Show me an orchard where I have not slept,

Tell me a time I have not loved,

—

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"Riots in the kingdom? Let's see."

He reads the letters sent to him by his spies one by one. She fills his glass with water and puts it in front of him before going to stand by the window of the courtroom.

"How bad is it?" she asks.

"Deteriorating every day."

"You shouldn't be taking it lightly."

"Am I?" He puts the letters down, meeting her eyes across the room. "How come?"

"The girl has you occupied."

"No," he refuses her firmly. "Traitors, habibti, we've traitors among us. They've me occupied."

"Then find them." She turns her back to him. "Kill them."

"What do I want?"

Muawwiz repeats the question Noura has asked him. He smirks and locks his hands behind his back. She jerks up her chin at him. He slowly begins to circle her and she stubbornly stands her ground without cowering away.

"I want to know," Muawwiz speaks, "why did you leave the palace at the crack of dawn when the world was dead asleep to witness your trickery?" He stops and faces her, boring his eyes into hers. "Where did you go, sayidati?"

Her heart flutters abnormally in fear but she doesn't let it take over her, managing to mask her worry and keep her composure. She smiles sweetly at him.

"You spy on me, commander?" Noura clicks her tongue. "That's low for your designation, unless the caliph actually put you to this duty."

He grins wickedly at her remark. "My designation doesn't limit my duties towards the crown. What I see, I try to understand. And I'm unable to understand what are you up to, so I'm only asking you straightforwardly."

"I think I made it clear to you before, but I'll repeat myself just this once." Noura takes a step closer towards him and grits through her teeth, "I'm not answerable to you, Muawwiz."

A snarl replaces his grin. "Maybe. But you're answerable to the Ameer, and he has demanded your presence in his chamber."

"Because you've filled his ears against me?" she scoffs and he scoffs back.

"I don't trust you, Noura, just like I don't trust Eskander. But I'm a man capable enough in myself." He towers over her and she has to tilt back her head to look up at him. He's strong in his built and height and his threatening eyes alarm her. "Never be foolish enough to betray the crown. The caliph makes the land tight for those who does so."

"Commander," Hafez intervenes, coming to stand beside Noura. "I request that you leave the lady alone."

Muawwiz shifts his attention to him. "Since when did I start taking orders from you?"

"It's not about you. It's about the orders I have received and I'm bound to keep," Hafez retorts.

Both the men come face to face, challenging each other menacingly. "So you'll present my head to the general for this?" Muawwiz mocks. "Or maybe I'll behead you before you even dare."

"Or maybe I'll bury my dagger in your neck before you even dare," Noura interjects, boiling in rage, all the veils of pretense burning to ashes. She strangles the commander with her charing gaze. "Who do you think you are?"

A glint of both amusement and surprise paints his feature as he fixates his stare on her again. "Someone who can bring you to your knees, so you better watch your mouth around me."

"Commander!" Another voice booms and all heads turn to him. Noura watches Adam striding towards them.

"Slave," Muawwiz spits, looking at him over his nose.

He stops in front of him and parallels his look. The air between them vibrates loudly with tension and Noura subconsciously takes a step away from them.

"What do you want from the lady?" Adam demands.

"Nothing of concern to you," Muawwiz dismissively replies.

"It concerns me if you're bothering her."

"Pray tell," Muawwiz arches an eyebrow, intrigued, "why must be that?"

"The caliph honors the lady, commander. Vultures aren't allowed to peck around her."

Noura hears the sting in Adam's words, and the way they impact Muawwiz. But the commander smirks instead of displaying offense, rolling his shoulders casually.

"I don't feed on scrapes." He nods towards her. "Since when did the caliph, though?"

This time, she notices a hurricane rise in Adam's unnerving orbs, chilling their surrounding in an instant as the air once more fills with tension thicker than before. Noura fists her hands. Muawwiz's insult aside, it is the daunting look Adam is giving him that tells her he might just reach out and snap open his breastbone before pulling out his heart.

"Muawwiz," Adam refers to him by his name rather than his designation like usual. "How about you ask this the caliph yourself? I know you're fond of walking on the sharp edge of the sword, but so is the caliph fond of having a head under his axe." He smiles slowly, devilishly-- the way he does whenever his villainous side resurfaces. "Your head will make a wasted ornament though-- it's empty, not fancy."

Muawwiz laughs out at his remark, licking his lips, ignoring his derogatory comment, before leaning forward and lowering his voice. "Adam," he calls him by his name too, mimicking him, holding his eyes boldly. "And do you think your head will stay on your shoulders after the mischief you've been creating?"

Noura feels her palms begin to sweat. The possibility of Muawwiz having learnt of their secret numbs her body. She feels a sensation of pins and needle prick her skin and desperately gazes at Adam, who, unlike her, remains stoic with the same sinful smile kissing the corners of his mouth.

"Hasn't it so far, commander?"

"We'll see how long this pride lasts, slave." Muawwiz turns to look at her again. "The Ameer is waiting for you, girl. Go to him."

He spares one more glance at Adam, biting like a winter night, laden with warnings and derision, before walking past them and disappearing around the corner. Adam doesn't bother looking in his direction but Noura follows him with her eyes until he's out of sight.

"Sayidati?" Hafez calls her and she finally comes out of her trance, taking a calming breath.

"Yes?"

"Should I escort you to Ameer Zakariya's chamber?"

Before she could respond, Adam does so.

"I'll take her." He gestures with his head for Hafez to leave. "You can go."

Hafez doesn't budge, standing by her side and disregarding Adam's orders. Noura sighs and turns to him.

"Hafez, I'll go with Adam. You can wait for me at my chamber."

The same troubled expression colors Hafez's face which every time upon her requests he gets. He opens his mouth to protest, but Noura shushes him by lifting her palm.

"I know you work for Eskander, but have I created any mess for you uptil now?"

He helplessly looks at her, at loss of argument yet begging her silently not to put him through yet another test. His gaze jumps to Adam with uncertainty and Noura smiles at him reassuringly.

"You don't have to trust him, but you trust me, don't you?"

From the corner of her eye, she catches Adam frowning in disapproval at her statement. Hafez exhales heavily and nods in submission.

"As you please, sayidati."

He leaves them alone and Noura turns to Adam who has his pupils already swallowing her. She tilts her head and he blinks, but doesn't let his eyes waver from her.

"You should convince your guard not to be wary of me. I might need to see you in urgency and he might create trouble for me."

"Convince him to trust you?" Noura chuckles softly. "That might be a difficult thing to do."

"And why would that be?"

"You're a cryptic man, Adam."

She begins to walk towards the vizier's room and Adam follows after her.

"Who says that?" he proceeds the conversation.

"Have you ever looked at yourself?" She cranes her neck towards him. "You spell danger."

His lips curl up to one side, her words entertaining him. "I thought I don't scare you."

"You don't. I'm speaking for others, Hafez included. You ain't so simple, now are you?"

His grin turns full as he stares at her, taking a moment contemplating over something she cannot figure, before replying to her, "Why, have you been studying me closely, sayidati?"

She wants to tell him it wouldn't take much for one to read the villainy in his eyes, or how the dark halos of them reminds her of hell. She refrains from pointing out the devilry of his smiles, or the wickedness of his motives. What good is it talking about his cunningness or highlighting his deceit? She knows his status as her husband has outweighed that of her rival. The reality is a bitter gulp she has to swallow. So she hold back her tongue from passing any insolent remarks.

"You think Muawwiz knows about us?" she asks seriously, changing the topic.

His own features sober up upon her query. "I don't think so."

"Then what mischief of yours was he talking about?"

"I don't know. But I couldn't give him the benefit of doubt."

"And if he really knows about us?"

"If he really does," Adam pauses, thinking, "well then, what has he got against us?"

Noura shakes her head at him. "I wonder if it's your faith in the caliph or in the queen which is giving you this confidence."

"A little of both."

"Unfortunately I don't have the same faith as you in either of them."

He steps closer to her, his knuckles gently brushing against hers, and Noura feels her fingers twitch for whatever reason.

"Then have faith in me, farasha (butterfly). I'll take you to the sky."

She doesn't even have a moment to be stunned at his reply as they reach the Ameer's chamber. A guard at the door goes inside to announce their arrival. They're granted permission inside and Adam nods for her to go ahead.

Noura steps into the chamber where the vizier is already waiting for her. Adam comes to stand behind her. Zakariya motions for her to take a seat and she does so. He takes a seat himself in front of her.

"I suppose you know why I've called you here," he begins.

"I've an idea," she answers, hoping it's not what Muawwiz has mentioned but rather the same old issue she has already dealt with.

"So," Zakariya edges forward in expectation, "what have you thought about Al Shafay's proposal?"

Noura shrugs, her mental anguish easing slightly. "I don't think there were options for me to consider. What could I have thought?"

Zakariya combs his fingers through his beard and hums. "You still don't agree to it?"

"Would it matter?" She smiles ruefully. "If I refuse, would he let me be?"

The Ameer gives her a pitiful look-- the look she hates the most. It makes her feel at the mercy of others. But she's about to prove everyone wrong.

"I suppose not," he says and holds out a paper to her. "This is the order, remember?"

She takes it from him and her eyes skim over it briefly. "I wonder if it would still be valid were I already married?" She lifts her gaze from the paper towards the vizier's perplexed face. "This order doesn't apply anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I've already married someone else, my Ameer," Noura tells him innocently. "I cannot take Al Shafay as my husband whilst already having one."

Zakariya pales at the information, slowly all the color draining from his skin as he stares at her in shock. His eyes flick to Adam behind her. She doesn't bother turning around to see his countenance, knowing he's the master of deception himself. The naivety of his pretense can fool even the caliph, let alone his vizier.

"You're lying, aren't you, Noura?" Zakariya asks after a minute and she shakes her head in refusal.

"You can investigate the matter if you wish. I'm not lying."

"When?" He stands up. "Why?"

"A night ago. Because I couldn't become a slave to the Khalifa. The palace is a prison to me." She stands up too. "I'd rather have the caliph kill me than being forced to live everyday with him."

"Noura." Zakariya sighs in exasperation. "Al Shafay wanted to make you a queen, not his slave."

"Pardon me, but my freedom is more dear to me than this title." She gestures to herself. "Why does the Khalifa want me as his Malika? He doesn't love me. He took me away from my home, my mother, that too under a false accusation of theft, and brought me here to keep me at the palace against my will to this day. He's a self-centered and heartless man. I'm just a thing he wants to possess. Then why would I have allowed this when I could save myself?"

There is silence in the chamber that none of the men dare to slice. She finally turns to Adam who shifts his orbs away from her towards the vizier before she could decipher the mysteries in them.

"My Ameer, allow me to look into the matter," he requests.

Zakariya gives him an impenetrable look, as if still lost to accept what he has just learnt and trying to grasp the threads of the plot. He doesn't blink, his stare hard on Adam, and Noura starts to worry if he too has gathered doubts against them-- if Muawwiz has told him something. But she breathes in relief when he dismisses them both with a wave of his hand.

"Leave."

She doesn't wait a second as she turns on her heels and rush towards the door. But not before Zakariya gives out a command.

"Report to me by tonight, Adam."

"Yes, my Ameer."

"And remember, make no exclusions." He gives him a warning glare. "I want to know everything. Everything."

Adam only tips his head and they leave the chamber. Another thorn seems to embed in her heart. Another worry budding. Noura decides to address her concerns.

"Why did the Ameer sound suspicious of you?" she asks Adam, walking beside him down the corridor. "I thought he trusted you."

"Because I've failed him," he replies simply, passively. "This wasn't supposed to happen. I was to inform him of every event beforehand."

"So you were to spy on me?"

He halts midway and so does she. He faces her and the sunlight coming through the window glass skim his side profile. The rays dip and drown in his one orb, leaving the other in its natural form. Yet despite the contrast the light is sketching, his eyes carry the same look of a haunted forest with beasts lurking in it-- hardly ever expressive, rather invoking fear. It makes the hair on her body stand in appreciation. Sometimes, Adam terrifies her, despite her claiming that he doesn't.

"I wasn't supposed to do what I did," he says.

"You regret it already?"

He gives her a half, unamused smile. "Does it matter to you what I want?"

Noura doesn't answer him, not knowing how to respond to his question, or if he's being ironic, she cannot tell. The man is eccentric in many ways, and she's not sure if she'll ever understand him fully.

They part ways and she arrives at her chamber, only momentarily relaxing before a glimpse of something steals her tranquility again. The palace will not let her be at peace.

A note and jasmines await her on her bed.

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Hey,

I've missed you guys. I hope you're all doing well. I've been dealing with certain things these days due to which my writing has to suffer. So updates might remain slow.

For all the love I've received, I love you all more. Keep supporting and sharing your thoughts (:

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