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
God how is it that we surrender to love giving it the keys to our city carrying candles to it and incense falling down at its feet asking to be forgiven Why do we look for it and endure all that it does to us all that it does to us?
— Nizar Qabbani
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Adam
Days fold into nights and nights fade into light. Months follow one another and all add into years. The winds blow. The seasons change. The sky wear different shades everyday. The sands of time cannot remain the same. Unlike the sun or the moon. Unlike the stars. Life of a man is a flowing river until the river dries into earth.
He returns to the palace after another long day. His cloak covers him and its hood still falls over his forehead to shadow his eyes. He pulls his mask down and makes his way towards the gardens. It is late afternoon and he can hear the chatter from afar as he walks towards that one spot where his family can often be found at this hour of the day.
"There is no fish in the fountain!"
A smile forms on his lips at the innocent protest. Her sweet voice is a song of nightingale to his ears.
"They're at the pond, habibti." He hears his wife reply.
"But the fountain is empty and the pond has all the fish!"
"Because the pond is bigger and the fountain is smaller."
"But... But... The fountain is lonely," his three-year-old justifies.
He comes to a stop at a distance, hands tied behind his back as he watches the scene before him. Roya is holding his daughter in her arms by the fountain where she's running her hands through the water, probably still looking for the fish in question. Noura is sitting under the pergola with their son, now eight months old, crawling over the cushions. Every time she pulls him back, he sets out in a different direction.
"Bring her here, Roya," Noura instructs her handmaiden.
Roya does as she's asked. But as she turns around, his daughter notices him and jumps in the handmaiden's arms.
"Baba!"
Noura looks his way at the exclamation. Roya puts their daughter down and she runs to him. Then she halts midway, runs back towards the pergola, and picks up something from the ground before sprinting in his direction again.
He naturally grins against her joyous expression and leans down to sweep her up in his arms.
"Halah." Adam kisses her cheek. "My princess."
"I made a flower necklace, baba."
She holds out a necklace of jasmines for him to see.
He makes an impressed face. "That is beautiful, habibti."
