One Thousand and One Nights

iv

The next morning, Nada seemed happier than Shahrazad would've liked.

She hummed as she moved aside the burgundy curtains and poured steaming tea into a small glass.

Dread coiled in Shahrazad's stomach as she buried her head in the pillow. People were going to start depending on her to bring down the king.

She did not want anything to do with it.

The scent of jasmines wafting through the open balcony doors was a small comfort for her messy thoughts.

"Good morning, khalifa." Nada said when she finally got up.

"Good morning, Nada. Have you eaten yet?"

When the girl shook her head, Shahrazad motioned for her to sit down while she ran a brush through her hair.

"I'm glad to see you alive." The words were almost a whisper. "Too many girls have been sacrifices. No one has made it this far."

No words could be said to that. Instead, Shahrazad asked something that had been nagging her every since she came here.

"What made him like this?"

Nada seemed taken aback by the question. She straightened up in her seat and clasped her hands in front of her.

"We...don't exactly know. The king's father was a cruel man."

Shahrazad took the seat in front of Nada and brought the tea to her lips, letting the liquid burn her tongue.

"Like father like son?" She wondered.

But Nada shook her head. "It's more complicated than that. The king has -- had a tendency to get attached to people easily."

It was Shahrazad's turn to be surprised. Of all the people she expected to be emotionally charged, the king was the last.

"And when he got attached, he was ready to tear the world apart to protect those he loved,"

"What happened to him?"

Nada shrugged. "We don't know. He became a different man after his father died."

  This was too much like the stories that Shahrazad's mother told at night. A cursed king. A savior of a princess.

  But she was no savior and the king was not cursed. No, he was foul.

Nada cleared her throat in an almost nervous manner. "Did he tell you about the new prisoner?"

Scheherazade frowned. "What prisoner?"

  It was not shocking for her to know that the king stole people's freedom, and perhaps for invalid reasons, but the alarmed expression on her maid's face told her this wasn't just a normal case of imprisonment.

  "Perhaps I should not--"

  "Nada."

  At her firm expression, Nada yielded.

  "He tried to break into the palace yesterday morning, but the guards caught him. He kept demanding to see you, saying that the king will pay for what he did."