Only a beautiful soul like hers would kiss the damned.

—

✵

He watches her play with one of the princes with a wooden sword. She has a liking for a that particular thing-- a sword-- he observes. Unlike the rest of the girls her age at the palace, busy with gentler games, she always wander out to where the boys are, playing with their toys instead. He doesn't know if it's because of her own interest or because of the boy she's always tailing around-- a boy about his own age.

"Can you give your sword to me?" she asks the prince. "I want to play with my friend now."

"Who's sword do you have?" he questions in return.

"Joojoo's. I don't have my own."

"Who is Joojoo?"

She points in his direction and the little prince giggles. "His name is not Joojoo. He's a prince."

"Like you?"

"Not like me." He puffs out his chest proudly. "My baba is the Khalifa. His baba is not."

Her eyes glitter with astonishment and curiosity. "So you'll be a king one day?"

He grins at her and nods enthusiastically.

"And Joojoo?" she asks and this time he shakes his head.

"He cannot be."

"The Khalifa wants to marry me."

"I know."

"I don't want to marry him."

"I know that too."

"Adam." Noura takes a step closer to him and his eyes seem to zoom on her. "You're going to help me out of it."

He arches an eyebrow. "If you think I can convince him to change his decision, then you're going to be disappointed, sayidati."

"I know that won't happen, that's why I've another plan."

Now both of his eyebrows lift in interest. "Pray tell, what that might be?"

The distant sound of rain and thunder roaring reaches her ears. In the tense environment of the room, it is the only soothing echo in her head. She wants to grasp every ticking second and prolong the calm moments before she brings the storm. The man in front of her is a hurricane in himself. He might very well sweep her and drown her if things go wrong. Therefore, she must be on her toes around him.

"There's one way the caliph cannot marry me," she begins, and his dark eyes sparkle with curiosity.

"What way?"

"If I'm already married to someone else," she announces with a proud smile and his eyes turn round in disbelief.

"But you aren't."

"I don't have to be." She takes another step closer, boring her gaze into his pupils. "You just have to make the caliph believe that I am, so he won't marry me."

Adam bites his lower lip to contain the grin splitting his face. Then he chuckles and shakes his head, as if she has told him a joke-- as if amused by her. But Noura remains stoic, unaffected by his behavior. In a while, she's going to lit fire at his feet and then he won't even know how he got burnt.

"Such a compelling plan." He mocks, smirking. "Mind telling me what made you think I'd help you in bluffing the caliph?"

"You aren't bluffing the caliph already?" She smirks back, equally as villainous as him. "Or everyone for the record."

He tilts his head, now appearing confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Your affair with the queen."

She watches the color drain from his face, bit by bit, then all at once as he searches her eyes frantically-- maybe looking for a sign of a lie. She lifts her chin, allowing him to take his time, and his lips part in shock but nothing comes out. Now is her turn to chuckle at him.

"I think this is a good enough reason for you to help me, no?" She crosses her arms. "As long as you comply, your secret will be save with me."

"You're threatening me?" he growls dangerously and she raises a palm to shush him.

"Careful, Adam. I wasn't scared of you before. I ain't now either. Don't think I've been a fool to come to you with no one behind me," she lies confidently.

And in the blink of the eye, he has his hand behind her neck as pulls her to himself. It's only a gasp that escapes her lips before she grinds her teeth when he puts his dagger at her throat. They glare heatedly at each other.

"Who else have you told to?" he demands.

"Why don't you kill me and find for yourself when they announce it to the world?" she dares, though the blade on her skin has her heart leaping out of her chest. She hopes he doesn't notice the slight trembling of her body. "Don't think no one knows where I am right now," she warns. "Anything happens to me and you're dead too."

"Noura," he grits, then exhales slowly, calming himself before speaking, "it's not what you think it is."

"I've seen enough to know what it is. I don't need to know more." She grips his wrist that's holding the dagger to her throat. "You cannot kill me, Adam. Al Shafay wants me. I'm sure the Khalifa won't be so kind to you once he learns of your secret or if any harm comes to me."

"Haven't I kept your affair with the general a secret?" he reminds her, as if having done a favor to her. "Is this how you pay me back for my kindness? You create mess for me."

She glowers at him. "Eskander and I have no affair."

"Spending hours late at night in his chamber doesn't sound so holy, now does it?" He scoffs. "Others might know him as your brother, but you can't delude me."

She digs her nails in his wrist, his accusation boiling the blood in her veins. Noura stragglers him with her eyes. "As if you and queen Arwa were busy worshipping God when I saw you two together. You claim to be loyal to the crown then what is this deceit?" She huffs out a laugh. "Remember when I asked you if the queen was beautiful? You told me you cannot be disrespectful to your master by speaking so blatantly of his wife. Yet you turn out to be a hypocrite yourself."

"Arwa married Yusuf bin Khalid, not Al Shafay. She hasn't cheated the caliph," he defends their case. "You know nothing."

"I know enough to assume that you're heinous, Adam," she spits in her rage. "Lower this dagger. I don't think you want another stab to your body."

After a long, fierce battle of their eyes in silence, he lowers his dagger and let go of her. She quickly moves away from him.

"Didn't I warn you?" Adam doesn't waver his gaze from her. "You could've married the general when you still had a chance."

"So the caliph would've beheaded him to marry me?" She clicks her tongue. "Wouldn't you've liked that?"

"What do you want from me?" He sheaths his dagger. "How do I convince the caliph of an unreal marriage?"

"I've thought about it." She puts her arms around herself. Now when the conversation is going in a favorable direction for her, she feels herself simmer down and become aware of her soaked clothes, a shiver running through her at the cold sensation.

Adam seems to notices it. Despite the disagreeable matters between them, he goes to light up a fire and drags a chair close to it.

"Sit here."

Noura obliges without any protest, and he fetches her his cloak, wordlessly holding it out to her. She takes it from him and puts it on quietly. If it wasn't for the cold she's feeling, maybe she would've refused his gesture.

Adam drags another chair and places it a little away from her, sitting down in front of her. He leans forward towards her, locking his fingers between his knees as his elbows rest on them, fixing his eyes on her.

"Tell me now, how does this plan of yours work?"

"If Al Shafay believes I'm already married, he won't be able to marry me then," she begins. "I only want you to convince him that it's true. You're his righthand man. He'll definitely listen to you-- believe you."

"And how am I going to do this? What prove do we have?"

"Fake papers and witnesses," she suggests boldly. "You can do it, can't you?"

Adam runs his tongue over his upper lip, grinning evilly. "I definitely can. But let's be honest with me, you haven't thought it through, have you, sayidati?"

She doesn't need to answer him, he already knows it. She didn't have enough time and there are definitely loose threads. But she has no doubt Adam will find a way to stitch the gaps. Noura shrugs nonchalantly.

"Can it work?" she asks.

"If you can take the blame of a few deaths upon your conscience, then maybe. It can delay the matters until Khalifa learns the truth. You know he won't rest until he finds out who it is you've married. If we fake it, the witnesses we produce in the court will pay with their lives for false testimony. If you actually marry someone else, it'll still be only a matter of days until the man is found and ridden of so the caliph can marry you," Adam explains coolly. "If you want to buy yourself some time, you can try it at the cost of some lives to be lost. But there's no escaping the inevitable. And besides," he straightens, "if he has been spying on you, he'll know of the moves you're trying to pull on him."

"You cannot guarantee me their lives?"

"I can only guarantee my own, given I too am involved in the scheme with you. Your plan might as well kill me if I'm exposed."

The hair on her body stand up in apprehension. She can definitely not risk innocent lives. No matter how wicked she becomes to save herself, she won't lose her principles or murder her heart. There must be another solution to the problem where she doesn't have to pay with lives for her ease. Noura chews on her lip, thinking.

And then, another candle goes off in her head, another plan forming-- darker than the last time. She swallows as she looks at Adam.

"What if the testimony witnesses give is true?"

His eyes widen in bewilderment at the gravity of her imposition. "You'll actually marry someone else?"

"I can't risk anyone's life by faking it."

"You'll still be risking the life of the man you choose to marry," Adam points out.

"Not if he's someone the caliph trust. Someone he cannot imagine to deceive him, so he's never endangered by marrying me. This way I have true papers and witnesses without anyone losing their life because of me."

Adam frowns, the deep lines on his forehead showing his worry as he edges towards her. "Who are you talking about?"

"You just said it: someone whose life is guaranteed despite the risk." Noura curls her finger, clutching his cloak tightly to her body. "You," she whispers.

He freezes, staring at her as if he hasn't heard her right-- as if she's unreal. Noura waits for him to say something, but when he doesn't, she continues.

"It'll be only temporary, until these flames burn out," she says, trying to convince him to agree. "We'll part our ways then and no one will ever find out. No one has to know a thing-- the queen neither. This won't affect your relationship with her. I won't come between you both," she rambles on.

"Do you know what you're talking about?" he finally cuts in. "You're rushing things."

"No, I'm not," she stresses stubbornly. "I told the Ameer that the Khalifa cannot have me. Now who knows if I end up in his court this very next morning."

Adam disapprovingly glares at her. "Is it always necessary to run your mouth this insolently?"

"Everyone here provokes me."

He blinks, still half lost.

"Does anyone in the palace know your identity?" she asks. "Your complete name or your family?"

"None who's an issue to me."

"Perfect. Then you're a save choice. There can be a thousand Adam in the kingdom and no one will ever doubt you," she cheerfully declares. "Understand that I've no desire of marrying you, but my circumstances call for desperate measures," she admits blatantly and he scowls at her statement.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes." She drags her chair closer to his. "Adam, I don't have time. Do you know when the caliph plans on marrying me?"

"I don't arrange marriages at the palace, sayidati," he retorts sarcastically.

"It can very well be tomorrow," she voices out her concern, ignoring his attitude. "You've to do something for me before that."

He throws back his head and covers his face, not replying. Noura anxiously fidgets with her sleeve.

"Adam," she softens her tone, "please."

"Refusing you isn't an option, is it?"

She doesn't say anything. He lowers his hands from his face and looks at her. She can either be sharp as a knife or gentle like a flower, depending on what the situation demands. But she won't give up-- she won't bend to anyone. That much is certain.

"How sooner do you want this?" he asks, and she comes alive. He has agreed to her. Noura happily grins.

"As soon as possible," she utters urgently. "Tonight?"

"Not possible."

She leans towards him, restless again, half out of her chair in her distress. "Why not?"

"Because I'll need time to make arrangements."

He turns his gaze towards the fire, staring emptily into it. But the black halos of his orbs shine where the glow graze them, the devilry dancing there showing her he's thinking.

Seconds tick into minutes, and minutes into lingering moments before he finally turns back to her. "I cannot kill you, Noura, but I won't hesitate ending any other life who finds out about my relationship Arwa," he warns gravely, speaking meaningfully. "I can take any peril upon myself, but I won't tolerate any harm coming to her. So if there's really someone you've told about us to, they're going six feet down the ground."

He's met only with her silence, and she supposes that's enough for him to interpret her earlier lie. Despite the curiosity of what has been going on secretly between them, she's in no position to question him. Noura cannot believe she's going to marry a man already belonging to another woman. Guilt and dismay both claw at her bones.

"I know you like the general," Adam says and she narrows her eyes at him.

"Don't ask me to forget him. I've no power over my heart, just as you."

"If we're to marry, I'll expect you to at least respect the sacredness of the bond. Don't run an affair with him behind my back. As long as we're together, stay away from him."

She scoffs. "I can say the same about you and the queen."

"I've no problem agreeing."

His instant affirmation surprises her. But having not much options, she finds herself accepting his condition.

"Alright then."

Adam nods in appreciation. "I'll send a messenger to you when everything is ready."

"How long will that take?"

She doesn't want to be pushy, but she wants to secure herself. The sooner is the problem resolved, the better. Whatever awaits afterwards will be dealt with later on.

"I'll leave at midnight in hiding," he narrates to her the plan. "There's a court nearby. I'll request them to prepare urgent nikah (marriage) for us. The papers and the witnesses need to be ready before you get there."

"Why can't I leave with you?"

"Because if there's really someone who's spying on you, not just the caliph's man but any of the general's men keeping guard, it'll blow our cover."

Then, another thought glitches her mind. She looks at him worriedly. "And if Eskander finds out about me being married?"

"I'll try to keep it a secret. The Khalifa won't expose the woman he himself wishes to marry."

She heaves a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Go now." He stands up and she does too. "By the break of dawn, a man named Daud will bring you to me."

"And my guards?"

"They'll be taken care of."

Noura swallows thickly and nods. She gives him one last look, the man she declared as her enemy soon to become her husband. The thought shakes the floor at her feet.

Without waiting another minute, she leaves his room, her heart going wild with anticipation. In a few hours, her life is to change forever.

✵

Adam and Noura, yes or no?

Did you see it coming?

Your thoughts on it?

My summer break has ended and my college is reopening. Updates will have to slow down so bear with me.

Keep sharing your love. Sending you all love back.

for snippets/teasers of the book, check out my Instagram account:

✵