☆•°●~"There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept."~●°•☆

The warmth of the fire gently embraced me as I entered the hut filled with all the council members and from the way their eyes were all focused on me, I knew it could only mean one thing... I was late. My hand nervously gripped my intricately design spear, as I felt a heated gaze fall onto my frame, my stomach began fluttering with what seemed to be butterflies, only one person could make me feel that way, it was Makhosi.

I had to fight against the urge to throw myself into his arms, I hadn't realised I had missed him so much until his muscular figure was nothing more than a few feet away from me. Although I couldn't ignore the dark circles that surrounded his eyes or even the spear wounds that marred his once flawless chest, I could only thank God and the ancestors for keeping him safe and bringing him back to me. He was here and he was alive.

"My queen, please join us." Makhosi's deep baritone voice caressed my eardrums, my body instinctively made its way towards the advisors stool that was positioned right beside his throne whilst ignoring the hateful stares of the council men, it had been so long and yet they still resented me and even after everything I managed to achieve they couldn't find it within themselves to respect me.

"Now as I was saying before, King Chatunga was fatally wounded and required medical attention however we hope to see him back in the court soon. We managed to defeat the Tonga tribe before realising their alliance with the Kalanga tribe resulting in the duration of the war to be lengthened. The battle was fierce and with few casualties we managed to successfully defeat both threats, meaning that the Karanga tribe may return home as soon as King Chatunga is well. " Makhosi informed us whilst his hand gently laced his fingers with mine as he did before offering me one of his breathtaking smiles.

"I understand that there were a few issues that required the council's attention here during my absence, explain to me how those were dealt with?" He inquired, causing one of the elder council members to answer.

"My king, the queen managed to displace both the Zezuru and Zithaka in your absence. The Zezuru tribe was swayed by the message sent by the queen, however Zithaka required a bit more brute strength - "He had began explaining before Makhosi interrupted him.

"Brute strength?" Makhosi asked causing his thick eyebrows to quirk up in curiosity.

I mentally cringed as the elder began describing in painful detail how I had fought Chirambo, Zithaka's right hand man. It was at this point I wished I could've sewn his mouth shut or thrown my spear at him, especially before he mentioned my name.

"Chirambo was battled by someone in this very court, it would come nothing but a surprise to you my king. The warriors said he was dancing on the edge of death after this battle. He was sent home with a broken nose, twisted ankle and a shattered ego." He continued on causing amusement to dance in Makhosi's eyes.

"And who was this valiant person who sits amongst us and remains so humble?" He asked which earned me some side glances.

"Well my king, I'm surprised you had to ask, it was the queen." The elder seemed eager to please Makhosi; his big mouth had gone off again, much like a noisy bird singing in the early hours of dawn.

The amusement immediately vanished from Makhosi's eyes as they fell upon my seated frame. My eyes began tracing the pattern of the cheetah skin that covered the floor; it wouldn't take a genius to know that Makhosi was upset and yet the elder continued adding fuel to the flaming furnace of hell.

"They say she almost killed him with her bare hands, she did suffer some blows if I remember correctly...It was one to the lower back and the other was the stomach - "

"Out!" Makhosi growled. "All of you out now!"

"But my king - "

"GET OUT!"

The council members scrambled out like gazelles fleeing for dear life whilst running away from hunting lions. I would have found the situation hilarious if not for my current predicament. I began to rise to my feet eager to escape the wrath of the king; I assumed he wanted to be alone.

"Not you. Everyone but you." His words were sharp; they felt like ice cold knives plunging into my skin. His eyes had now fallen onto my seated frame; his deep breaths were an effort to calm his raging anger, he was trying his best to be gentle with me.

It was a few moments of deafening silence; I could hear the sound of my heart furiously knocking against my ribcage. It was terrifying seeing him look like this; I had only seen him look like that once and that was because of Zithaka.

"Why? Why would you dare fight him?" His voice had fallen from its deep baritone to a deep guttural growl, it was terrifying.

"Was I to leave Yariiwa to die at the hands of Zithaka, to let him be slain like a goat for a wedding celebration?" I questioned him; it was stupidly courageous of me, very stupid.

"I instructed you to lead. I expected you to do nothing more than your duty - to lead." His words were strained, barely escaping his clenched jaws.

"Leadership is nothing without sacrifice. His blood is my blood. I would - "He immediately cut me off allowing his harsh words to assault me.

"You would do what? What is it that you would do? Nohereka you would selflessly sacrifice the heir of this tribe along with your life, not only were you putting your life in jeopardy but even the life of Kurawone by sending him to the rebel camps. Do you even think about your actions, everything has repercussions? "He lectured me and yet I could only focus on the one thing he said, "The heir".

"How did you..." my words trailed of, it was crippling sense of realisation that he knew about my pregnancy.
"Know?" He said completing my sentence as his eyes fell to my slightly swollen stomach, by now it was easy to confuse the baby bump for a full stomach because it was still small, practically nonexistent to the world but not to me.

"Mazimele immediately informed me on my arrival, seeing as you were busy with your 'border patrols'. Nohereka you cannot be patrolling borders in your current condition. You must not be irrational; you must learn to think before you act." He began reprimanding me again, raising his voice at me and scolding me like a mother would her child, and it was in that moment I had finally had enough of it; I was his wife not his child and he would not address me like a commoner, I was a queen.

"You do not raise your voice at me, Makhosi. You may have every man and woman cowering with life grappling fear but not me. You maybe a king but I am your wife, the mother of you unborn child and I am the queen. Do not speak to me as if I were a peasant, I am your equal." I could feel my anger gradually slithering up my spine, preparing to take control of my body once more as if we were two souls cramped into one body.

His hard eyes immediately softened as he tenderly place my hand into his as the other one gently lifted my chin so that my intense gaze met his. "Forgive me my queen. I have to admit I was scared, it may sound hard to believe but I just want to keep you safe, it's all I want, to keep you both safe." He confessed as his warm hand gently caressed my bare stomach, we now had someone else to consider and the thought caused a smile to cross my plump lips; we were finally a family.

"You made me a promise my king and you kept it." His eyes loving gazed into mine as my hand began to caress his cheeks. "Promise to treat me as your equal, to respect me and lastly promise to never leave us alone." It sounded more like a plea to the ancestors to never take away my happy ever after, my new life and the only thing that made me sane.

"I promise."

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