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"WHAT DOES IT MEAN?" Azade asked, staring at her forgotten plate of fruit, olive oil and na'aan that morning. Just a few hours ago Rukun had ran out of her room. Not before saying a few strange words.
'If you see me tomorrow, run.'
The words had been spinning in her mind, preventing her from the sleep she usually took at dawn. So much so, that she had asked Ehsan to invite Fazad to join her at breakfast to discuss it. Even Azade had never thought she'd see the day where she'd outwardly want to meet with Fazad.
"He's never acted that way before" He shrugged, picking at his own plate while his weary eyes travelled to Ehsan, who sat beside him. Azade had begged Ehsan to sit with them at breakfast, partly due to the fact that she knew Vardin would be guarding the door to the breakfast hall and she didn't want to face a moment alone with him and the other part, perhaps to make Fazad angry. Azade knew he wouldn't take well to dining with a maid.
And from his stiff expression, she knew he very well didn't.
"Explain." Azade asked, grabbing the tea glass to pour some into Ehsan's cup. The maid had sat beside her, looking at her feet for the bast thirty minutes uncomfortably. She probably thought it wasn't her place to sit next to them at breakfast, and could read Fazad's own sentiments about the matter. Azade didn't care.
Ehsan was her friend. Azade was lower than her in terms of social class just weeks ago, even a few jewels and late night tales couldn't change that.
"Getting brave?" Fazad said through partly gritted teeth, stirring his tea in its cup. "You shouldn't order me around like that so soon. You aren't queen, yet." He smiled as he bit into a date, picking out the pit through his teeth.
Azade frowned, "What do you mean by queen?"
He shrugged, leaning his long hair back onto the chair. "How did you think this was going to end?" Fazad said, making a sweeping gesture with his hands. "I'm willing to bet anything that's he's just biding his time and waiting to make you queen."
"He isn't." She replied, trying to hide the unsureness in her voice from peeking through.
Fazad clicked his tongue, bringing the cup of tea to his lips. "That was the initial deal of this whole thing wasn't it? Whoever survives the longest becomes his queen. If Rukun is anything human at all, he doesn't go back on a promise."
"Stop."
"—But you wouldn't mind would you? That was your reason for coming here wasn't it? To trade your chains for a crown?" His rich laughter rang across the table, his tea cup still gripped tight in his hands. Azade bit her tongue, she wanted to argue, to say he was wrong. But she couldn't. It was the truth.
