Princess Sultana's Circle

screams coming from
the tent of the women awakened us. When our wives went inside to
investigate, we heard more screams.”
    With his free hand, Ahmed
gestured toward Taher, Rashed, and Shadi.
    “ These young men came
running from that tent, a place forbidden to them. Shouts from
within called out for us to capture the intruders.”
    He shrugged, “And, so we
did. How could we know the intruders were our own
nephews?”
    He nodded in the direction
where Nura was standing. “Nura will have to tell you what happened
inside the tent.”
    Nura motioned for me to
come and stand beside her. With grim determination, I slowly walked
across the room and linked arms with my sister. Ali gave me a
menacing glare that I ignored.
    Nura tried to explain.
“Sultana, Sara, and I have witnessed a most horrifying sight.” She
nodded toward her nephews, “These young men whom we all love, were
raping a woman. We saw the attack with our own eyes.”
    I stared at my nephews in
utter contempt. Ali’s son, Rashed, was smirking! Dunia’s son,
Shadi, appeared to be enraged. Of the three, only Taher looked
ashamed. His face was red, and his chin was hanging against his
chest.
    Nura continued. “Not only
that, but in their haste to run away, these nephews of ours pushed
and shoved their own Aunties! Poor Sara was knocked to the
ground.”
    This was the first Asad had
heard of this. Before I had the opportunity to tell him that Sara
was unhurt, Asad roughly pushed Taher aside and ran from the tent
to look for his wife. Poor Tahani burst into tears. Dunia collapsed
against Haifa.
    “ Who was raped?” Haifa
asked.
    Nura shrugged, “I do not
know this woman.”
    I offered, “A woman by the
name of Veena. She is one of Dunia’s maids, I believe.”
    For the first time, Shadi
spoke in his own defense. His voice was abrupt. “This woman does
not work for my mother. She belongs to me.”
    Dunia looked up. “Shadi is
right. The woman is his.”
    Shadi’s expelled breath was
noisy. “I bought her when I was in Pakistan. She is mine to do with
as I please.”
    My stomach plummeted. From
past knowledge of Ali and his sons, I knew that some of my nephews
often traveled to Thailand, the Philippines, India, and Pakistan
for the purpose of buying time with young prostitutes. But, this
was the first time I had heard of any of these nephews actually
purchasing a woman to bring her into our Kingdom as a sexual slave.
Certainly, such a thing is not uncommon in Saudi Arabia, and I knew
too well that a number of our cousins, such as Faddel, made a habit
of such activities, but none of our own husbands or sons had yet
descended into such moral decay. At least, not until
tonight.
    I stared at Shadi in utter
loathing. So! My own nephew was a man who would stop at nothing to
satisfy his lust!
    At this new information,
our husbands began to show a certain amount of
discomfort.
    Kareem released his grip on
Shadi.
    Ahmed dropped his arm from
Rashed’s waist.
    Instantly, I knew what our
men were thinking. Had Taher, Rashed, and Shadi entered the women’s
tent, which was strictly forbidden to them, and attacked one of our
female servants, then they would have seen cause to punish the
young men. But now that they had learned that Shadi owned the woman
who was being attacked, the situation was suddenly viewed in a
different manner, no matter how offensive the attack had been. In
their eyes, what had happened to Veena was a personal matter
between a man and his woman, and they had no right to
interfere!
    Seeing the indignant look
on my face, Ahmed said, “Shadi, the three of you were wrong to
shove your Aunties! Each of you will apologize.”
    Shadi’s thick lips were
tight from anger.
    “ Yes,” Dunia said, “I
cannot believe that a son of mine would shove my own
sisters!”
    I turned back to stare in
contempt at Dunia. My sister was obviously relieved that our men
were now focusing their attention on her son’s manners, rather than
on his criminal conduct.
    “ Of course, I apologize.”
Shadi said in a sullen tone.
    Ali nudged his
son.
    “ And, I apologize, also.”
Rashed said with a strained smile.
    Although too embarrassed to
look into our faces, Taher too mumbled an apology.
    At that moment, Sara and
Asad came into the tent, and Sara reassured us that she was
unhurt.
    “ Now, apologize once more,”
Ali encouraged, “Your Auntie Sara was nearly injured by your brash
act.”
    All three young men quickly
made their individual apologies to