You taste like Heaven, but God knows you're built for sin.

— Framing Hanley

Al Shafay

The song of rain is a lullaby seeping into his room at the fall of night. He reclines in his chair and listens to it with his eyes closed. It goes from a soft drizzle to the sky pouring yet he finds comfort in it. The arrows lie scattered on the table before him and the wound on his back stings and burns. Amidst the chaos in his life and within him, he's willing to grasp onto any moment of warmth and solace, no matter how fleeting.

"She doesn't want to marry you."

His conversation with his vizier plays in his head. It had been like a nail hammered into his skull.

"What does she say?"

"That she's not your slave, and if you consider her a price to be won, then you've lost already."

He knows her reasons. He's well aware the treasures and titles don't appeal to her. But it's something else entirely-- rather, it's someone else holding her away from him. It blazes a fire in his heart.

"She will marry me. I won't lose."

"But she's right, my son. You're not in a battlefield against her-- this is not a war for conquest. And she's not your slave. You're forcing her."

"No. She will come to me herself."

"By you making her circumstances desperate."

"I want to make her my queen. I want to do so by marrying her. What is so wrong about it?"

"You want to make her a queen by treating her like your slave. This approach, sayidi, is what is wrong."

He bites his lip between his teeth. If her lover wasn't in the picture, would she still be so adamant? If she knew his truth, would she still reject him? He remembers, but she doesn't. And if she's in oblivion to what he knows, she's kept in denial by the man she fancies. He wonders if she would still look at him the same if this blindfold was removed? If he who is holy turns all dirty, will she still name it love?

A knock at his door interrupts his musings. He opens his eyes and turns to it. Exhaling to calm himself, he goes to answer it.

It surprises him when he finds Noura at his door at the given hour, and in her given state-- soaked as if she had been standing in the rain. He frowns before composing himself.

"What do you want?" he questions, trying to keep his tone leveled and not give away his worry.

"Can I come in first?"

He stares at her and she parallels his look, appearing stubborn, unaware of the havoc she's creating within him. Her presence in the confines of his room will sweep him into another world-- dark and appealing. But restraining his thoughts, he steps aside and she gets inside.

He notices her studying his room. This is her first time in here. When she hears him coming behind her, she turns around. He walks towards the table and starts gathering the arrows to distract himself.

"How is your back?" she asks, and he scoffs mentally. Way to smoothen things out after stabbing him. She certainly needs his help with something, and he might know what. This makes his lips twitch upwards.

"Splendid," he replies, letting irony fill his words. "Although I don't think you're here to ask me of your artwork."

"I'm here to apologize for it."

He pauses and turns back to her, now smirking mockingly. "How so considerate of you. I wish if you'd have shown the same consideration before doing the damage."

Her gaze flicks away from him. "You threatened me. Need I remind you that not once?"

He makes his way towards her and she straightens. He stops and narrows his eyes suspiciously at her, his impatience growing to unravel whatever it is she wants from him.

"Now, sayidati, I couldn't be fooled twice by this innocence, for now I know you aren't such an angel."

She hesitates, seemingly pondering over how to word her request, before smiling at him-- sinfully, the kind that traps. It piques his interest at once.

"I need your help, Adam, and refusing me isn't an option."

He drags his tongue between his lips. Such authority in her voice, impressive. She must already think of herself to be a queen. It brings back memories of their childhood together.

"The Khalifa wants to marry me," she says, and he has to swallow back a chuckle at the information.

"I know."

"I don't want to marry him."

"I know that too."

"Adam." She inches closer and his focus on her amplifies. "You're going to help me out of it."

He lifts 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."

He raises his other eyebrow too. "Pray tell, what that might be?"

Any plan to deceive the caliph won't work, because he's the caliph she's standing against. Because she's in ignorance and he's in charge. There's no escape for her from him. But only if she knew.

"There's one way the caliph cannot marry me," she tells him and he grows eager to know her plan. Entertainment must await him.

"What way?"

"If I'm already married to someone else," she declares, a smile forming on her lips as if in triumph, stunning him.

"But you aren't."

"I don't have to be." She moves forward some more, burying her eyes into his. "You just have to make the caliph believe that I am, so he won't marry me."

The desire to laugh is too much. He has to bite his lip to help himself from grinning. But a chuckle escapes him and he shakes his head, clearly amused by the idea. But she remains stoic and composed against him.

"Such a compelling plan." He smirks in mockery. "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, mirroring him. "Or everyone for the record."

He tilts his head in puzzlement. "What are you talking about?"

"Your affair with the queen."

He feels as if he's punched in the face. Suddenly he feels the air leaving his lungs. No. This cannot be. Noura cannot have discovered anything about his relationship with Arwa. This will complicate things for him. This will cause him additional trouble to deal with. He cannot explain to anyone about it without revealing his identity if she opens her mouth.

How? He has always been so careful. How could Noura still find out? He searches her eyes and she lifts her chin confidently. His lips part in shock. She definitely knows. He can see it in the villainy of her expression. She chuckles at him in derision.

"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."

He feels his anger rising, his cool demeanor wavering as he growls, "You're threatening me?"

She raises a palm to silence 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."

His patience snapping, he leaps at her and puts a hand at her nape, pulling her to himself. She gasps before grinding her teeth as he swiftly puts a dagger to her throat. They battle with glares at each other.

"Who else have you told to?" he demands, feeling restless, but she decides to be ruthless and unnerving.

"Why don't you kill me and find for yourself when they announce it to the world?" she dares despite the shiver 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, close to losing control once more, before painfully restraining himself and exhaling slowly to calm himself. He cannot explain it to her no matter how much he tries. "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 your secrets or if any harm comes to me."

Her threat is meaningless to him. Yet what worries him is the enemy against him, and the weapon she now holds at him. If she decides to attack, he can very well lose the throne to the secret of his identity.

"Haven't I kept your affair with the general a secret? Is this how you pay me back for my kindness? You create mess for me," he hisses and she looks at him sharply in displeasure.

"Eskander and I have no affair," she denies.

"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, clearly frustrated as she murders 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."

His own frustration rises. What does he even tell this woman? How can he so easily be at her mercy? He finds himself helpless to her.

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

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

He fights her in silence, her eyes slashing him each time like her dagger. After a moment too long, he lowers his dagger, realizing he cannot win against her like this. She hurries to put distance between them.

"Didn't I warn you?" Adam speaks without removing his gaze from her, a bitterness in his mouth as he suggests, "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. Of course he would've like it, very much so. "How do I convince the caliph of an unreal marriage?"

"I've thought about it."

She warps her arms around herself. He doesn't miss the trembling of her body. Now when they're done with spitting fire and pulling daggers, he once more becomes hyper-aware of the state she's in, soaked and close in his presence, and cold as she tries to seek warmth in her own arms.

He goes to light a fire so she can warm herself and hopefully not get sick. Silly girl. She goes around roaming drenched like this with no concern for herself. No one should be seeing her like this either. Him neither. Does she not realize? He tries to keep his gaze down as he pulls a chair close to the fire for her.

"Sit here."

She obeys and he gets his cloak for her to cover herself, holding it out for her. She puts its on and he's grateful that she has obliged with him.

He then drags a chair for himself and set it a little away from hers, seating himself and leaning forward, locking his fingers between his knees and resting his elbows on them as his eyes finding hers and fix there.

"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. I only want you to convince him that it's true. You're his righthand man. He'll definitely listen to 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?"

He runs his tongue over his upper lip, grinning in amusement. She doesn't know the direction she's running in. Right into his arms.

"I definitely can. But let's be honest with me, you haven't thought it through, have you, sayidati?"

She shrugs nonchalantly. "Can it work?"

"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," he explains. "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."

He reads the unease on her features as she chews on her lips. She doesn't know he'll fail every plan she makes against their union. She doesn't know she's asking the devil himself for help. There's no running away from him and only one way: to surrender to him. No matter how much she goes around in this circle, she'll find him to be her end and her beginning.

"What if the testimony witnesses give is true?" she suggests another idea and the implication of what she says shocks him.

"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," he tells her, very clear in his words that whoever she chooses to bring between them, he already has a grave dug for him.

"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's life at risk."

He frowns, edging towards her, hoping she's going the direction he wants her to go in and not an opposite one. He has no desire of spilling blood along his way to achieve his desires.

"Who are you talking about?" he asks curiously, tersely, and she blesses him life with her answer.

"You just said it: someone whose life is guaranteed despite the risk," she says in a whisper. "You."

And the butterfly can flutter her wings all she wants, she has flown right into his net.

He just needs to play it cool, let her ramble, sort it all out for him herself, and maybe act surprised and innocent, a little resistant, so as to let her feel she has won. But the victorious one forever will be him. Like now. Like before. Like next.

Noura will become his queen. They will marry. They've reunited, but now will unite for life. His wish will be granted. He won't lose her again. He smiles in his head. Finally, his heart will find a home. With her.

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Ramadan Mubarak.

The introduction to Malika has been published. You can add it to your libraries for updates.

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