𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧 | 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟎𝟏

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟎𝟗

HARIS

“You want to work here?” Taimoor asks, eyeing me suspiciously as if I’ve grown horns from my head.

I keep my easy smile in place as I nod, “yes.”

“I thought you were only visiting the town.”

I saw this coming.

“If I must be honest, I want to move to another Kingdom that’s why I have been travelling- to find a Kingdom where I could make a living and so far, this Kingdom is on the top of my list.”

My actual reason to getting a job here is because I want to stay in the town for a while and choose a new governor. I could give this task to one of my pasha or Zayaan but I choose to do this myself.

I trust Zayaan to pick the best but he would do it the traditional way which is announcing that the position is empty. However, I do not want that. I want to choose the person myself then pull the chair from beneath Sohail.
I have eyes on my targets.

“What else kingdoms have you been to?”

“Urabia, Falakistan, Hillsen, Sorana and Umeedaria currently.”

He eyes me suspiciously once again. Taimoor does not trust people easily. It shows in his behavior.

Finally, he says, “okay but I don’t need any complaints.”

“I can assure you, you will get no complaints from me. In Sha Allah.”

Taimoor hums then walks away. I let my smile fall and massage my cheeks.

Smiling does not come naturally to me. most of my smiles are forced in order to not look intimidated. The only time I don’t have to fake my smile is when I’m with my sister or a friend of mine.

You’re forgetting a certain woman.

I push out that thought.

The earlier smile was only a coincidence because I caught her staring at me.
Anyways, back to the task at hand. I am monitoring Taimoor as one of my targets for the governor position. I haven’t met or seen his brother so he’s not under consideration yet.

The best way to monitor Taimoor myself and not being suspicious about was to get a job at his work shop in my opinion, which I am doing.

Working won’t be hard since I know crafting, I built many small things with my father when I was young and he knew how to be a father. Then growing up, I taught my friends- Lucian and Sarim- to build shelves, boxes or anything I could teach them.

However, I stopped crafting after Sarim’s death and busied myself with my books. The room where I crafted or taught him brought back memories and what if theories in my head.

I bring a long piece of wood from outside and take my position at my assigned desk. There are necessary utensils placed on the table with which I can create a small shelf.

As soon as I start working on my task, everything around me fades and my mind focuses on making the shelf look its best.

This is why I loved crafting. Whenever I was upset with father’s behavior or something would’ve upset me, I would lock myself in the crafting room and spend hours creating different objects.
I would gift those to Aiza, Ammi, Lucian or Sarim. Lucian would always whine because Sarim got the better gift. He likes being over dramatic- a fact Sarim kept reminding him of.