91. Deal (Patreon)

It was impossible to not be intimidated by Aaliyah-al-Ydaz, her whole existence exuded a royal aura. The Sultanah and her daughter locked gazes as Aloe knelt, not daring to look.

“I already told you what I told you,” Rani responded. “It is not my fault you created false expectations in your own.”

“Hmm~” Aaliyah-al-Ydaz hummed, the sweet noise nectar for the ears. “Perhaps you are right. You have not told her anything, have you?”

“What do you think, Aaliyah?” Even though Rani stood up with her chest out, Aloe could feel the emir’s uneasiness. Considering how she was faring way worse than her, the scribe couldn’t blame her.

“Right,” The Sultanah didn’t elaborate further and crossed her legs, the gesture coming out overtly salacious and graceful even when the woman’s thighs were thicker than Aloe’s torso. “Tell me, scribe,” Aloe jumped at being mentioned even when Aaliyah-al-Ydaz hadn’t said anything yet, “what do you do in my daughter’s court?”

Aloe took a deep breath; she couldn’t afford to stutter like she did with Rani.

“I am her scribe of commoners, My Sultanah.” The petite woman’s voice came out surprisingly smoothly.

“Nothing more?” Aloe could feel the Sultanah squint even if she had only a line of sight of her legs.

“I am afraid that is my only duty.”

“I see,” Aaliyah-al-Ydaz responded with apparent unconcern. “You may leave now; I have more interest in a discussion with my daughter.”

Aloe knew better than to talk back to the most powerful woman in the country, if not the world. The scribe stood up and bowed, and as she turned to walk away, she got a glance at Rani. The wariness in her visage made her skip a heartbeat. She had never seen weakness in Rani, and it was now overflowing.

Aloe rushed out of the room, fearing overtaking her.

No one talked to her as she left the audience hall, not even Rani’s soldiers, who seemed to be waiting for her. On a better occasion she would have waited for her liege, but as her hands and legs trembled, she rushed out of the palace with feigned tranquility.

“Oh dunes,” She puffed out all the air she had been holding since the audience and grabbed her chest. Her heart threatened to pop out of it. “That... that was something.”

She couldn’t even begin to describe the sheer intimidation that assaulted her, that rattled her bones and shook her body. The scribe expected the conversation to go on for way longer, but she was immensely grateful for that not being the case. The Sultanah’s presence alone was enough to throw her game off. A longer interaction would have broken her.

“Is it over now? Is that all?” Aloe whispered breathlessly.

As if the sands of fate had been aggravated by her words, someone talked behind her. “What is over exactly?” Aloe recognized that voice.

“Oh. Greetings, princess Fatima.” The scribe saluted the sultanzade who had ‘bought’ her aphrodisiac to the best of her limited capabilities. “I just so happened to have the pleasure to meet with your mother, the Sultanah.”

“Yes, truly a pleasure, was it not?” Sarcasm overflowed the princess’ mouth. “I can understand your current emaciated state, then.”

Perhaps it was the exhaustion from meeting the Sultanah, but Aloe had more difficulties reading Fatima’s expressions than she had a few hours ago.

“Would you require something from me, princess Fatima?” Aloe put on her most diplomatic mask.

“Who do you take me for?” The sultanzade led her hand to her generous chest in faux offense. “Of course I require your assistance. And you may know exactly why.”

After the shock of Fatima’s scare cleared from her body, Aloe noticed the irritation on the woman’s eyes, alongside forming bags and dry skin.

“Have you...” Aloe didn’t even know if she wanted to finish that sentence. “...been occupied all night?”

Fatima didn’t respond, instead opting to show the scribe a toothy smile. A gesture spoke more than a thousand words.

“How many of these bottles do you have?” The interest busted out of the sultanzade’s eyes.

Yup, hooked. Even if she had piqued the interest of a sultanzade, Aloe couldn’t afford to be careless with the promotion of her aphrodisiac. She doubted they would pay her a drupnarea for every bottle and she had to avoid monopoly.

“Not many I am afraid. It is a product of my own invention and besides being difficult to produce, I do not possess much time to elaborate it in the first place.” The intent to create scarcity was obvious in the scribe’s words. But it couldn’t be said she had lied. It was true she didn’t have much time to herself, and whilst the Grace’s Exaltation produced a lot of nectar by herself, there was only one in the whole world, so it could be justified it was difficult to produce. No untruths had left her mouth, only half-truths.

Fatima herself remained pensive, not speaking any further but instead keeping the words to herself.

“May I ask something, princess Fatima?”

“Go on,” The sultanzade allowed her and guided her to speak forth with a hand gesture.

“Have you already used up the whole bottle?” Wariness filtered through Aloe’s visage.

In a single bottle of aphrodisiac lay way more Grace’s Exaltation nectar than the single fingernail Aloe had first consumed. And that was almost enough to lead her to a pink-infused madness. She worried that Fatima’s entourage, especially the maid may not be able to recover from that.

“Heavens, no!” Fatima laughed. “Maybe a fifth between all of us, but not more. A teaspoon lasts more than enough for a person, though higher doses are... quite exciting.” The sultanzade bit the corner of her lip, eyes flaring with lust. “But you were right, Aloe Ayad. I cannot even imagine what would have happened if some of my girls had more than two spoons! Oh yes, they would be passionate, but they were already devastated when the effects faded out! They would have fucked themselves to death!”

The sultanzade’s humor proved too morbid for Aloe’s liking, even if the princess was enjoying herself greatly chuckling at her words.

“Anyway, you can guess why I wanted to see you.” Fatima approached Aloe and clasped her surprisingly muscular arm around her neck. “This aphrodisiac of yours cannot be hidden. Two bottles may be even more than enough. I can give you two more drupnarea if you promise me to not share it with other sultanzade.”

Aloe took a deep breath, mostly worried about the arm around her neck. Fatima felt way stronger than Naila, and she could already snap her easily.

“I am afraid I do not have two bottles in my possession.” Aloe lied.

She did have exactly two, but she wanted to save the last one just in case.

“Hmm~” Fatima hummed exactly like her mother did a few minutes ago. Whilst she was not as beautiful as her mother nor as similar to her as Rani, she did share her ebony hair. “New offer then, the two bottles for a fajatea, and you will not disclose any of this with more sultanzade.”

Aloe’s eyes almost shot wide open at the mention of a fajatea. It was the biggest coin in the country after all. Thanks to her dealings as a banker’s apprentice, she had seen drupnarea before, but never fajatea. Those big gold coins had the value of five thousand drupnars, let alone a camel or horse, with that you could buy a whole state! It was hard to not be tempted by such fortune.

“I already told you I do not-“

“Shh...” Fatima interjected and pressed her index finger on Aloe’s lips. It smelled sweet yet saltiness lingered on its touch. “Now, now. We both know you are not being truthful. I am not that stupid. Take that offer, would you?” And she put ever-so-slightly more force on her yoke.

If Aloe hadn’t met Naila or Aaliyah-al-Ydaz, she would have probably cried and begged for her life. But not here. Fatima wasn’t a grain as intimidating as the woman herself. Calmness made for better negotiations.

“I accept, only, under the terms that the payment is effectuated with coins smaller than drupnarea.” Otherwise, the fajatea would be useless to me. She left the last part unmentioned, not because it was offensive, but rather because it was obvious. A coin with the acquisitive power of a house was useless when dealing with everyday expenses.

The sultanzade playfully buffed and separated from Aloe’s neck, twirling around happily before stopping right in front of the scribe.

“Deal!” Fatima offered her hand.

“Done deal.” And Aloe closed it by shaking her hand.

“You can expect the payment to arrive in a box around this afternoon. I will likely not be there myself but offer the bottles to whoever I sent.”

“Understood.” The scribe nodded.

She had gained incommensurable fortune in a single instant, probably skyrocketing her to one of the wealthiest people in Sadina in liquid assets, yet Aloe couldn’t shake the feeling that she had somehow got scammed. As if Fatima had more to gain from the transaction than her.

As she no longer had a trading token nor reasons to interact with sultanzade, Aloe spent the rest of the day exploring the palace. Its beauty was something that needed days to be fully comprehended, not hours. Even as afternoon approached, Rani made no signs of life, which worried the scribe. Logic dictated that she was still in the audience hall or with her mother, but she was too afraid to check.

True to her words, Fatima sent someone to recover the aphrodisiac bottles a few hours after lunchtime. Her maid, Nasira, knocked on her door and presented her with a box filled with fajati, big silver coins. The chest was not only sizeable for a money coffer but also heavy. A fajati was equivalent to fifty drupnars, meaning a hundred of them were on the box.

Aloe was surprised when the maid poured the coins out on her desk, but once she asked for the aphrodisiac bottles, everything made sense. Nasira carefully wrapped the bottles and deposited them in the box, which she also locked. When Fatima told her to not tell no sultanzade about the aphrodisiacs, she hadn’t believed she would be this secretive about them.

After counting the coins and checking that, in fact, there were a hundred of them, Nasira made her way out of the room. This amount of wealth could no longer be considered savings, but a fortune. A well-paid commoner in the city would need to work for three years straight to get this much money.

Three years of payment.

The numbers almost lost their meaning. It didn’t sound as much at first, but considering more than ninety percent of that money went to plain survival, it made much more sense. To save up that much money – if a commoner could even afford to do that – they would need to work for thirty years.

It took Aloe a few hours to make the three aphrodisiac bottles.

The sudden influx of wealth almost made her pass out. What would happen if she sold more of her products?

The only thing that snapped her back to reality was the slow knock on her door. Aloe stood up and opened it, only to be met by an unknown maid with fair skin and blond hair. A rarity so great to see in Sadina that Aloe could confidently tell this was the first blonde person she had seen up close.

“Yes?” Aloe asked, partially disconcerted by the golden radiance of the maid’s hair.

“The Sultanah summons you.” The maid uttered words of utter desolation.