is your duty to see to her when she is ill!”

He narrowed his eyes. How dare she speak to him in that way! The Queen’s mother or no, he was the King!

“Go in there and see her, Aricin,” the mother of the Queen demanded. “Don’t you think, for one moment, that if she knew you were sick, Asya would do the same for you? Because she would and you know it!”

He was about to reply, to protest, but what she said caught him off guard. Would Asya come to him if he were lying in the royal chambers stricken with something that made him ill? He couldn’t fathom it, but then, ever since he fought with Nuala for the throne of their family, their ancestors, he couldn’t fathom anything or anyone else. One of the main things he wanted all his life was to be King and now he was, had been for a time. His mind spun. If anything happens to Asya, what happens to me, he wondered. Surely, I cannot return to the Pridelands. Nuala would never accept me, even if I am her brother.

For one moment an old memory flashed through his mind. His grandmother, the late Queen Kiara, was dying and he and his father went into the royal chambers to say goodbye. His mother had already taken his siblings in to do the same, so did his aunts Princess Kala and Princess Jia, along with their mates and cubs. They had all said their final goodbyes to the crème colored lioness and he and his father, King Chaka, were last.

Aricin had watched his grandmother speak to him and his father. They had watched her slip away. Then he watched his father nuzzle her, a tear sliding down his dark rich brown colored face and he, a young Prince and cub at the time, desperately stood up on his hind legs, placed his paws on the lioness’s cheek and asked her, no, begged her to wake up. But she never did. Tears streamed down his face as it sank into his mind that his grandmother was gone, that she was, as his father put it, now in the stars that filled the sky at night. She had died and it broke his heart, not to mention the entire pride and the kingdom.

He shuddered. The memory left and he stared at his mother-in-law, thinking. Was Asya really so sick that something could very well happen to her? Hadn’t he and Nuala almost fought to the death for the throne of the Pridelands until their father broke it up and sent him here, giving Nuala the future position as the next Pridelands leader and everything that went with it? Aricin knew that if their father hadn’t intervened when he did he would have probably lost two would-be successors.

The red King continued to look at Tosca and saw a fear in her eyes. Was it the fear of losing her eldest child, if she was as sick as she thought? If Asya died then one of her sisters would take the throne. He would have to marry her in order to keep their prides united. The notion of that caused his heart to sink. His stomach churned. Going through a marriage for political reasons one time was more than enough for him. He couldn’t stand doing it a second time.

He also knew that if he didn’t go and see his wife Tosca would never let him live it down and, for all he knew, she would send a bird messenger to the Pridelands telling either his father or his sister Nuala about what a bad husband he was to Jangwa’s Queen. He shook. Of course, he couldn’t bear either scenario and he knew what he had to do. Whether royal protocol demanded it or not it had to be done.

He looked at Tosca again and nodded firmly. “You’re right, Tosca, I’m sorry. I’ll go and see Asya.”

She smiled. “Thank you, Aricin.”

He smiled back, gently nuzzled her, turned and entered the den, bowing his head to the lionesses who called to him.

“Majesty…”

“Sire…”

“Good day, my lord.”

Even the young lions stood at attention. He smirked inwardly. He commanded respect with his mere and slightly intimidating presence. He liked it.

He entered the chamber he shared with Asya. From what he could see, she hadn’t moved. She was still laying near the wall on her side, her face to him. He approached and laid his paw on her head. Tosca was right. She was burning up.

He remembered one time as an adolescent when a Pridelander lioness on the hunting party had fallen ill and his parents sent for the shaman Rafiki. The mandrill came and checked on the ill lioness and reported that she was suffering a fever but would be fine in a day or two. He couldn’t recall Asya telling him if there was a shaman in the Jangwa pride or not. If there was no a shaman and if Asya was running a fever… He swallowed. His heart was racing. He was King, yet he had no idea what to do.

He looked down at Asya again. Her fur was glistened with sweat and her paws were twitching. Was she in pain? She was breathing; he could see that and was pleased. She was still alive. Tosca said it was time for another hunt, which meant that the hunting party would go out in the afternoon, but for now they would sun themselves on the rocks or lay by the waterholes under the trees in the cool of the shade. The younger lions… It hit him then. With Asya like this, he was fully in charge. He would give the orders in her place.

He looked at her one more time and slowly made his way out of the chamber into the main den. He approached Themba, one of Asya’s sisters. “The Queen is indisposed today. Can you go with the young males and patrol?”

The young Princess opened her mouth in shock at Aricin’s words. She wanted to protest, but to question him would mean questioning her sister. Her mother told her to always respect her eldest sister and her mate. They were the rulers. She nodded. “Yes, of course, Aricin, but tell me… Is Asya all right?”

What could he say? Could he tell her the truth, that Asya was sick? Would Tosca want him to? “She’s fine,” he said, hoping his voice sounded believable. “She just needs rest. The last few days have been hard on her, that’s all.”

Themba nodded. “Very well, we will fulfill your orders, Your Majesty.” She bowed her head and walked over to the young males. They looked to the King and bowed their heads. Then, with the Queen’s sister, they walked out of the den.

Aricin watched, pride filling him. He smiled and knew that everything else would be all right. He had to return to Asya. When she woke up he would have to tell her that he was taking the day off for her sake. Not because my mother-in-law inadvertently made me feel guilty for not wanting to, he thought to himself.

He entered the chamber and came up to her. Whatever she was suffering he found himself hoping it wasn’t serious. In truth, he wished it. He knew her mother would be devastated if anything happened to her. He lay down not far from Asya, watching her. His mind turned with thoughts, memories of the past, of his life in the Pridelands. Then one came. He allowed it to fill him and he smiled. The first time he came to the Jangwa Pride, the first time he met Asya.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

It had been arranged for him, maybe even before his fight with Nuala. But after the fight, after his father’s skilled timing, after he allowed his second son to recover from his wounds, King Chaka had taken him out into the Pridelands grasses, away from Pride Rock, for a talk. And in that talk the young Prince was told. His father knew a King in another pride far from the Pridelands, yet not far at all. Of course, it didn’t really matter. The bottom line was that Chaka was in contact with another ruler in another land and in that other land that other King had a daughter who would need a mate, preferably a Prince who was not in line to his family’s throne.

Well, Prince Aricin certainly wasn’t.

“You fought with your own sister for your family’s throne, Aricin,” said King Chaka grimly, shaking his black-colored mane in disappointment. “With that I fear you mean to threaten her, if not tomorrow, then sometime in the future. You cannot undo what has been done from the day your sister, Jelani, yourself, and Mohan and Jyotika were presented to the animals of the realm.” He looked at his son with hard eyes. “Nuala was and is the firstborn, Aricin, therefore the throne will be given to her and the first cub she has.”

Prince Aricin suppressed a growl. He gritted his teeth. “So because of the fight you’re sending me away,” he said. It wasn’t a question. He wasn’t stupid. This was why his father brought him out here. To tell him that he knew another kingdom that would need a King alongside its Queen.

Chaka didn’t nod to confirm but he didn’t say yes either.

Aricin tried to speak, to say something but couldn’t. It had already been done. He would be leaving the land of his birth. After a while he was able to say one word. “When?” he asked, not bothering to look his father in the eye because he knew if he did he would strike him, not that he wouldn’t deserve it. Aricin heard when and nodded stiffly. This was the second time he found himself hating his father.

Not long after his talk with Chaka a bird messenger from his soon-to-be new kingdom arrived and escorted Prince Aricin out of the Pridelands. The journey was long, but he, the son of both royalty and rogue, managed to endure. His escort did not speak to him in general, only to direct him to waterholes and places where he could hunt for food. The two slept out in the open sometimes and would wake early in the morning to start off again.

Aricin often wondered how long the journey would take. He even grappled with the idea of leaving his escort, return to the Pridelands and fight again with