Arta gradually opened her eyes feeling exhausted. Sunlight coming through the curtains of the floor to ceiling windows and illuminating the room. She did not have the energy to leave the bed and she was so sore. She remembered last night, what a long and pleasant night it was. She blushed remembering all the words they said to each other, the touches, kisses, and more.

She turned to see if Osman is awake yet. He wasn't there. Sadness washed over her. Where was he? She wanted to be in his warm embrace. She sat up in the bed, covering her naked body with a quilt she looked around the huge room but he was nowhere to be seen.

Her eyes filled with tears. The door opened slowly and Osman entered with a huge tray of breakfast. He was walking silently and carefully not to wake her up but when he saw her sitting on the bed he smiled, put the tray on the table, and walked toward the bed.

"Good morning my beautiful wife, when did you wake up?" and he bent to kiss her. But when he saw tears in her eyes he drew back and asked her looking concerned "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Did I hurt you last night?" he cupped her face into his hands, looking at her with concern.

"No, I'm alright. Don't worry."

"Then why do you look sad?"

"Why did you leave me? Couldn't you ask a maid to bring breakfast?"

"Oh, now I see what is going on here. You missed me." Osman smiled with pride.

"Oh shut up." Arta hit him on his arm and turned her head.

"Come on my love" he grabbed her chin and turned it toward him and kissed her on the lips. "I didn't want to wake you up. I knew how exhausted you might be. So I went to the kitchen to bring breakfast myself."

"Wearing just that??" Arta asked accusingly eyeing him from head to toe. He just had a robe on and he was naked underneath.

"What is wrong with it?"

"You are almost naked. You went to the kitchen among all those maids looking like this?"

Osman laughed "Are you jealous?"

"Don't be silly. I just think it is not appropriate for a prince."

"I even love you more now" he hugged her and pushed her back to bed kissing her all over again. He threw the quilts away and opened his robe. "You see how convenient the robe is." He placed himself between her legs.

"I'm too sore Osman."

"I know but it will go away soon, trust me." He whispered into her ears and kissed her neck.

They became one once more.

It was almost noon when they decided to finally have their breakfast.

"I missed the morning prayer. I have to go and meet Kabir. Need to ask him a couple of questions." Osman said when they were eating breakfast.

Arta did not reply. She knew he wanted to ask Kabir about Sultan's plans for his marriage.

After breakfast Osman changed his clothes, kissed Arta, and told her "Ask Nahla to prepare the bath hall, I'll be back in a few hours to bath together." Arta bit her lower lip and nodded.

After Osman left Arta wore a decent cloth and called for Nahla.

Nahla knocked and came in. A big smile on her face. She bowed and went to collect the breakfast tray.

She didn't say a word but Arta knew she was dying from curiosity. After all, it was a very private matter and she did not dare to ask anything from Arta.

"Oh come on Nahla, spit it out. You are killing yourself. What do you want to say?"

Nahla quickly walked toward Arta who was sitting behind the table and placed the breakfast tray once again on the table and sat close to Arta.

"Tell me E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g"

"Everything what?" Arta played cool.

"Aaaah don't make me beg you. What happened last night? ha?" she smiled and winked.

"Well, nothing special."

"Don't try to fool me!" She pointed at her with her index finger. "Everyone saw Prince came to the kitchen wearing just a robe and taking breakfast by himself. That had never happened before. Besides, you did not leave the room the whole morning, what were you doing all morning? And all night to be exact."

Arta laughed. She was enjoying this too much. Nahla was about to explode from curiosity.

"Oh please Arta. Tell me. I know what has happened, I mean everyone knows."

"So if you know then there is nothing left to say. You know what you know."

"Well I just need confirmation, tell me did you two did it last night?"

Arta giggled "Not just last night."

Nahla's eyes widened and her mouth opened. Arta laughed harder when she saw the look on her face.

Then she suddenly jumped and hugged Arta "I knew you two were perfect for each other, I'm so happy for you. Soon we should expect little princes or princesses then. Oh my God, I'm not ready for all this happiness." And she hugged her again.

Arta gently pushed her away "hey come on, not so soon. I don't want a baby yet. Let me enjoy my life for a while."

"I'm so happy for you Arta. I pray to Allah to give you peace and happiness."

"Don't make me cry Nahla. You are too kind."

Nahla sniffed and blinked several times to prevent her tears from dropping. She took the tray from the table and left the room.

Arta decided to take a walk in the garden. She needed some fresh air.

She went downstairs and told Nahla to prepare the bath pool in an hour.

"Do you want me to walk with you?"

"No, I prefer to be alone. Thanks."

She left the palace for a short walk in the main gardens.

It was a hot sunny day, the birds were singing and the sound of water coming from fountains and rivers had made the place very peaceful.

She sat on a bench in front of a big fountain and closed her eyes listening to the birds. She felt happy and satisfied.

She heard footsteps approaching her and opened her eyes. There was a servant in front of her bowing.

"Princess, this is for you." he extended his hand and gave her a letter.

"Who is this from?"

The servant bowed again and left quickly without any more words.

"Wait!" Arta stood up and followed him a few steps but he was out of sight quickly.

She went back to the bench and looked at the letter in her hand. The letter was sealed and there was nothing written on it.

She broke the seal and opened the letter.

"My dear princess,

It is time for some actions from you. We need your help. We have reliable news from inside the palace that soon there will be attacks on several northern cities. Since we don't have a strong army to protect and cover all the northern areas, we need to know which cities they have planned to attack so we can relocate women and children and prevent destructions as much as possible.

Any piece of information that you could get your hands on will help save thousands of your people's lives. The servant who gave you this letter will soon contact you again to collect information from you.

Save your people princess. I will soon come to your rescue.

Your humble servant

Abtin"

"What just happened? Why can't I have a peaceful day in my life? What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Arta thought to herself after reading Abtin's letter. She quickly placed the letter in her pocket and looked around to see if anyone saw her. luckily no one was around.

Her day was ruined and now she had to also think of something to do about this request. She cannot spy on her husband. But what about the people. She had to also help them.

She walked back to the palace. She decided to think about this later. This was too much for her to think about it now.

***

"Did you want to see me, my prince?" Kabir bowed in front of Osman.

After noon's prayers, Osman went to the sultan's office which was now his office, and called for Kabir to see if he knew about the arranged marriage that Arta told her last night.

"Yes, I knew." Kabir said looking confident.

"What is this madness? Does my father really want to bring a bride for me without even telling me? This is so wrong." He was so angry, shouting and pacing around the room with his hands lucked behind him.

"Many tribe leaders in Arabia have sent words to your father that they will not accept princess Arta as your wife and their future queen."

"I don't care what they say I will not get another wife. They must accept Arta eventually, she is and will be my only wife and the queen of Persia and Arabia. I will send a letter to my father right away. You may leave now."

Kabir shook his head and left the room. He knew that his letter will be useless because Sultan will not change his plans, Sultan has already decided who will be Osman's new bride.

Osman was writing the letter to his father when Samir and Ahmad knocked and entered the room.

"Are you alright brother?" Samir asked when he saw the furious look on Osman's face.

Osman stopped writing. "Well actually no, I'm not alright. My father is arranging another marriage for me, an Arabian bride. Probably the daughter of one of the tribe leaders."

"oh," Samir said "What about princess Arta?"

Osman shook his head desperately "I cannot believe my father. If I could, I would leave right away to meet him but I cannot leave so I'm writing a letter to him." He pointed to the letter in front of him.

"Is there anything that we can do for you?" Ahmad asked.

"No, I should take care of this myself."

"Did you figured out why the princess was upset the other day?" Ahmad asked.

"Yes, it's alright now. No need to be concern about that."

Ahmad was not convinced. He felt something is suspicious, but he did not say anything to Osman although he wanted to investigate more about it. He didn't know why but he felt something was not right.

***

Arta was sitting in front of the mirror in the dressing room combing her hair absentmindedly staring at her picture in the mirror. She did not realize Osman was watching her standing in the door frame.

He slowly walked toward her and stood behind her looking at her in the mirror. She noticed him and smiled. He grabbed the comb from her and started to comb her hair. No words communicating between them but they both were full of love and happiness at that moment.

Osman bent and smelled her hair, put her hair away and kissed the back of her neck. His kiss gave her goosebumps and she inhaled sharply and closed her eyes.

"Are you ready to take a bath with me?" he asked while continuingly kissing her.

Arta nodded.

Osman easily lifted her in his arms and took her to the bathing pool. He remembered the time when she was seriously ill and had a fever, sadness came to his eyes remembering those hopeless moments. Arta noticed the change in his mood.

"What is wrong?" she touched his face while she was still in his embrace going down the stairs.

"Nothing love, I just remembered the last time I carried you to the bath pool."

Arta's eyes widened "What? You never carried me to the bath pool before. What are you talking about?"

Osman smirked "Oh right you where unconscious. Remember you had a fever? I took you to the cold pool."

"What? I thought I was dreaming. You pervert." She playfully slapped him on his shoulder.

They reached the pool, Osman laughed and said "and I took off all your clothes by myself." He winked at her.

Arta was about to slap him when he passionately kissed her on the lips, put her down and started to take off her clothes while still kissing her.