Chapter 22

An hour later, Prince Adewale returned with the heart which was still slightly beating wrapped in a piece of cloth and he gently handed it to his mother.

"Good, oko mi, very good... You have done well." Commended the Queen as she put the heart into a small mortar. "Whose is this?" She asked.

"It's Bidemi's; we found her taking a piss at the back of the maid's hut."

"She will not be missed... I hope her body was properly buried to leave no trace behind." The Queen asked again.

"Beni Maami. (Yes, mother)."

"And your men, hope they are not still waiting outside my hut?"

"No, I've told them to go home and that I'll bring the portion to them once you are done preparing it."

"Good." She nodded.

"What next?" Adewale asked now.

"Time for the last and most important part." The Queen said and took off her blouse then untied her wrapper and the prince suddenly looked away and squeezed his eyes closed, then began to grumble like a child. Knowing how difficult this is for him, his mother placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and said, "Okay, let's make this easier for you. Among your five wives who do you like the most?"

"None of them appeals to me anymore since I have laid with them all." He answered.

"Okay then... Amongst the maids in the palace who do you like most? Who have you always hoped to lay with?" She tried again.

"Olabisi." Adewale answered.

"Why Olabisi?"

"She's chubby the way I like my women. She laughs a lot and I like her gap tooth."

"Okay then... I shall pretend to be her." The Queen said, stepped back and made some incantations. "Now son, look at me." She said in Olabisi's voice this time.

When the Prince hesitantly turned his head to look at his mother, he was in complete awe. Before him, stood Olabisi in all her glory and completely naked too with a smile on her pretty face. Letting his eyes admire her body from head to foot, he grinned lecherously, his interest now alive.

"Remember, you might enjoy this so much but you must not pour your seeds into me, son, you must not." The Queen vehemently reminded him in Olabisi's voice.

"Okay, maami." The eager prince answered, now taking off his agbada while his mother laid back on her bed after placing a small clay plate beside her. Quickly taking off his Sokoto (trousers), he got into bed with his mother. 

After collecting her son's semen, in the clay plate, the Queen returned to her normal self. She sprinkled a black powder on the semen then mixed it with her finger. "Now, sit down and relax and let your mother fight your battle. I shall go to the river myself and look for the baby."

The prince nodded and reluctantly sat down on the mat. Much to his disgust, he saw his mother turn the semen which had gone black from the powder into the small mortar then she took a small pestle and began to pound the heart of the maiden whom her son and his friends had murdered. After pounding it to a rough paste and saying an incantation, the Queen turned on her seat and placed the mortar before her son. Then she took the gourd of snake blood and handed it to him.

The prince frowned now as his eyes moved from the object to his mother. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Je. (Eat)." His mother told him.

"What!" The prince exclaimed in disgust, pushing the mortar and gourd cup away from him. "You don't expect me to eat or drink this! There's no way I'm eating a pounded human heart mixed with my own semen, not to talk of washing it down with snake blood! I can be many things, maami, but a cannibal is not one of them!" He strongly refused.

"Do you want to stay alive or not?" Asked the queen. "Besides, you only have to do this once! Eat this and save yourself from Osun's wrath. This is a very potent sacrifice and only higher spirits eat such, Adewale, instead of whining, just eat it. Do not forget that time is not on our side."

Sighing deeply but with a deep disgusted frown on his face, Adewale reluctantly sunk his five fingers into the mortar and when he brought the heart and semen paste to his mouth and took it in, he almost spat it out but his mother quickly clamped her right hand over his mouth while her left hand cupped the back of his head. "You dare not spit it out or you will destroy its powers and have to provide a fresh heart and another semen. Just be a man and swallow it if you can't chew it!" She stated.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Adewale let the chunks go down his throat with great difficulty.