires if she swore a blood oath to him. Her fate and that of her son depended on this specter, and his words from their first encounter kept repeating in her mind.
"I can regain my strength with human blood, your blood, but I need a proper vessel to survive...a human body. The boy is still young… I can transfer parts of myself to him over time. He will become stronger, and when the time is right, I will share his body and mind, train him, and then we will take out that fool of Sherfiruz. Once he is done for, I will take over Sherfiruz's body and finally put it to some proper use as the King of Persia!"
