—
SHE COULD FEEL NOTHING.
For the rest of the night, Azade laid on the floor next to the dead. Her body shaking rapidly, the smell of flesh and blood overwhelming her. She felt broken, she felt hollow.
In her mind she repeated the memory of Rukun tearing out the girl's heart. His hand swiftly diving into her chest, a red mass in his grasp—
Sunlight streamed into the room.
"Azade?" She could hear Vardin's soft voice as if it were a dream. Her body stayed covered on the bloodied floor, eyes clamped shut. It was only until she heard the rapidness of footsteps did she realize that she wasn't dreaming.
Everything that happened last night was real.
"Help me pick her up." Vardin shouted, another clamour of metal footsteps melting into the room. She could feel his warm hands hug her to his chest, softly rising her shaking body.
And with all the pain possible in his voice Vardin whispered, "What did he do to you?" She could feel the coldness of his armour touch her skin, her body present but her mind-
'Not human. Not human. Not human.' Her last bits of sanity repeated.
"Azade?"
His voice was far.
"Azade?"
'Not human. Not human. Not human.'
"Azade!"
And she couldn't feel anything anymore.
..
HE WAS IN HER DREAMS.
Sometimes he was standing over the girl's dead body, his golden eyes void of humanity. Other times, he was standing over her own body or Ehsan's—a knife angled towards their throats with a smile covered in blood.
The worst however, was when she felt herself back at that wretched slave camp. Back in that hut; her mother's flesh tattered on the floor from the bloody whip. She could still hear her mother's screams sometimes, most times her mother was there too, eyes glazed over with her body dripping in blood. Azade could hear a laugh too, his laugh. Suddenly, invading her dreams Rukun stood there over her mother's dead body with a whip in his hand. He was always smiling.
"Scheherazade." His voice would whisper, a lovers tone; like a soft wind caressing her cheek. His lips would be mere meters from her, a hand placed on her chin. She would try to recoil slightly but for some reason the dream wouldn't let her; she stayed glued to him. Rukun would move closer and closer, until she could feel his cold lips on hers. Until she could taste the blood on them. Her blood.
And then she would scream.
"Azade!"
Ehsan was standing over her now, shaking her shoulders. Her brown eyes a rampant with worry as Azade fluttered her own eyes open, feeling the sunlight from the open curtains on her skin. She felt silk underneath her body. Someone must've taken her to her room.
"Drink." Ehsan muttered as she lifted a goblet to Azade's lips, tilting until she could feel the warm liquid burning her throat. As she downed the liquid, Azade glanced around the room to find two figures standing behind Ehsan.
They were in deep conversation, and didn't seem to realize she was listening.
"You fool." Fazad seethed, pointing a heavily ringed finger in Vardin's face. Even in his robes and finery, his expression was like that of a man who'd ever owned a single thing in his life."I told you this would happen."
"The witch—"
Fazad laughed cruelly, "The witch! The one who claims a dirty slave girl can save us all, the that you've made us all blindly believe." His tone was harsh, tinged with a dark sarcasm. "Her life is costing us more lives, haven't you noticed it? Ever since she stepped foot in this palace his rampages have gotten more violent."
"He hurts her too, jackass." Vardin said, anger rising in his voice. Azade felt something in her heart drop at the sound of his voice. He was defending her—
"Hurts her?" Fazad laughed. "All she has to do is whisper some pretty tale."
"Did you even see her when I found her this morning? She was covered in blood, shaking—he tortures her." Vardin looked like he might explode as Fazad waved the statement off, his golden rings glinting in the sparse sunlight.
"He tortures all of us."
Azade could feel her breath catch, she hadn't noticed it before but—
Scars. Beneath his robes, so tightly wrapped around his neck; Fazad had scars. They coiled around his brown skin like necklaces, glinting ever so evidently in the sunlight. Vardin seemed to notice them too but he simply looked away. "Have you figured out a plan for Layl?"
"No." Fazad murmured. "He'll be hunting her you know, and with his powers—" Powers?
Vardin scowled and cut him off, "I'll kill him myself if he even touches her." Fazad grinned, looking in the edge of laughing but the humour was gone in his eyes. "He cannot be killed guard, you know that more than anyone." They seemed to stare at eachother long after that, an exchange of silent words as if acknowledging the deeper meaning behind them. Vardin looked like he was a few heartbeats away from punching the lord in the face.
'You know more than anyone he cannot be killed.' The words echoed in her throbbing head.
"He's not human, is he?"
This time it was her who spoke.
She could feel Ehsan gasp from beside her, trying to press the cup to her lips once more to avoid her from wasting her voice again. But Azade shifted her head, letting the bitter liquid drip down her chin. The room went silent, both of the men turning to her with shocked expressions. They hadn't known she'd been listening.
"Azade—"
"What is he?" Her voice croaked, still ragged from all the screaming she had done the night before. Vardin looked at her pitifully, biting his tongue.
"A monster." An answer came, not from Vardin, but from Fazad. The lord looked her up and down; green eyes glazing over her with no emotion. He opened his mouth as if to say more, as if he wanted to explain—
He didn't.
Fazad turned on his heel, brushing Vardin's shoulder as he stormed out of the room. They all fell silent, even when Ehsan slid a hand onto her shoulder in comfort. "It's not your fault you know." She whispered.
Vardin met her eyes, knowing that as he looked at them all he could see was two voids looking back. She could see something haunting him as he looked at her.
'Not human. Not human. Not human' Her mind repeated, remembering her thoughts from the night before. Fazad had called him a monster—and by the gods he was right. All she could see was him, tearing through the girl's chest like it was nothing.
'He cannot be killed.' Fazad had said. She wondered the truth in his words, could Rukun truly not be killed? What kind of monster was he? Was he a god?
Azade waited until Ehsan and Vardin had left, leaving her in what they thought was her sorrow. No, she was planning.
He would pay tonight.
If he wanted to play god, killing and killing than who was to say she couldn't do the same?
There was no fear anymore.
Only vengeance.
..
UNEDITED ASF LOL
Exams this week smh I've been studying so sorry for any spelling mistakes :(
what do you guys think Rukun is? what do you think Azade plans to do tonight? and what about Vardin and Fazad, what are your opinions on them?
+ BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: I just published a new story, which I will begin writing soon! I won't say too much but after you're done reading this it'll be posted so go check it out and tell me what you think :)
thank you so so much for 31K reads on this story you don't know how much it means to me that people read my work <3
Love you guys,
-Elle