Episode Fifteen: Planning With An Enemy

Tade spent the night in Adeyeri’s room, and would have been afraid to be alone with him if he was any other man. As a reward for proposing marriage to save her from her fate as Abobaku, she had thought that he would think that he had the right to request that she serve him with her body in his bed, but he didn’t.

She was in his bed, but he was not in it with her, saving her the awkwardness of explaining her stand not to lay with a man that was not her husband. Adeyeri had taken a mat from the corner, spread it on the floor, covered it with a wrapper and simply slept on it like it was the norm. He was such a noble man, it was almost impossible not to develop some feelings for him, or be a bit excited that she would soon become his wife. However, everything was happening too fast, and she couldn’t help but be overcome by fear; the fear of a dark and terrible thing about to happen to her. 

What is this marriage to Adeyeri? 

Would it be bad for her?

It had been a relief to leave him to take care of her worries, but with time to think, reality was setting in. Organising a marriage here in Iludoyin with no family would be close to impossible. And she had always wanted to marry for love. She had a fantasy of how pleasurable life would be with a man of her own, and children that bind them together. She had even thought it would be Brother Joseph, the white man that had come into her world and introduced her to her faith, and the Lord Jesus. Brother Joseph would be the perfect husband, and maybe that should be her choice so as to save Adeyeri from being dragged into the mess their union would create for him, and his claim to the throne. The only problem was that the feelings she thought she had for Brother Joseph didn’t seem as memorable as they used to be. 

Brother Joseph! Adeyeri!

Brother Joseph seemed like the better option. If Adeyeri could help her with some food and cowries, she could quickly leave Iludoyin, but even as the thought formed, she wasn’t certain it was the right choice.

What if Brother Joseph had left Nnewi?

What if Brother Joseph was not interested in marrying her?

It would be a risk to abandon this arrangement with Adeyeri without another strong plan in place, but it felt unfair to let him risk his future as King.

Tade’s stomach growled. They both hadn’t had any food since she arrived, and now that she was thinking about food, she couldn’t even remember eating anything apart from what Banji had brought in the morning of the previous day.

Adeyeri rose slowly, and saw her wide awake. “You are not sleeping,” he said, and it sounded like an accusation.

Tade sighed and rose to a sitting position. The pain in her back trippled. “Thank you for letting me stay here, and for sleeping on the floor.”

Adeyeri rose from the bed and walked towards the door. “My sacrifice wasn’t worth it. I doubt you slept a wink. You look frazzled.”

Tade ignored his observation. “Where are you going?” 

Adeyeri stared at her for a few moments, irritated that she was ignoring his concerns, then waved it away. “Go and hide behind the screen over there, and don’t come out except when you hear my voice,” he instructed, and left the room.

Tade nodded, and rose to do as he said, frustrated at her own helplessness and dependency.

As soon as Adeyeri stepped outside his room, he saw Alani. “You are the most useless servant I have ever been given. I need someone else.”

Alani prostrated flat on the floor. “Ha! My Prince! Please, don’t be quick to judge me. I am sorry. I am always here. My mother was sick yesterday, and when I didn’t see you in the palace, I quickly went to see her.”

Adeyeri looked at him with disbelief, his intuition telling him that he couldn’t trust or work with Alani for long, even if he pardoned him this time. “Get up.”  Alani rose swiftly. “Go to my mother, tell her to please instruct her most trusted servant to make me a big bowl of pap, enough to feed two or three people, and at least two dozen akara balls.” Alani nodded, waiting to be dismissed, but Adeyeri wasn’t done. “You will have to taste everything you bring, so if you know what is good for you, make sure you supervise the cooking and the serving. I don’t want another servant to die of poison, but if you act carelessly today, be sure that only one person will be a victim, and it would not be me. Now leave!”

“Yes, Your Highness!” Alani responded and walked away briskly to do the Prince’s bidding.

Tade was still in hiding when Adeyeri entered the room again, but instead of announcing himself, he walked towards the screen and paused. He heard Tade hold her breath, waiting for the intruder to open it and see her. Adeyeri opened it swiftly and touched her shoulders. If she could teleport, she would have disappeared into the wall.

“Calm down! It’s just me,” he said, smiling, trying to reduce the tension in the room with humour.

“Oh no!” Tade exclaimed, not finding it funny. “You scared me.”

“I am sorry,” he replied, reaching for her hands.

They were silent for a moment, facing each other.

“It’s fine,” she said to break the silence.

The vulnerability on her face tugged at his protective instincts. The tears from yesterday had made her eyes puffy. Adeyeri cradled her face and moved her closer. “You are not fine, but don’t worry, you will be.”

Tade tried to pull out of his hold and eliminate the proximity between them, not trusting her emotions to remain in check. His kindness was already brewing fresh tears, but Adeyeri’s hold was strong, so she couldn’t step away from him.

“Tade, don’t be afraid. I will protect you, I promise.” She raised her eyes to his, and the tears she was trying to keep at bay, fell. He wiped them off with his fingers. “Don’t you trust me?” he asked softly.

“Trusting you is the easy part. You are an honourable man.”

The way she spoke about his honour was the sweetest thing Adeyeri had ever heard in his life, and he hoped he was truly going to live up to her expectations. “In that case, why are you afraid?” he asked, rubbing his hands on her arms in comfort.

“Because you are risking everything, and it’s not fair to do that to you. I am not sure getting married to each other is the best approach. What if you cannot become King because of this?”

Her fears mirrored his own; it was impossible to dismiss. “We will cross that river when we get there.”

“Adeyeri, that is the problem. We are already at that river. Decisions are already being made; it’s only a matter of days before the next King is chosen, and the proceedings of coronation would begin.”

Even though Adeyeri had proposed marriage as a way to calm Tade, the more time they spent together, the more he was getting to know her better and wishing he could spend the rest of his life with her. An unselfish woman, who put the needs of her man before her own, was worth her weight in gold, and was not worth losing.

“If I don’t marry you, what other options do you have?” he asked so that she could see the dead end of the situation and just accept his proposal before he went to Chief Otun to find a solution to the problem. Otun always knew how to bend the rules to get what he wanted, and the man had never failed to achieve any goal of his. He would help them.

“I can marry someone else, and save you the trouble,” she said, thinking of Brother Joseph. She was so engrossed in her explanation she didn’t notice that Adeyeri had dropped his hands from her arms. “I left a man in Nnewi. He is my very good friend. I think he will agree to marry me if I explain my situation.”

Adeyeri left the screen and walked towards the window. He began to shake visibly, anger eroding his body. He did not want her to know how much her decision to marry someone else shook him.

“I am only trying to help. Your heritage is important. We can’t play with it no matter how noble you are,” she said, moving towards him. 

Adeyeri raised his hand to stop her from coming closer, and before Tade could say anything, Queen Wuraola entered the room with a tray of food. Adeyeri had forgotten to latch the door when he came back inside.

“You are supposed to be confined in mourning. What are you doing here?” he asked, embarrassed to have been caught off guard, while Tade simply wanted to enter the ground.

Wuraola smiled at the two of them, telling them to be calm with her demeanour. She put the tray on the stool as she responded to Adeyeri. “I had to come and see what was wrong with my son. I thought you were ill to be asking for such a large meal very early in the morning.”

Adeyeri sighed. He shouldn’t have requested the food through her, but he wanted it to be free from harmful elements, and she was the only one he could trust in the whole palace. He knew it was a risk, but there was no way he could continue to listen to the rumblings in Tade’s stomach without trying to help.

“Who is your friend? Why is she here so early?” Wuraola asked with the friendliest voice she could summon. She had come herself for only one thing, and she wasn’t going to leave without hearing the full story. It would determine what she was going to do.

Shade shifted uncomfortably as she watched the man who just entered the palm wine stall. He was definitely from the palace because he was dressed like one of the Kings’ Guard. Iyalode might have sent him to her, but if so, she wondered why he was sitting like a customer instead of coming to deliver the message. The worrisome thing about her situation was that Tade had still not come home, and now she was beginning to wonder if she had embarked on a journey back to Nnewi. However, the action was going to be against what she knew of her character.

Tade was a good girl. Only one reason could have kept her away endlessly; she was either hurt somewhere, or she had found out about her fate as Abobaku, and was trying to escape it.

Shade rolled her eyes in desperation. She had wanted to protect Tade from harm, but the girl had been determined to run towards it. Now that she was supposed to be profiting from having access to her, the girl had disappeared.

Maybe she was truly a witch!

In that case, Shade decided that she needed a witch doctor. She couldn’t get into bed with the Chiefs about disclosing Tade’s identity without protecting herself. It was the best plan, and it suddenly gave her peace… Until the King’s guard rose suddenly, and without ordering anything, walked away.

Shade’s eyes followed him out. Something was amiss. Visiting a witch doctor was no longer negotiable. She needed protection, power, and access to information about Tade. The girl had to be found and come back to her so she could trade her for a fortune.

Unfortunately, this didn’t give her peace. Tadeyanju’s daughter deserved better. He was the love of her life, but she reminded herself that that was in the past. He was dead now, and peace be damned! As far as she was concerned, it was her primary responsibility to protect herself and her son. She walked outside to see the direction the man went, only to find him right at the door. She gasped in fear!

“You should be afraid,” the man said then left.

Shade didn’t find the courage in time to ask who he was, and who sent him, but she knew that she had bitten more than she could chew by trying to reveal who Tade was. She would wait for the last customer to leave and close up shop immediately. The witch doctor’s place was the only place she wanted to be right now.

Wuraola kept showing all the right emotions as she listened to Adeyeri explain his plight, and tell the story of all he had gone through in the short period King Adeyanju died. Tade, on the other hand, was gulping the meal like someone who hadn’t eaten for days, but she made a mental note to leave half of the rations for the Prince, and her audacity was very surprising to Wuraola. Apart from the initial shock of having been caught in the room with Adeyeri, Tade had calmed down and seemed at ease. She was eating the meal of a crowned Prince and planning to leave remnants for him. The fact that Adeyeri was capable of allowing this without feeling annoyed was proof that he was not worthy to be King. He didn’t have it in him to command the dignity of the position, but this was the wrong time to show her irritation. Like a concerned mother, she rose to hug Adeyeri to her chest, and even tried to squeeze out some tears, but none came. It was getting increasingly difficult to pretend that she was unhappy.

“So you want to marry her?” she asked as she stared at Adeyeri.

“I want to save her from the Abobaku fate. I don’t know any other way to do it apart from her marriage and disvirgined state.”

Tade stood from the food table and moved closer to mother and son. “Prince Adeyeri is trying to do a very noble thing, but this would affect his claim to the throne, and more than anything else, he must be King. He has the heart of a ruler, and would do well for Iludoyin. I would hate to be the reason he misses out on his destiny.”

Wuraola struggled to keep her hatred for the girl from showing. She was too bold, seemed intelligent, and looked like the right type of woman for Adeyeri. She would make him strong, and by his side as his Queen, they would be unstoppable. However, she was right. If she married him, the Chiefs and the gods would reject Adeyeri, making Adeloye’s claim a consideration.

Wuraola smiled and pulled Tade closer, giving her a side hug because of her injury. “You have been through a lot, my dear girl. You truly don’t deserve the Abobaku fate, and I am convinced you will make a good wife and mother. Living in solitude and dying with a King is not for you.”

Tade pulled back from her a bit, and looked at the ground. “Marrying a King is not for me either,” she said, and Adeyeri’s heart went out to her. She was right, but also wrong. The more they spoke about a possible marriage, the more he found that he didn’t mind spending his life with her. He could fall in love with her very easily, if he wasn’t even half way there already.

“There is another man I can marry in Nnewi. I will just need some money to arrange my transportation. If you will be kind enough to lend me some, I promise to send it back to you after I have settled and the dust has blown over what I did,” Tade said to Wuraola, refusing to look at Adeyeri, but from the corner of her eyes, she noticed him scowling.

Wuraola noticed too, and smiled. Adeyeri was making her job easy. He had fallen in love with the girl, and their marriage was going to be his doom, but he didn’t need to know that just yet. “Adeyeri, you don’t seem pleased with her marrying someone else. Are you sure you want to nominate yourself for the assignment?” she asked.

Adeyeri nodded, then turned away, unable to face his mother. He was prioritising marrying an abominable woman over securing his place on the throne. “I plan to speak to Otun today, ask him for advice on how I can marry her and still be King.”

Tade walked up to him. “Stop being the hero. I promise you, there is another man I can marry.”

Adeyeri turned away from her. He didn’t trust his face not to betray his emotions of  desperation. As far as he was concerned, Tade was his. “You already promised to marry me, I promised too, and we are keeping our word,” he muttered as though that was the only reason he couldn’t bear for her to be with another man.

Forgetting that Queen Wuraola was in the room with them, Tade took Adeyeri’s hand in hers, and a current passed through both of them. They both felt the power of the physical connection, but the subject at hand was more crucial and life defining.

“I release you from the promise,” she said, trying to catch Adeyeri’s eye.

“I will marry you,” he returned firmly, finally looking at her.

“Even if you want to, I am not sure you can. Which family will you give my bride price to? It’s more complicated than you think. Just give me the money and let me go. I don’t want to complicate your life.”

“You have already,” he said and pulled out of her hold to walk away, but she pulled him back, reaching for his other hand, pleading with him with her eyes.

The girl was also in love with Adeyeri, Wuraola observed, and smiled. Their destruction would be so easy to execute. “I know a way for you both to marry. It will be quick and official,” she said, and Adeyeri’s face lit up in hope.

“Are you sure, mother?” he asked, but before she could answer, Tade asked her own question. It made it obvious to Wuraola that Tade was the wiser one of the two of them. She was thinking with her head, not just her heart.

“Are you sure our marriage will not ruin Prince Adeyeri’s claim to the throne?”

Wuraola smiled, determined to mislead them. She walked up to the two of them and held their hands. The three of them formed a circle now. “Do you think I will do anything to jeopardise my son’s place on his father’s throne?” she asked, and the couple shook their heads in trust and assurance that she could never do that. What they didn’t know was that the son she was referring to was not Adeyeri. 

The son could never be Adeyeri. He was not her son!

Adeyeri could be damned, and Wuraola wouldn’t be bothered, and they had just given her the tool to damn him forever, and ruin his fate. By the time she was done with them, Tade’s fate would be changed as they hoped, and Adeyeri would share the same plight.

“Come, let’s sit down. We have a wedding to plan.”