04 Prince

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You laughed like a metaphor I've been trying to write down for years.

Rudy Francisco

Him

The months of separation were years of eternity. The longing for her burns in his bones. Each day was the day reason no more mattered. Each second he wanted to run back to her. Her arms are his resting place. He hasn't found solace since forever. Her eyes are his salvation. He hasn't been alive since their departure.

The color of henna on her hands stabs his heart. He seethes in mad fury. How can she give his place to another man? Which man would dare to even glance at his woman? To waste lives and spill blood isn't what he desires. But if heads have to fall then be it so, but none shall be spared when she is involved.

"Tell me, zawjati (my wife), in whose name do you wear this henna?"

She gasps and he loosens the dagger against her throat, allowing her to tilt back her head and let their gazes collide. Something between them explodes. Something catches fire. He melts like hot iron, he burns, he's ashen to the wind. He seeks rebirth in the vehemence of her blazing eyes.

"Adam," she utters in a stunned breath, and he smirks underneath his mask.

"As it should be Adam alone for Noura, always. Always."

Her

Those eyes of his are murky nights. Those eyes of his traps of darkness. She'll roam there and be lost. She'll still let him be her hero than a villain. How he disarms her. How he tangles her intellect into a mush. She can but only stare into those black orbs she had been yearning for ever since.

He flicks the dagger away from her throat and his fingers replace it upon her neck, applying gently pressure to hold her head against his shoulder. Noura remains motionless, letting him do his way with her, not fighting back like once upon a time. It's different now than then. He has long ceased to pretend and she's still yet to learn.

"What is this arrangement for?" he asks, an almost growl escaping him, and she shivers against him.

She cannot touch him because of the henna on her hands, keeping them away from him, and his arm that has been encircling her waist pulls away to grasp her below her elbow where the henna is not painted.

"Why are you wearing this, Noura?"

She wants to step away. She wants to answer. She wants to question him for putting her through the torment of separation. But her heart wants to forget all the grief and stay in his arms. Her heart begs to forgive his sins and take him into her arms. Her heart likes the folly.

When she keeps giving him the dazed look and doesn't say anything in response, it only seems to add fuel to the flames in his eyes and he releases her neck. Spinning her around and holding both her wrists in his fists, disregarding the henna staining his skin, his presses her palms to his chest, dragging them down and wiping them clean against the front of his cloak. Noura gapes at him in disbelief.

"Adam."

"Keep saying my name, and I might spare the life of the imbecile who thinks he can marry you."

She tries to pull away. But he doesn't let go. She begins to struggle with him and it only increases his agitation.

"How did you get inside my house?" she demands, finally registering the reality that after months of waiting for him, he actually is in front of her and her mind isn't playing tricks on her. The many emotions that suddenly surge in her heart frustrates her. She doesn't know whether she's happy to see him or upset to have been forgotten by him all this while. That a lie had to bring him to her or he still wouldn't have come back to her. She suddenly feels angry with him.

"You weren't really planning on getting married, were you?" he demands instead, disregarding her query. "Noura, I'm still your husband. I haven't divorced you. How can you?"

"Let go of me!"

"Who is he?!" His tone goes harsh. "Let me put an axe in his skull to solve the problem."

"The problem is with you, siayidi!" she retorts even harshly. "You come to me for the fear of another man, not in the name of our marriage. It didn't mean anything to you. It shouldn't bother you now."

"It means everything to me. You mean everything to me. We're married for life, habibti. None of us leaves the other."

"Tell that to yourself. Because you already left me."

"Never." He tries to pull her into an embrace and she pushes against his chest, flattening her forearms against it to resist. "Don't do this, hayati (my life)."

"This has all been your doing, not mine."

Before it can escalate any further, Roya's voice comes from behind Adam, startling her. "Let go of the lady, or my sword will pierce you through and through."

She doesn't know who he is that she's threatening, and Adam doesn't even budge, not bothering to glance in her direction and take his eyes away from Noura's.

"Fine then, die if you wish," Roya declares, and Noura knows she won't hesitate with her sword-- she's trained for it. The words escape her mouth on their own.

"He's my husband!" She stops her guard, shuddering at her own exclamation. "Lower your sword, Roya."

"Good to hear you admit it," Adam remarks smugly.

"Shahzada Adam (prince Adam)?" Roya's takes a staggering step back. "A thousand apologies, shahzade."

Adam pulls down his mask and for the first time she gets to look at his face-- skimming those defined masculine features. If anything, they've only become more attractive-- appealing to her like a forbidden temptation. Or maybe the time away from each other has added to the charm-- it's luring her to him. She blinks to get out of his spell.

"Who's getting married here?" he asks again and Roya looks at her in bewilderment before replying to him.

"Eskander agha."

Adam grows murderous as his gaze snaps to her, charring and relentless. "You're marrying Eskander?!"

Roya gasps loudly and covers her mouth, a horrified expression showing her dread at the assumption. "God forbid! How can she marry her brother? She's your wife, shahzade."

"What's going on here?" He directs to Noura, his eyes and tone sharpening. But she keeps her lips pursed and gestures for Roya to leave them alone. When she's gone, Adam once more reaches for her but she brushes him off. "Noura, wallahi I'm going out of my mind."

"Only now, Ameer Adam?" she mocks, smirking, dying little by little inside. "I went out of my mind when you left me. I went out of my mind worrying for you when you were dethroned. I went out of my mind at the thought of anything happening to you. I was so sure I could not live if you suffered any bit. But I suffered and you lived. Then why are you here now, sayidi? You don't want me to suffer any more, or is it the beginning to a new suffering?"

"Stop it," he shushes her, scolding gently. "You will kill me, azizi. I've already died enough. What life remains lies in you for me. For God's sake, don't do this to me."

"All that happens is what you desire. It never has been up to me." She smiles ironically. "Then what scares you now? You come here to stop a wedding. You don't ask me why, Noura? You don't consider if you've broken my heart. You ask: who is he so I can kill him? You don't consider if you've killed me. You ask me not to do this to you. You don't ask me: are you happy, Noura?"

"Noura--"

"You do not love me, Adam."

She tries to push back her tears but they fall. She tries to rub them off and hide them but she fails. He's once more struggling to pull her into his arms and she fights him back, trying to push him away. But he clutches her arms and she hits him on the chest, a sob escaping him.

"If I've known love, I've only known it through you."

"Liar," she accuses weakly. "Let me go."

"Let me explain."

"You're twenty months too late for that."

"Let go of my daughter!" someone yells. She jolts and turns in the direction. So does Adam. Her mother runs towards them in haste and worry, Eskander close behind. "Who are you and how did you get into my house? How dare you grope me daughter?!"

"Maman, wait!" Noura hurries to stop her but her tears and resistance sure have give her mother the wrong impression.

Adam releases her and Noura steps in front of him in defense. But Eskander saves her the trouble when he catches up with their mother and holds her back. "No, maman, stop. He's her husband." He gives Adam a brief, wary glance. "Ameer Adam Al Kurdiya."

Adam tips his head in greeting towards her mother. "Salaam."

She watches him shell-shocked, as if seeing a ghost, her eyes wide open. Noura swallows dryly, her gaze connecting with Eskander who gives her a subtle nod in assurance before coming forward to place a hand on their mother's shoulder.

"Maman, I invited him over."

"You what?!" Her head snaps towards him, then back at Adam. "What for?" She glares at him, and Noura tries to block her field of vision, as if her frame could hide that behind her.

"For the wedding," Eskander answers, appearing undeterred and calm.

"For me," Noura adds meekly.

Now her mother's glare directs to her. "This man is not welcomed here, Nour."

"He's my husband," she protests.

"He never once honored the status," her mother argues back, her tone cutting and heated. She then directs to Adam, "My children put you through the trouble of traveling all the way from Qahira to Isfahan. But there's nothing here for you. You can leave the house, sayidi."

"It was no trouble," he dismisses coolly, declaring stubbornly, "I came for my wife. She comes with me."

"My daughter is going nowhere with you," her mother spits, pulling Noura to her side. "You've put her through enough. You need to end this now."

"Eskander," Noura quietly begs him, becoming more desperate and apprehensive with each passing second.

"Maman." Eskander steps in, coming to her rescue once more. "The Ameer is here to settle the affairs."

"The time for that is over."

"The decision for that rests upon Nour."

"Nour is naive and he's cunning. She was fooled by him into the marriage. She did it against her will. This marriage means nothing to me except that it's a stain upon our name. What do I tell our family? We've no witness to it."

"Then I'll fix it," Adam interjects. "I'll marry her again. With her will. In front of everyone. Let your family bear witness. I'll lift this stain from your name. I'll take her with me as my wife."

"My daughter doesn't will so. I won't give her hand to you in marriage --"

"I'll marry him," Noura announces, ignoring the twisting of her gut that makes her want to throw up, or the looks everyone is giving her making her teeth chatter. "I'll... marry Adam. Again. Willfully this time. In front of the witnesses."

"Noura... dukhtar?" Tongue-tied, her mother can only stare at her, and she steals away her eyes.

"This is what I desire, maman. My happiness lies with him."

"She has made her choice." Adam comes to stand beside her. "When do we hold the nikkah?"

Her mother turns on her heels and gets inside the house, leaving them alone with Eskander. He looks at Adam, unblinking, cold and fearless, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Tomorrow evening, with my nikkah, if Nour agrees."

"I agree," she accepts and looks at Adam for his agreement, who nods in approval.

"As the lady pleases." He smiles at her which she doesn't return.

"Ameer Adam," Eskander speaks, getting back his attention. "I believe we've much to discuss before the nikkah. I look forward to a meeting with you in the morning."

Adam doesn't reply, but he doesn't need to. Noura knows Eskander hasn't made a request for him to accept.

"You sent me the letter?" Adam asks him.

"I did," he blatantly confesses.

"You had the nerve to commit such a thing, general."

"I think you already know well enough from our history what limits I can cross if need be, sayidi."

Noura hears the taunt in Eskander's words, the underlying threat there. She knows he's referring to her in his speech. She knows he holds no lie in it. But Adam doesn't seem to mind, neither does he seem to disregard it.

Eskander too makes his way inside and now it's only them out in the open. The colors of the dusk are soaking up the darkness bit by bit. The sky is tinted red and orange by the remaining sun rays. The breeze is picking up as the night is preparing to slip in. She puts her arms around herself.

"You should leave now."

"A day more, and I'll never leave you again."

She looks at him at the mighty promise and clicks her tongue in dismay. "If you think I'm so blind in your love to believe you when you claim to bring me the moon and the stars, then you're wrong, sayidi."

"Will you tell me you didn't agree to marry me in my love?" he dares. "I saw it, Noura. You don't have to lie to me."

"It is to put an end to the questions people throw at my mother. I don't want her to walk over the burning coals for me. It is to lift the burden off Eskander's shoulders. He doesn't need to feel he owes me anything to carry my responsibility. And it is to pull out the arrow of waiting from my heart so it can heal. It once loved a man who wasn't even real."

"So you mean there's no love?"

"Tell me," Noura lifts her face to him, "are you Adam," she touches his cheek, barely grazing, staring into those orbs reflecting black hell, "or are you Al Shafay?"

The hood of his cloak falls from his head when the wind blows. His hair blows in it. Noura notices that he has let it grow longer than before, now the lower half coming a few inches below his shoulders while the upper half is tied up. He tilts down his face so his nose bumps against her temple and he pecks it.

"I'm just a timid, little prince for you, my feisty queen. I've no name but the name you've given me."

With that, he steps away and pull the hood over his head back up, a half-sided smile dancing on his lips. Noura watches him against the dwindling sunlight, completely mesmerized. If she has told him she has buried their love, she sure has lied. He's her wicked prince, a devil in disguise, and she's still in love.

"Wear the henna on your hands again. In my name, my bride. And tomorrow night I shall see it and it shall read-- Adam."

He laughs, disappearing away into the evening. And she stands there basking in the lingering sensation of his words.

The nikkah (wedding) from Adam's pov or Noura's?


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