- Laith Taher 31
still alive. How lucky they are, he thought. He was only ten
and the concept of death was too much for him to grasp.
His mind could not accommodate the idea of losing
someone dear forever and he felt helpless like a tiny
creature facing the undefeatable monster called death.
“Are any other dear people going to die, Mother?”
he asked.
She replied, with her eyes full of tears, “No, son.”
He said, “I do not want any of my loved ones to
die...”
So, Matthew was left fatherless, and kingship was
not going to save him from that misery. Wenonah was
deeply grieved by the death of King Kendrick, just like any
wife losing her husband. Besides, he was the man who
turned her from a miserable slave to a free queen. Yet, what
she feared the most was that powerful men in the kingdom
might plot against her son and could assassinate him
anytime. Those men whom King Kendrick had appointed
as guardians might want the throne. She did not know them
at all, so how could she rest assured that they were not
going to take away her son’s life and throne?
“You are the king now, Matthew. I want you to be
as invincible as the sky. I want you to act like a king and to
strike fear into the hearts of everybody. I do not want you
to be sad about King Kendrick for long. You have a great
kingdom to rule with care and focus,” she said to King
Matthew who looked at her with utmost attention.
She added, planting her ideas in her son’s head,
“Always remember that you are the king, and kings do as
they wish. No one may question them.”