Author's note: This is a fantasy about corruption in a fantastical world. The themes of cheating and reluctance are going to be present throughout the story. The protagonist will be gaslighted into falling in love. This is clearly just a fantasy, disconnected from anything that should happen in reality. This story can only be considered wholesome in my twisted little mind. So please, read with caution.
--------------------
The queen's anguished expression broke as she woke up from her slumber. The sun was low, and the light permeating through the grey windows seemed almost mournful. The queen's bedroom was in a small single palace surrounded by a garden of roses. Her courtesans lived in their own cottages, surrounding the garden of their queen.
Her nature did not allow her courtesans or her servants to sleep close to her.
She was one of the Peri, a sisterhood of rare supernatural desert spirits that had been given form by nature. Her kind were the very embodiment of various aspects of human joy and vitality. A spirit of fertility and love, Sultana was considered a rare beauty even among the vaulted ranks of her sisters. She was a spirit of nature, and she had always felt at home in a field of flowers and herbs. Powerful as she was though, she was still a slave to her nature. And so, her gifts always forced her to visit the human kingdoms. To live amongst the lovers of the world.
When the king, in his youth, had courted her and captured her heart, she had made him build a large garden, right next to the royal palace. Sultana's palace, in the middle of her palatial garden, had been her nest for almost a decade. She cared and loved her sultan. Like everything else around her, her magic had affected the sultan too. It had made him strong and bestowed upon him good fortunes and luck. Yet, like all men in Sultana's life before she met Sultan, he too had been unable to give her a child. The very spirit of fertility had opened her arms to take all that the sultan could give, and she had found him lacking.
The slow disappointment over the last few years had ebbed her cycles. The sultana grew restless, and yet her love was binding. It could not be broken, at least not by her own hands. It was in her nature that she would always be trapped by powerful men. And yet, her beauty ensured that she would not be trapped with a man forever. She knew that a change was coming. She was too valuable of a treasure to be kept safely forever.
Her sister Mira, a being of hope and desire, had already started appearing to her in some of her lonely moments. This is how it always started. Mira would come to the sultana, and tell her of suitors and powerful men of the world. Men who could handle a goddess like her. And so, she had started coming to Sultana for a few months now. Mira had bought her news of many suitors. She had rejected all of them. Sultana was still in love with her husband. She was always in love with her man. These periods of transition were always brutal to her soft heart.
In the haze between sleep and wakefulness, Sultana chased the dream as if she was running after something precious. Her anguish in her dream had been so lovely. She felt Mira's firm touch on her cheek and opened her eyes. She saw two of her big sisters, sitting on her bed, looking at her with quiet emotion in their eyes. Mira, her sister of hope and Sadira, her sister of dreams.
Sultana smiled.
"It is time, Suli," Mira said.
Sultana looked around her bedroom. All of her courtesan's and servants were absent. It was fortunate that the king was away. Mira only came to her when she was alone, away from the influence of her king.
He had gone to one of his neighboring kingdoms to accept King Horthgar's surrender. The fearsome warrior king Horthgar had been a bitter enemy of her husband. After years of skirmishes and battles between the two kingdoms, Horthgar was finally agreeing to a peaceful surrender. Sultan had spent the last month, away from her, negotiating the surrender of their. He due back soon. Sultana was looking forward to being with her king again.
"Time for what, Sister?" Sultana asked.
Both her sisters scooted closer to her.
"Today, I am not going to tell you about a suitor," Mira said.
Sultana smiled impishly, "Giving up already. You know my love for him is still strong". She tried to sit up, but found that her body was unable to move. Her gaze sharpened towards Sadira. "Sister?"
Sadira smiled as she bent down to kiss Sultana's eyes. "Your dream is not yet finished, baby sister," Sadira said. "Let me show you a dream of your future."
Unable to resist the strong magic of Sadira, Sultana felt herself fall towards a dream. She heard the firm voice of Mira say, "She needs this. He can keep her happy for many years. Maybe he can even seed her womb. Sultana is just too stupid to see it."
She felt Sadira's lips kiss her cheek and then move to her ear. "Dream of him, my little sister."
------------------
She woke up in her bedroom. The walls and widows were grey, just as before. Yet Sultana could feel an unexplained suppressed vigor in her heart. Her king was in front of her, and yet she could barely feel him in her heart. As she immersed in the dream, she struggled to protect her sense of self against this changed world. Her heart felt different, fuller, more joyous. Her garden was stronger and happier too, she could feel it. Everything was too clear, too different, too exciting. This was no dream, she realized. Sadira had really made her dream of her future. She struggled against the suppressed joy of her future self. Why was she hiding her emotions from her Sultan. She tried to focus on her husband's words.
The king was asking her to come to his court today. He was telling that he was leaving with a delegation for his new trade route in Horthgar's kingdom. She could feel the fierce joy that exploded within her upon hearing her husband's words. It almost overwhelmed her. She had not felt such joy in a while. If Sultana was in control of her body, she would not have been surprised to find tears in her eyes.
She heard her husband say, "Don't miss me too much". She tried to reply back, but she couldn't. Her lips suppressed a smile. She felt like a voyeur in her own body, helpless and under the control of this new Sultana of the future. She stopped struggling against the joy, she surrendered. The two Sultana became one.
----------------
"I won't miss you at all", she whispered under her breath as she put on her gold earrings. She always liked to dress herself meticulously, even though she didn't need to. Her magic always interfered and changed her dress, especially when she couldn't contain her emotions. But the act of dressing up always seemed too important.