Inside Out by Emem Bassey

Author:Emem Bassey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy romance, nigeria, royalty, african authors, african romance, kiru taye, spoilt princess
Publisher: Love Africa Press

12

This is Gossip. My eyes are bulging from all the engrossing drama flying around. Then again, this is why I’m telling this tale.

A story isn’t worth much if it’s covered up and preserved. So don’t judge, just enjoy.

At this moment, two princes are struggling through the exact emotion. Well, not entirely the same because Prince Ekong is engaged, and his issue is more complicated than Prince Onen’s.

Anyway, we shall come back to the princes, but right now, let’s visit Nkoyo at the Atam palace and see how she’s faring after a couple of days in casual clothes.

It is going quite well.

After she searches for the queen to express her gratitude for the clothes, she is told that the queen and king are away. Therefore, despite the speculative looks given to her by the handful of palace workers, she tours the court, and her first port of call is the kitchen.

In her father's kingdom, Nkoyo never ventures into the kitchen unless to give the cook grieve. It isn’t that she doesn’t know how to cook. She does. An Efik woman who doesn’t know her way around the kitchen is regarded as a complete failure or an alien.

Nkoyo created her own ideal direction by being aloof to the traditional norms expected of a woman. Her mother would have been remiss in her duties if she hadn’t taught her how to cook. Nevertheless, Nkoyo decides her future daughter will be instructed this compulsory norm, but not from her. A professional cook will be employed for the purpose.

Therefore, for about two years, Nkoyo stayed away from the kitchen, purposely shutting her mind from the urge to create culinary masterpieces ingrained in her from an early age. She regards cooking not as a woman’s pride but as something beneath her as a royal and only fit for paid workers.

Discovering the Atam palace kitchen does not magically turn her thoughts around as one might hope. Not Nkoyo. Instead, it serves as an edge in her struggle for escape. You read right. Nkoyo is still bidding her time and waiting for the perfect opportunity to flee from the palace.

On day five, after the arrival of the casual clothes, Nkoyo is touring again. Impressed at the vastness of palace premises, she saunters into the backyard when she hears the queen’s welcoming voice.

“Nkoyo, you came at the right time.”The backyard looks like a madhouse. Blackened pots, used basins, firewood, and a host of ingredients for a very sumptuous meal dot the vast space.

“Your majesty,” Nkoyo breathes in shock. She is momentarily unable to move a step. This immobility is caused by the sight of the queen dressed like a peasant, elbows deep in work with other local women. If she had not spoken, Nkoyo would have just breezed past without realizing the queen’s presence.

“Don’t look so shocked, girl. We need help with the vegetables.” The queen burns the hairs off a mighty chunk of cow skin over a blazing fire of firewood before pulling it out to scrape with a dull-looking knife.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.