This book is a sequel to Khalifa and cannot be read as a standalone. To avoid spoilers, description and excerpt are added inside the book.
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Started: May 2, 2022.
Completed: December 3, 2022.
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cover by @xniftykayx
Some things you can never leave behind. They don't belong to the past. They belong to you.
— Rick Yancey
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Her
Sleep wouldn't come to her any night. Dreams aren't sweet anymore. The bed beside her remains cold. She can see him through the gap in the balcony doors standing outside.
She lies beneath the sheets wide awake. She wonders what's going on in his mind. This pain in his eyes isn't something she fancies. This torture she puts him through isn't what she desires.
Yet none of them can console the other. None of them can overlook the problem.
He's insistent on keeping secrets. She cannot keep forgiving. And though she longs for him, and he longs for her, the distance between them only seems to grow.
He leaves the balcony and enters the chamber. She closes her eyes and pretends to be asleep. He gets under the sheet beside her, both of them facing away from each other. But she knows just like her, sleep wouldn't come to him either.
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Him
He navigates through the streets of the small town to where the house of the old vizier is. It has been many months since he last visited him. He feels the need to see him before his departure from Qahira. And to share with him what he cannot with anyone else. After all, he's the one to have served his father all his life. A dedicated servant to Marwan Al Kurdiya.
The dawn has broken and the hour is still early for the streets to be deserted. He adjusts the cloth over his face and turns around the corner towards his destination. With a wave of his hand, he tells his men to stay behind.
"I'll go on my own from here."
His cloak flutters in the wind as he picks his pace. The hood falls off his head but he doesn't bother pulling it back. He can see the door in the distance. When he arrives to it, he lightly knocks on it. A man answers it a minute later. The vizier's son. Adam lowers his mask and he recognizes him at once.
"Salam, sayidi," he greets him, tipping his head respectfully.
Adam nods in acknowledgement. "Salam. I was hoping to meet Ameer Abd al Basit. Is he at home?"
"Yes, come in please." The man steps aside to let him in and leads him to a sitting room. "Take a seat please. I'll go call baba. He'll be delighted to know you're here."
Adam sits down on one of the cushions set on the floor. The man disappears to inform his father of their guest. A while later, the door opens and an old man steps in with the help of his cane.
"Ameer Basit." Adam quickly gets to his feet to meet him. "Salam."
"Marhaba. Marhaba." He grins at him in pure joy. "What a beautiful surprise it is."
