Rehema woke up first with Chike snuggled up to her tightly like he was terrified she was going to run off somewhere. She yawned and placed her hand on his forehead and stroked his head to get him to wake up.

"Chike, I need to get ready. I have a lot of tasks to do." She said while trying to stretch.

Chike grumbled wrapping his arms around her tighter, "Most you go?" He grumbled with his eyes close.

She kissed his forehead and moved away from him, Chike gave up letting her get up from the bed.

"Sorry you know I would love to spend all day with you, but I have a meeting at lunch time with Omari and his sister. I must be in good terms with the Dalli family. You know how they are," She sighed and walked to the exit of the room. A servant appeared in front of the doorway and bowed at her.

"Good morning your majesty," the servant said.

"I just need my morning bath, call my officials to take me to my hall," Rehema told him. The servant nodded and left running down the pathway outside to deliver the message.

Rehema suddenly felt a robe being wrapped behind her. She turned to see Chike standing over her shirtless. She smiled at him, and turned to completely face him, giving him a quick peck of a kiss on his lips.

"I'll visit you soon okay," Rehema said with a sparkle in her eye.

Chike knew she was only saying that to make him feel better and not get jealous. He knew it might be weeks before he got the chance to serve her again. He gently kissed the back of her palm, and just in time the servants from the empress's hall arrived with sedan outside of his bedroom, ready to take her.

Rehema waved a goodbye to him and he kneeled out of respect till she left the room. His main servant than came in setting his table for breakfast, across from his bed. It was quiet, as Chike sat on the edge of his bed, waiting for the table to be set.

"It's ready your highness," his main servant said, ushering him to the breakfast table.

Chike sat down and took a deep breath.

"Do you think she might be pregnant, after last night," his main servant asked handing him a cup of tea.

"I don't know, we have to wait and see," Chike then took a sip of his tea. "Any updates on Omari's testosterone level?" He asked the servant.

"Still low," He replied.

"Good."

In the afternoon, the state dining room was decorated with flowers, silver, and a few dishes for the evening. Rehema and Ekon were meeting with Omari and his sister the main general and captain of the official army owned by the Dalli family. The Dalli family had a history of female warriors, strong troops, and amazing armies. They had history helping the Eze's and the royal African empresses when it came to battles, but they had a few clashes as well. Power hungry clashes.

Omari was standing outside the dining hall waiting for his sister before he could enter. Rehema and Ekon were already inside, sitting at the dining table. They were now just waiting for Omari and his sister General Adanna Dalli to come in.

A servant poured some juice for Rehema.

"Thank you," She said ushering him off.

"Let's hope that Adanna, is somewhat neutral," Rehema said. She knew the rumors, how the previous general had a little bit of a clash with her mom. That her mother almost broke ties with the Dalli's because of their malicious ways.

Ekon took a sip of his drink, "You know what they say. You have better luck trusting a snake than a Dalli."

Her advisors were suspicious of course and have been vigilant against Dalli's. But now was no time to bicker back and forth. This lunch was to clear some space and settle disagreements for good and be good working partners in the kingdom.

"Come on, don't be late..." Omari jumpy, and practically jumping up and down on his tippy toes, still outside the state dinning room waiting for his older sister. Stretching his neck out to see if his sister's carriage would arrive yet. Suddenly Omari could see a one-person size carriage coming down the stone path. The carriage driver stopped in front of Omari, and the carriage door opened. A regular height woman stepped out wearing a green and blue peplos that stopped at her knees along with gladiator sandals. On her the right arm was wide cutout upper arm cuff. On her left hand was a full set gold metal armor arm that covered her fingers with claws to detailed diamond shaped design on her forearm. She had a short black mohawk style, kinky haircut.

Around her waist was a worn-out scabbard that was holding a 22-inch machete. The woman took a glace around and noticed Omari. Her serious face turned into a smile and she walked towards Omari.

"Well, hello baby brother, how has your day been?" she asked in a confident voice.

Omari smiled hugging his sister, "Adanna, it's good to see you. Come on let's head inside her majesty and her father are waiting."

"Before we go in, Adanna," He said stopping. Adanna stopped at her tracks and titled her head. He noticed her hand was resting on her scabbard.

"Please don't show any attitude to Rehema, we just want everything good between us and the royal family."

"Is there reason I would be showing her attitude?" Adanna asked. "She has been treating you well, correct?"

"Of course," Omari said quickly. "I'm second in the harem, its just with how things almost fell apart with the late-empress-"

"Don't worry about that," Adanna said waving her hand at him and she walked ahead of him.

Once inside Adanna could see a table lined up with food, seats, and Rehema and Ekon sitting on one side. The two chairs open across from them for Omari and Adanna.

Rehema's face lit up when they came inside, "Ah! They're here."

Adanna bowed on his knees greeting Rehema, Omari did the same behind his sister. They said, "Peace and blessings to her majesty," in unison. Rehama was dressed in green empress, goddess gown with rich dashiki cotton fabric, and a sleeveless spaghetti strap top. Her hair was braided in one big braid that reached down her back and she wore a luxurious Egyptian silver style empress necklace, that had rows of crystal's resting on her décolletage. Her earrings were large sized mud cloth, tribal ethic earrings. Ekon beside her was wearing a rich dark blue agbada, with a matching dark blue striped kufi hat.

Rehema told them to rise. Doing so, Adanna confidently walked over to her seat, as well as Omari. Omari's main servant Tano stood a few feet back behide him, looking over the four individuals. Rehema's and Ekon's servants stood near the edge of the room incase their masters needed anything.

"It's good to meet Adanna," Rehema said opening the conservation. She noticed that Adanna was eager to eat, as she was piling up her plate with food.

Ekon shifted in his seat and focused mainly on his meal.

"I'm happy to meet you as well. I'm thrilled to now be a general and lead the Dalli army, with this new promotion."

"Well, I mostly set this this lunch up to clear up harsh disputes your family has had with us in the past. I want to move forward. And I promise to reward anyone that works hard for the African Lands," Rehema looked over at Omari giving him a slight wink.

Omari smiled back at her and reached for his fork.

"Yes. I know your mother and our aunt had some trouble and conflict in the pass. But I do agree its time to move past it," Adanna said, taking a bit of her food. "My brother tells me he is second in the harem?"

"Yes, he is in fact the imperial noble consort of the harem," Rehema said proudly. "It's the least I could do for him since before I was empress, he was loyal to me."

"And yet that didn't satisfy you enough to assign him to be the emperor, instead," Adanna objected, with a mouthful of food.

There was an awkward pause of a silence. Ekon now narrowed his eyes at Adanna. Omari froze out of fear with how Rehema was going to react, sweat trickled down his forehead.

Adanna suddenly burst out laughing, "My god can any of you take a joke. Look how serious you all are. I'm only teasing. I know of course you share your first-born child with the current emperor."

Rehema tried to stay calm, her smile almost fell after Adanna's comment, but she managed to remain neutral with slight smirk.

"Your sense of humor is very bold, Adanna. A good asset but I would be careful with it as well," Rehema said.

Omari felt the room ceiling was falling on him. He could hear the hint of annoyance in Rehema's voice. Tano was watching the whole exchange and could not help but smirk. It was nice at times to see things not go so good for Omari.

"Hey, there is no need for everyone to be so uptight. Alright," Adanna poured herself some wine. "Let's have a merry time before we end up having to go back to doing boring state affair tasks."

Rehema bit the bottom of her lip. Omari noticed she hasn't touched her food the whole time, and Ekon had not spoken a word. This was not a good sigh.

Omari had to come up with something quickly to tense things down. Grabbing his wine glass, he held it up to make a toast. "To unity and the greatness of the African lands!" He declared.

His sister glanced over at him, still chewing her food. She then nodded and brought up her wine glass in the air, "Yes, to unity and the greatness of the African lands."

Rehema slowly picked up her wineglass and nodded, raising her glass up, Ekon followed her as well. Then they all then placed their wineglasses back on the table.

Rehema finally then took a little bite of her food. Omari was nervously shaking his leg. "My big sister and the Dalli family will be excited to know in the future if we will share an offspring together, your majesty," Omari butted in.

"Ah yes. A child that holds the blood of the Dalli and the royal family. That would indeed be a wonderful thing," Adanna agreed. She finished eating the final remains on her plate.

"I'm planning for another child, soon. Maybe by the end of this year, I could be pregnant again. Hopefully, the future holds the best for all of us," Rehema concluded.

Adanna and Omari both now stood up, the time for lunch and the meeting was over. Omari looked over at Rehema's plate. She barely ate anything. Ekon finished all his food, not saying a word this whole time.

Rehema stood up then with, Ekon walking behind her. She went to the exit her dress flowing behind her. Omari and Adanna kneeled, and said, "Farewell to her majesty," in unison. Rehema smiled over at Omari and placed her hand on his cheek, as he was kneeling in front of her.

"I will see you soon," She simply said looking down at him, and then left the two siblings, exiting the state dining room, with Ekon behind her and servants following her tale. Omari and Adanna rose together now only them two in the room along with Tano.

Omari glanced over at Tano and looked at him with annoyance. "Call the guards for my sedan," He snapped at him. Tano nodded, leaving the room to do so. Omari than turned to his sister.

"Adanna," He exasperated. "Why did you have to say that."

"Say what? I had a good time and joked around," She replied. She then walked outside with Omari tailing behind her.

"We have to be on best behavior with her majesty. She won't give our family promotions and rewards if you have an attitude."

"So, kiss her ass? My attitude was perfectly fine." Adanna puffed.

"Adanna! Becareful what you say," Omari looked around worriedly. "Bad mouthing will get our heads spilled."

"Don't tell you getting soft because she put you in second place in the harem. Remember Omari, your still second place, not first." Adanna then grabbed her younger brother face with one hand and brought it closer to hers. "We Dalli's are not second place Omari." She said boldly with wild crazy wide eyes. "I will say whatever I want about who ever I want. Empress Rehema knows that without our army's she will lose a great lost, so we have every right to demand for more than just second place."

Omari was squirming out her sister's grip, but she was holding on his face too tight. "Adanna-"

"You will get that hussy pregnant with a girl and knock down that embarrassment of a man emperor out of his seat. You will take out anyone in the harem that gets in your way, Omari am I clear?"

Omari stopped squirming and listened closely to his sister. He slowly nodded his head.

"What is weakness Omari?" She asked.

"A choice," He replied.

Adanna now smiled and her eyes relaxed. "Good. I have work to do now. But it was good to see you brother." She ruffled his head, messing up his shoulder length dreads.

Her carriage came in time. She waved at him, climbing inside and the carriage started to leave, and turning smaller as it rode away. Right then Tano and the rest of Omari's servant had came, along with the sedan to take Omari back to the Harem hall.

When the state dinner was over Rehema had retreated to her main office to finish up state affair documents, Ekon went along with her as well.

"She definitely has a smart mouth that one," Ekon recalled sitting in front of Rehema's desk.

"Yes, she certainly does, " Rehema exhaled, she was scribbling and signing documents on her desk, focused on the papers.

"Rehema," Ekon said in a dark serious tone. "You have to really be careful with the possibility of Omari being the father to of your children. The Dalli's-"

"I know," Rehema said slamming her pen down. "I know that if a child that shares the blood of Dalli will be a power grab for that family. But Omari has been so loyal to me and I don't want to break his heart, at the same time we can't cross Adanna over we need the Dalli army to protect grounds in North Africa."

She sighed and she laid back in her seat. She knew there was one thing she could do that would keep the line crossed between the Dalli family, so she wouldn't have to worry about them trying to overthrow her, but she also knew it shatters Omari's heart if he ever found out.

Later on, in the evening Addo was helping Sang-chul dress for his first meeting with the harem. Sang-chul was goging to meet and see who the rest of concubines were today. They were going to be meeting in the Emperor's room and Sang-chul was going to get the chance to introduce himself to everyone.

Addo helped him dress in light brown moccasin shoes, a silk baby blue and black hanbok, and a traditional gat hat to top it off.

"Wow, you certainly packed a lot of clothes from your home-land Sir," Addo said eyeing Sang-chul's outfit with satisfaction. "I think they will be impressed."

Sang-chul smiled shyly and they left the guest house and walked to the Emperor's house: the Graceview house, which wasn't too far. They arrived in fifteen minutes and Sang-chul could see other's going inside.

"No need to be scared Sir, remain confident," Addo told him. He guided Sang-chul inside linking his arm with his. They first walked down a short hall and then turned to left to be in the entrance of the emperor's official meeting room.

Inside the rectangle shaped room, a grand seat sat on a mini platform in far end of the room in the middle. Seats were lined on the edge of the room across from each other.

Sang-chul took a look at who was sitting on the black grand seat. A man wearing a fancy white agbada, along with zebra patterned loafers. He had long puffy curly hair in a ponytail, and had a handsome, calm face, with flawless brown skin. Sang-chul noticed he was wearing a long-beaded necklace, and several round golden rings on both hands of his fingers.

Sang-chul took a glance around seeing five men sitting in their seats, dressed in fancy attire as well. He noticed one man who was sitting in the first row, seemed to be smirking rudely at him.

Sang-chul went to the middle of the room, and kneeled with Addo doing so behind him, "Greetings to his highness," He said calmly, with a steady voice.

The emperor titled his hand and had his palm resting on his chin. "You may rise," He said calmly to Sang-chul.

Sang-chul stood up slowly and looked him in his empty eyes.

"So must be the new concubine who arrived when her majesty came back from her trip," He said. "I'm guessing from you attire and how you look, your home-land is the East-Asian lands."

Sang-chul nodded, "Yes. I'm very lucky to be here, and to be picked to serve her majesty Empress Rehema, who put faith in me."

"Is it true that you served a different Empress before?" A man in the first row said with sass. He had shoulder length dreads, two piercing on his nose, and light brown skin. He was attractive and striking but Sang-chul just felt something negative about him.

"Omari don't ask such personal questions, " The emperor snapped.

"It's alright," Sang—chul argued. "You are all now my fellow brothers who serve and love the same woman as I do. I have no secrets to hide. I was selected to be in Empress Fan Du's harem and never had the chance to serve her. I was given to her majesty, Empress Rehema as a gift."

"So, you weren't good enough for your first empress, a left over?" Omari smirked. Sang-chul heard little snickers and giggles from the other men in the room around him.

Sang-chul stiffened at first, and heat rose to his face. He felt anger rise in him but he calmed down, and took a breath. He couldn't let them now that they intimidated him, "Empress Fan Du has one of the biggest Harem's out of all of Pangaea. The highest noble men are catered to the most. Some of us with not much nobility have to work with our tears and blood to find a place in this world. A concubine who is only famous for their last name wouldn't know anything about that."

The room suddenly went dead quiet. Addo smirked proud at his master for being smart wit his words. Tano standing behind Omari slightly smiled as well. It seems like this new addition was a fighter.

Tano looked at the hands of Omari which balled in fists.

"Well, your hard work has paid off," Chike said. "We welcome you as a brother, and I as the father of the harem am emperor Chike. Now please make yourself comfortable and have a seat."

Sang-chul turned around to go walk to the back. Low ranking concubines sat in the back row. The highest-ranking ones sat in the front. The Emperor the highest of them all sat on his mini platform in the middle far end of the room.

Addo squeezed his left arm, as Sang-chul took his seat. He gave him a thumbs up. "You did good," He whispered to his master. "A good introduction with no shame. Ignore his highness Omari Dalli, he is nothing but a bitter man."

Sang-chul smiled feeling more confident.