𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐃𝐚𝐰𝐧

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The next morning Hanadi woke up to the steady patter of rain upon her window, droplets yet to scatter the nascent rays of rising sun. The sound brought a calmness to her mind, a soothing melody, a natural lullaby. With eyes at rest she felt her centre, lived happily within herself for these blessed moments of solitude.

She drifted on calm seas, aimless as a child on summer vacation, paddling, at ease with the fluidity of time. Soon she returned to the moment, the song of the rain became distant and she slowly opened her honey eyes. In her mind she wanted to be outside, filling her lungs with the fresh, cold air watching the world come into focus.

She slowly got up and let her feet relax on the soft carpet that brought nothing but warmth. She wasn't ready to be betrothed to someone. She rubbed her eyes and saw an extremely beautiful dress across her, hanging outside of her wardrobe. The dress was clearly made for a royalty and it looked really expensive. In her eyes, it looked like the perfect Cinderella-Princess gown. It could be a dream-dress for a dream-day. It was white and filled with pearls in each layer.

Hanadi traced it with her fingers as her mind was running to the recent events. That was enough to release the breath Hanadi didn't even know she was holding. With the sigh, her shoulders relaxed and her face dropped. It was bad romance, all this was no romance to her. Time went on and Hanadi knew very well that the end was right there at the start, a doomed love affair. It wasn't a true love affair, if anyone could call it that. It was merely platonic and Azim surely wasn't going to appear with a ring in his hand, not because he wasn't brave enough but because he simply couldn't.

She threw on an old dress and run down the stairs in hope that she would be able to go out just for a moment. To her surprise, everyone was too busy with the preparations for the masked ball to even realize her absence. She covered her long, dark hair with a scarf and walked steadily down the street, heading to the place that she knew she would find him, the stables.

They were a place of calm, of the kind of work that feels therapeutic but it was smelly and Hanadi couldn't stand it, she felt kind of nauseous but she never admitted it openly, how could she, it was Azim's favorite place. Azim washed and replenished the horse's water. He filled their hay nets. He cared for them like no one else did. The horses loved the fields, the space to roam and play, so Azim made the stables as nice as he possibly could. A good place for them to come and be cared for.

With soft footsteps Hanadi arrived and spotted Azim sitting down inside the stables, his face hung on his hands and his long brown hair was messy, filled with hay needles. He looked lonely, he had learned to fly solo. He was used to being alone and he appreciated the serenity and quiet that it brought him. No one knew much about Azim, he was a mystery, he appeared magically one day to their kingdom and he stayed. Everyone gossiped that he had no parents, no family, that everyone had died at war in the dark ages.

Hanadi approached him slowly and sat close to him. At that moment she felt that she wanted to hide him between her and her shirt, she wanted to hug him until she would feel him on her bones and her veins.

"Last night I had a dream that you visited me," Azim turned to her, their faces inches apart, their hands almost touching.

"I came."

"I knew you'd come Hanadi," he caught her hand and held it strongly without letting go. "If you told me to come I would, but you never tell me anything. It's been years," he looked down and his grip loosened.

"Today I will meet my future husband," she squeezed his hand and rest her head upon his shoulder.

"God knows that I would do for you more than I'm capable Hanadi," he came closer to her, their lips inches apart and it was something they both wanted but all the restrictions that defined their lives stopped them. Hanadi placed her hand on his chest in an attempt to retain the distance between them but it was impossible.

She looked in his eyes, they were the gateway to the soul, his lips on the other hand were the same thing for the body. They were softness, passion, the promise of something more.

The fading light invading the stables instead of transporting her to a new and fantastical land, took her back to that winter storm when Azim first told her how he felt. This fade light wasn't just magical, it was divine. Finally, in a quick move Azim took advantage of Hanadi's lost eyes and pressed his lips on hers. The world itself ceased to exist, blurred and indistinct as an impressionist masterpiece. His hands, gently in her hair, hers upon his chest. They were bound in a kiss that was so tender and yet it unleashed something that it wasn't supposed to.

Hanadi's lips felt like summer to Azim, a cool breeze that pushed his hair back and sent chills down his spine. It was a kiss that tasted like sugar and yet it brought a bitterness with it as well. As they parted, Azim smiled and glanced toward the sky that gave him a crazy idea. An idea that could kill him.

"I have to go," Hanadi unable to stand up, hid her face in his warm embrace and the smell of his intoxicating cologne. From the warm tones of his cologne, to those of his voice and his well chosen words, he was so easy to fall in love with.

Hanadi slowly started walking far from the stables with a heavy thud inside her chest and a cloudy mind. Feeling conflicted was an artefacts of a strange world, for Hanadi was born to follow the direction of the soul with empathy and logic working together upon the right path. Yet here she was, struggling to make sense of a world that had different beliefs than her.