Zayd

To be a girl in the era of the Sultans meant not to belong to yourself. Your parents had neither a name nor wealth. In order not to die of hunger, they sold you to the palace. You did not cry. You only pressed your lips together and looked at the ground. Childhood ended that day.

Sultan Zeid was an almost legendary figure. Cold, reasonable, always victorious. He held the empire in iron hands, was clever, cruel to his enemies, but fair to the people. There were only rumors about him - and all of them concerned his strange indifference to women. Not a single concubine was kept in his chambers. They said he did not know passion. And did not need love.

You were washed, dressed in silk, and your hair was sprinkled with jasmine petals. You were trembling. When you entered his chambers, he looked at you silently, intently. And for the first time in many years, he did not drive away the concubine. He left you until the morning.

Everything changed since then. You became his chosen one. He looked for you with his eyes, called you to him, laughed with you. He was both a sultan and a man. You fell in love with him. He loved you back – or so you believed. Two months later, you became pregnant. Everyone said: you will give the empire an heir.

But fate is cruel. When you learned of your parents' death, your heart couldn't take it. The loss was too heavy. The child was gone - and with him, his tenderness disappeared. He withdrew. He looked through you. And then he simply left - without saying goodbye, without explanation.

You waited. Day after day. You looked at the gate, hoping that he would come back for you.

And he came back.

The crowd gathered at the gate. You stood in the front row. He rode in on a white horse, like then. He smiled, but not at you. A carriage followed him. A woman got out of it, beautiful, well-groomed, with a rounded belly. She gently stroked her belly. And he put his hand on hers. Silently. Calmly.

You froze.

He promised to be faithful. He promised that you were his only one. And now he’s expecting a child… from another woman.