Osman asked Samir and Ahmad to make the arrangements for his departure. He wanted to leave as soon as possible to be with his father. He knew that receiving this letter either meant that his father was severely ill and there was no hope, or he had already passed away. But he did not want to believe either of these.

Although he was still angry with his father for arranging another marriage for him without his knowledge, the thought of losing his father made his heart to pain. He did not want to think that he may be losing his father, not yet.

He hurried back to their chambers to inform Arta that they are leaving soon for Arabia.

He arrived and could not find Arta in the room. His heart started beating fast, he did not want to think that she had escaped again but he knew that it was always a possibility.

He rushed to the balcony to see if she is there. No, she was not there either. He was about to shout and call for Nahla when he suddenly saw Arta's lean and sorrowful figure sitting on a bench in the garden staring aimlessly at the mountains while touching her belly.

"Oh, my love" Osman sighed and went to the gardens to be with his wife.

Arta was so deep in thoughts that she did not realize Osman was standing beside her. Osman gently touched her shoulder. She jumped and turned her head and looked at Osman with a sad smile.

"You came back early."

"A bad news arrived from Arabia." Osman sighed and sat beside Arta.

"What has happened?"

"The sultan is ill and has summoned me to Arabia."

"Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that."

"So I came to tell you that we have to leave as soon as possible, probably tomorrow."

"What do you mean 'we'?"

"I mean you and me. We should go to Arabia together."

"You kidding, right?"

"No, why?"

"I cannot come with you to Arabia. I am a Persian princess. No one likes me in Arabia. Why would I go somewhere that I am not welcome? Have you forgotten your father's mission to remarry you to someone from your people? When my father-in-law has not accepted me as your wife what do you expect from others? Everyone gonna hates me there." Arta talked hastily and nonstop. She could not even imagine herself being in Arabia.

"Are you done talking?" Osman asked.

"For now, yes!"

"You are my wife, the crown prince's wife, the future Sultan's wife. No one can change that. And as my wife, you must accompany me on this trip. Besides I cannot let you stay here, it is not safe."

"Why? you afraid that I may escape again?"

"To be honest yes but also I cannot just leave you here and go to Arabia alone. You don't want me to remarry, do you?" Osman laughed.

"It's not funny," Arta said with a serious tone and looked away.

"Oh come on Arta. It will be nice to meet my family and my country. It will be like a new start for us. We can free our minds from all the bad things that had happened. Of course, I hope that my father recovers soon so that we can have some time to ourselves in Arabia."

Arta looked at him from the corner of her eyes and saw the pleading and excitement on his eyes.

"What if your people did not like me?"

"Then we will make them like you."

"When are you planning to leave?" She said without looking at him.

"Does it mean that you have stopped arguing and come with me?" Osman pretended that he was shocked.

"Don't push it Osman."

"Ok Ok! We will leave tomorrow morning. We should start packing." He stood up and offered his hand to hers. She took his hand and they walked back to their chambers.

***

"Oh my God! I still cannot believe that we are going to Arabia. I have missed everything so much. I'm so happy!" Nahla was over-excited when Arta informed her that she should accompany her to Arabia on this trip.

Now they were in Arta's dressing room to pack some clothes for the trip.

"No that is not suitable as well." Nahla told Arta when she picked up yet another dress to pack and showed it to Nahla for her opinion. She had no idea how she should dress and she did not want to dress so differently from others while they were in Arabia.

"What about this one? It has long sleeves" Arta picked up another dress.

"long sleeves but naked back. Nop that won't do either."

"FINE! Don't tell me that this dress is also a no. It has everything, a long skirt, long sleeves, and it covers me from neck to toe." Arta was getting tired.

"meeeh, it's ... well. It's fine I guess. But it's too tight and it shows all your curves."

"Ok, I gave up. I'll just wear Osman clothes." Arta threw herself on the sofa in the dressing room.

"That's not entirely a bad idea." Nahla laughed.

"That is not funny! I don't have anything to wear and we are leaving early in the morning."

"Don't worry. You have a few clothes that are fine to wear in Arabia and when we arrive there I'll prepare more clothes for you. Anyway, I don't think that you need many clothes since we will return to Persia soon."

"Yes, I know."

"I'll pack you clothes and things that you need. You go and rest. We have a long trip ahead of us."

"Thanks Nahla. I don't know what would I do without you!"

***

They were lying on the bed. Osman had hugged Arta from behind.

"Are you excited for our first trip together?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm stressed out. I don't even have a proper dress to wear. I guess no one is going to like seeing me with you as their crown prince's wife."

"You are wrong. I'm sure you'll be loved by our people. Despite what you might have heard we have very kind and hospitable people. We were at war with Persia for so many years and that is just normal for you to think that we are savages or uncivilized people. You will see for yourself that it is not true."

There was a long silence.

"I'm sorry Osman!" Arta said with a low and trembling voice.

Osman hugged her tighter and kissed the back of her neck. "Don't be. You know that I love you. I'll do anything to see you happy again, anything."

"I love you too. I cannot get this out of my mind that if I had not have escaped our child would be alive. My belly would have shown that there is an angel in it by now. I may have even felt his movements." Tears were falling out of her sad amber eyes.

"Shshshsh now. Don't think about it anymore. Inshallah, we will have lots of kids." Even Osman was not sure of it based on what the doctor had told him before that she may not get pregnant again. He did not want Arta to know that.

"I believe that this was God's punishment for me, for betraying you and your love."

"No don't say that. Allah is kind and merciful. There must be a good reason behind all this. I'm sure. Believe in Allah and he will guide your heart. 'Verily, along with every hardship is relief'. Now sleep, we have a long day tomorrow."

Arta sniffed and pushed herself into Osman's hug, which was the safest place she knew.

***

Osman had ordered Ahmad and Samir to stay in Persia and take care of things in his hopefully short absence.

"I wish you would have let me accompany you on this trip brother" Samir said to Osman.

Ahmad narrowed his eyes and looked at him with a wave of fake anger "Yes please take him with you, he is going to drive me crazy."

Osman laughed "Promise not to kill each other while I'm away."

They all laughed. Samir looked at Arta who was gracefully sitting on a horse next to Osman and was ready to ride. "Take care princess. I'm sure you gonna love Arabia."

Arta gave him a kind smile "You take care too Samir, see you soon."

Although Osman had insisted that Arta sit in a palanquin and not to get herself tired but Arta had refused to act like a spoiled princess also it was a long time since she had ridden a horse.

They left the palace with 100 soldiers to accompany them on their way to Arabia. As much as Osman wanted to take Kabir with him to Arabia, he refused to join them because he said that he had direct orders from Sultan to stay in Persia under any circumstances.

Osman could not trust Kabir. That was why he preferred to have him by his side when he was not in Persia. He knew that although he has given the governing responsibility to Ahmad, Kabir was not a person to listen to him and his orders if required and that was his major concern.

********

Hello everyone!

How are you?

Finally, I managed to write another chapter. Sorry for the delay. I'll still do my best to update as soon as possible but I must admit writing is challenging when you have a baby. Sometimes I have time to write but I cannot concentrate because my mind is with my baby :D

I hope you understand my situation and wait for the new chapters to come. I'm so thankful to you, who are still following this story <3<3<3

Take care of yourself in whichever part of the world you may be. 

XOXOXOXO

-N