They were talking about it more than ever these days. It had always been a word that they chewed in their mouths. Now, they were spitting out. The Kinslayer, they said, the unfaithful, the brother murderer. I bore to be the undesired, but I couldn't take being the undeserving king. I gave everything that I had to this country. I was the lightning. Bayezid the Lightning. I did not doubt my blood. I was my father's son; I had the wolf's blood. Still, I waited five more hours in Nide before returning to Edre to see whether Asena would come. She didn't. 

As Jaromir went away, the cold and vile face of the castle showed up. Every single one wanted to see me fall, to find me dead someday. They were all wicked and traitors. I could feel that when I looked at their faces. They all wanted Yakub to be the king. But fear... Fear was my puppet. I was stronger than everyone. They wouldn't beat me even if they threw me an army. Sometimes, I caught their words stuttering and their legs shuddering, and I understood that they all knew what I could do. I am capable of ruling the world. Become the conqueror of all. 

I hated myself for being disappointed when I talked, taught, wandered, fought... even looked at my sons. I thought that my wife's past had just used up the love inside me. Until I met this young boy, whose eyes were as bright as the moon, who had the heart to challenge the world while staying noble and honest, he was my chance. He made me withstand while my own country was against my rule. With him and his marvellous capability to do anything he wanted, I felt like a father for the first time. With him, I could finally show love to my sons because he filled that void of disappointment inside me. I accepted them; I got my son's lack of skill, ambition and potential. I made peace with them being unlike me because I found the son I had always searched for. Therefore, I didn't force my sons to do anything they didn't want. They could be anything in the world; it was their right, as there was another boy to cure their father's loneliness. I used to hate myself for feeling like that, but we love who we love, and I loved that boy more than my blood. 

As Jaromir went away, overthinking killed my sleep. I couldn't sleep at night; insecurity always grabbed me. As if the guards beneath my door were on behalf of the traitor viziers and they would sneak in my room to kill me, or the vinous at the parliament room added poison into my wine. It is shameful, but there were times that I thought those traitors inside the castle made a deal with Mehli, and he would kill me or make me killed to become the next king. 

Seeing Vukasin in Edre gave me hope at first. I could raise him like Jaromir and eliminate my loneliness. However, his existence made me remember nothing but Jaromir's absence. Nobody could be like us; Jaromir had to be my son. I forced myself to believe that Tengri gave a piece of my soul to him and destined us to meet and become father and son. 

If I didn't kill him, he would do it. He planned it first: I would be dead, and he would be the Kinslayer. Nevertheless, if Yakub had killed me first, no one would call him that; no one would argue with him, talk behind him. The reason was that he was whom they chose. Not me. I could never hurt my brother, but as Akhal told me his plan, he was already dead. He killed himself when he betrayed me. Akhal was quiet now. A dangerous idea recently started to pop up in my mind. Akhal had always seen me as the true king; he always believed in me to be better than my big brother, the natural heir. After all, he was the vizier who raised me. I knew him better than I knew my father. I felt slammed when I thought that maybe he had made up Yakub's plan of killing me just to prevent me from feeling guilty. It couldn't be true; he was an honest, wise man. He wouldn't. I asked myself what I would do in Akhil's position, and something similar happened to Jaromir. 

I loved my brother, but he didn't love me as much as I did. This was the truth, the salt and only truth. The fact that didn't make me end myself. 

Jaromir was gone; three seasons had passed since he left. 

This man who called himself the kara mamba of the world was nothing but a link. Temur Lenk. During the battle, I heard he lost his right hand, fingers, and right leg. They said he didn't dismount his horse and trained himself to fight with the left hand. He could fight; I understood that. But anyone can fight; if you are one of anyone, you are no one. He was no one. He was dark, and I was the lightning. What he did in Sivas made him a dead man. He is a dead man; he doesn't know it yet. 

I announced to the guards to get Qara Joseph and Jalayir to me. I didn't know who they were, what they were doing in my country and why Temur wanted them so much. 

Qara Joseph was a man who was so brunette that I could see all his eyes when they brought him inside the throne room where no sunlight reached in the early morning. Both the men had slanting eyes. They were from the Middle East, for sure. The man who introduced himself as Jalayir was trembling. I wasn't sure if it was because of being in my presence or of the possibility of being delivered to Temur. 

"I didn't let you two to shelter in my country; Danishmenthan has no promise or responsibility to you. Your entrance to this land caused my people to be slaughtered. Now you are wanted to be received, and there is no reason for me to save you." There was silence for a while. I signed with my hand to the guards, telling them to take them away. Suddenly, Qara Yusuf embarked on.

"King Bayezid, I am the former ruler of Qara Sheep Turkic. Qara Sheep Turkic had been in peace with Danishmenthan for fifty years now. We believed in Tengri; we fought in the name of Tengri as you do. We are pure Turks; we have always been. Before Temur invaded my land, Asena used to be seen in every battle. We are on the same side. How could a Tengri ambassador like you turn their back on another Tengri ambassador like me? Because Jalayir, the leader of Jalayiren, didn't. He hid me from my head being cut down and displayed. Now Temur invaded Jalayiren, and we had to both runaway." 

I looked at him cautiously. "What does Temur believe in?" I asked. He was bewildered and looked to Jalayir. Jalayir, who was slightly older and more mature-looking than him, answered. "He is a sinner. He killed the ambassador of Tengri, who was brought to rule Mongolia. He formerly had no title other than being the commander of the Mongolian army. He was initially a Turk but still ignored Tengri to take the lead. He is no believer." I was startled by the likeness of taking the lead. I killed that idea immediately. 

I would not let Temur get what he wanted; I wasn't scared of him. If he wanted them, he wouldn't get them from me. Not because he shed blood. 

Every vizier opposed it; even the guards at my door were afraid because of my decision, which verified that it was right. "Who are they? They are not our allies; we should deliver them; they are not worth it," they said. They were worth it if I said so. They were worth claiming my supremacy over Temur. I ordered them all to get out. I was excited and determined. I knew from then that a war was coming, and I couldn't wait to fight. 

I grabbed a piece of paper and dripped the tip of the feather into the dye. I thought till a drop of paint fell onto the article, then I smirked.

O old dog. You are a more severe infidel than Takfur unbelievers, 

In your letter, you wanted to scare us and deceive us. Do not compare Danishmenthan kings with other cowards that you defeated. Danishmenthan soldiers are not ordinary people like Tatars from the Kipchak country, nor are they idle crowds like Indian communities. Danishmenthan soldiers are honourable soldiers, not like helpless and miserable Khorasan soldiers. Again, you do not compare the Danishmenthan soldiers to the soldiers of Damascus and Aleppo. 

Whoever does not come to the battlefield after receiving this letter, let his wife be free of him with three talaqs.

B.

I was delighted and passionate; my gloom was gone, and my loneliness no longer mattered. 

There was work to do.