A/N: BET YOU DIDN'T THINK I'D UPDATE SO SOON HUH! Here is a bonus chapter for you all for your lovely comments and messages. Not quite as exciting as the previous one, but I hope you enjoy it and can rest in peace until the next update haha. This chapter is also dedicated to LaVataElise 💓. PLEASE SHARE THIS BOOK!!! And remember to VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE.
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Just like the Sun and the Moon in orbit
My soul circles yours
Ever in sync
Ever in perfect harmony
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H U D A Y F A
جُمَادَىٰ ٱلْأُولَىٰ
R U S S I C A D A
Hudayfa watched frozen as the woman, as slim and lithe as a cat rendered a trained guard incapable. She moved as though made of water, fluid yet powerful. Her golden eyes were fixated on Ezena's every move like a lioness executing the perfect hunt. When he finally fell, Hudayfa knew he would not rise again.
The assassin stood. Gracefully leaping out of the damned squared space and into the crowd below, he drew closer to her. The ancient strings of two souls tied to each other tugged stronger, more forcefully than ever before. A thousand emotions coursed through him as he pushed through the multitude of men, gaze locked onto the figure who now approached her new friends.
Her eyes crinkled on the sides, and Hudayfa knew her to be smiling behind that veil. He watched as she was pulled back into the arena, his sword thrust back in her hands. Seeing the weapon in her possession made him feel a strange, a good strange. It trembled however, as her hands quaked.
She couldn't do it. He knew she couldn't do it.
Without a second thought he committed the deed for her. His aim was perfect - the dagger flew from his fingers and buried itself in the defeated man's back right into his heart.
Falaq screamed in panic as the guard slumped face forward into the wet sand, blood soaking his tunic. She looked around wildly, until she registered him. Fear bubbled to the surface - she looked as though she had seen her worst nightmare.
Anger coursed through him. Far too strong, far too deep, far too raw. How dare she act afraid now, when she had brought a grown man to his knees! How dare she pretend she was a damsel in distress, when her hand still gripped his sword? How dare she desert him, and take the company of two foreign men?
She had wounded his pride beyond measure.
He stormed toward her, pain filling his chest. Why did it hurt so much to face the moment he had spent so long envisioning?
Falaq raised the sword, brows furrowing in determination.
He saw red.
Within seconds he had disarmed her. With brutal force he yanked her close. A hand closed around the back of her neck, holding her head up to face him. She seemed immobilised, eyes wide with shock. It was as though he saw a million different emotions flew between them. His mind transported him back to the moment where he had stood in the fort, intoxicated, watching the female warrior from afar.
I need to know who you are.
Suppressing all reason, knowing he would regret it later, his hand rose to her face. His fingers found the veil plastered to her face in the rain. Without a second thought he ripped it away.
Time stopped.
A breath escaped him, rising up as mist in the cold air. The silver eyes slowly blinked.
Water droplets clung to smooth, olive gold skin beautifully. They decorated those jet black lashes like small dewy drops, rolling off down her cheek bones. Not a blemish decorated that face, save for the smudged kohl smoking around her brilliant golden orbs like embers of a quiet flame. Those terracotta lips were perfectly shaped, exactly as he remembered them. They were opened slightly, conforming to the look of surprise decorating her features.
You. It's you.
***
Everything was a blur.
One moment Hudayfa's beautiful silver eyes were above her, confused, hesitant, when the next moment they hardened. Before she knew it her hands were tied behind her back and the iron grips of the unfamiliar guards tightened around her upper arms, dragging her away. She craned her head around as they pulled her along, searching wildly for Amaan and Idegir. They were no where to be found and the crowd was becoming a blur of men she could not distinguish the other from. The last thing she saw was Hudayfa standing stock still in the middle of all the chaos, thousands of droplets of water glittering on his black armour. His shoulders hung in defeat, his head tilted up toward the heavens as though in a prayer of pain. Then he disappeared from her eyes, as the stone walls overtook the cohort of guards and herself.
"Let-me-go-!" Falaq gritted out, digging her heels into the dirt, struggling ferociously in her bonds. She refused to surrender, though her muscles ached and her whole body trembled with exhaustion. If it were not the case, she thought angrily, she would have rendered them all to their knees by now.
One of the guards pushed her head down as they ducked into the entrance. They were suddenly marching down a damp stoney passageway, lined with more guards. Cells began to greet them as they turned corners, and Falaq felt fear bubble inside. If there was anything she could not fathom, it was being caged like a bird.
She remembered the feeling as though it were yesterday. Seeing a single robin flapping around a pretty white cage. It had been a gift for Ishtar from one of her many admirers, even at the tender age of ten summers. As Ishtar excitedly showed it off, all Falaq could see was a creature in immense distress. Doomed to spend its life in a cage for the sake of entertainment. It was a fate worse than death. When Ishtar's back was turned, Falaq had quietly released the creature into the heavens, watching as it swooped high into the sky before soaring away. It was one of the most beautiful things little Falaq had ever seen.
As the guards forced her inside a cage that was much less beautiful than Ishtar's, she felt the same suffocating feeling overtaking her. With panic coursing through her veins she threw herself at the bars, rattling them with every ounce of strength. Her arms snaked through the bars, her hands closed around one of the infernal men, pinning him against the iron rods. His companions wrenched him away from her hold, cursing at her in their language.
"LET ME OUT!" She screamed at them, heart beating painfully fast.
She was the robin now, wings tied behind its back, never to fly again.
Her chest tightened further. Black spots began to appear in her vision. She felt the world tilt sideways, moving much too fast. She was going to die a captive - she couldn't - she couldn't-
"Stay with me"
Her hands were suddenly free of their bonds. She raised them before her eyes, dazed. Behind them, hesitant orange orbs gazed down at her form.
"Nuh" she whispered, "Nuh"
The Right Hand looked away, unsure of what to say or do. Her face was unveiled, and she suddenly felt exposed.
"Get up" he ordered quietly, rising to his feet. Falaq tried to follow, but the exertion of the past hour finally hit her like a pile of bricks, and she found herself keeling over, eyes fluttering shut as a velvety darkness began to engulf her. Strong arms caught her before they her head could greet the stone floor.
"Nuh"
Silence.
"I'm sorry"
The assassin felt a strange warmth at the fading woman's sincerity. In two words she elevated the anger he'd felt toward her in the past moon. His relief was greater, far greater than the grudge in his heart. She passed out before his eyes shortly after, a sigh escaping lips he had never seen before.
Under all the grime and dirt, his Master's betrothed was a noble woman. The bloodline of the House of Khalifa was prominent in those features. She was no ravishing beauty like her sister Jamila, nor did she possess the poise of her brother Burak. Instead, she carried the elegance of a dancer in stark contrast to the roughness of a warrior in the hostility of her body language. He could see now why Hud was so drawn. His throat tightened with the realisation. These stone walls would not hold much longer.
Removing his hooded cloak, Nuh covered Falaq in the fabric before picking her up gently. He tried not to notice how small she seemed in his arms. She was far too light for someone who had just beat a man to pulp, and the thought strangely made him want to laugh. Who would have guessed?
"Hud"
Nuh spoke to his Master's back softly.
Hudayfa was standing in front of the fireplace, still fully armoured. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword, now strapped back into its usual place at his side. In the vast room he seemed very alone, a statue made of marble, colder than ever. The irony of the simple truth rang with too much clarity.
"Where is she?" the Prince asked tonelessly.
"Here"
He turned around slowly, face carefully expressionless. His gaze found Falaq draped in Nuh's cloak, resting in his awkwardly held arms. He was holding her away from his body, unsure of what to do. Her dirt covered face rested in the crook of Nuh's arm, only a glimmer of her golden eyes visible. A rush of emotions filled Hudayfa's cold soul, unable to help itself. His jaw tightened and he cast his gaze away.
"Have the maids tend to her" he ordered Nuh quietly.
Nuh inclined his head in response, making to leave. Hud did not stop him, but Nuh could feel those silver eyes follow him until he was out of sight.
Hudayfa watched Nuh disappear with his betrothed. He knew the Right Hand did not harbour any feelings other than fondness toward the woman in his arms, yet he couldn't help but feel the green monster raise its head. Why was it that now everything she did, every moment he laid eyes on her, it felt as though nothing would be the same again? All he could imagine was the face again, the truth he now knew not what to do with except that it stirred inside him a feeling he had never felt before.
"Your highness, the fugitives you requested" the guards announced, tossing two men bound in chains before Hudayfa.
With a slight motion of his hand, he motioned for them to leave, gaze fixated on the prisoners, all tenderness he'd felt moments ago gone.
They were the same men who had accompanied Falaq to the fight, the same men to whom she had so willingly smiled. They were bruised and bloodied as they knelt, panting before him. One had a crippled leg - tucked uselessly underneath his body.
"What do you want, assassin?" the Cripple spat, the fire reflective in his glare.
Hudayfa's eyes narrowed.
Answers.
T H E A R M Y
جُمَادَىٰ ٱلْأُولَىٰ
H I J A A Z
The infirmary had been emptied for a special guest. The tent, usually bustling with medics and the wounded, now stood quiet. The only light in the vast space belonged to a single candle resting on the bed side stool of a sleeping assassin. The lower half of his body was covered with a single sheet, but his chest was bare and covered with sweat, falling and rising uneasily. His eyes moved erratically behind the lids, lashes casting dark shadows across his chiseled cheeks.
Zuhair was knocked out cold. But he was alive, and his master who watched him from the shadows like a tiger stalking his prey, was waiting for the moment he opened those snake-like green eyes. Taimur's hand was clenched around a piece of parchment - the existence of which only he and his Right Hand and Hadeel knew.
Hadeel.
The name he has given her was so adequate, he thought with a small smirk. She was as delicate as paper, and her beauty attracted him to keep her captive. His smirk turned into a frown as he thought once more the thought that kept returning to him. She knew Raza, for she had called out his name. It did not take Taimur long to figure out her language was the same tongue of Taghrid, where the brothers had lived for many years. And so cruelly fate pushed him toward the foreign princes, for only they could interpret what his dove mumbled around him.
It was certainly a puzzle to be solved.
His thoughts were interrupted by a moan that emitted from Zuhair's bruised throat. His gaze sharpened, watching the assassin's eyes flicker open.
For a moment Zuhair blinked up into nothing, confused. His hand slowly reached to caress his neck, and he winced at the pain. Groaning, he pushed himself to swing his legs to the side of the cot, sitting up. Energy seemed to have left him, his whole body felt lethargic.
"Zuhair"
The low, cold voice of his master caused him to jerk his head toward the sound. ThereTaimur stood, his gaze unreadable.
"Your highness" Zuhair croaked, massaging his neck again. What was wrong with him?
"Where am I?" He asked, "what transpired against me?"
Taimur cocked his head in amusement, and Zuhair felt dread flood his body. He'd seen that expression many times - it was worn when Taimur did not believe a word the other was saying.
"Your first question," Taimur answered, "the answer is that this is the infirmary. I had it cleared. As for the second..." the amusement faded and an icy cold promise of punishment took its place, "I believe you could answer that"
Zuhair blinked, thinking hard. His Master was clearly agitated.
"You introduced that woman to the other princes. I followed Their Highnesses from your tent" he relayed slowly, gaze focused on the floor, "I felt I was being followed, so I led my shadow away from the camp"
A horrible feeling rushed through Zuhair. He suddenly remembered very clearly, what had occurred.
"Continue" Taimur ordered, eyes gleaming. He knew, Zuhair surmised, that he had remembered.
"I...I stopped and called the shadow out. He was fast, your Highness" he added quickly, "unlike anything I have ever witnessed before. I was ready, yet he managed to grab my throat in mere seconds. That is all I can recall"
"Let me inform you then" Taimur hissed, "you were found two suns later in a ditch with this in your mouth"
He flexed a piece of parchment before Zuhair's eyes. The Right Hand raises the lone candle to view it.
When his eyes fastened on the symbol eloquently painted, his eyes widened and he immediately moved away.
"N-No" Zuhair stuttered, "It cannot be. It-it cannot"'
"It is" Taimur snarled.
"Your Highness!" Zuhair gasped, falling to his Master's feet, "I was impudent, please punish me! I beg you!"
Taimur's eyes glittered. A pale, cold hand closed around Zuhair's bruised neck, making the Right Hand cry out in pain.
"Take my word" he sneered, "I will"
"T-thank y-you" Zuhair managed to rasp in the iron clad grip of the infuriated prince.
Taimur released the worthless man before him, wanting nothing more than to squeeze the life out of him. He was supposed to be the best of the best, yet he had fallen prey so easily. What did that say about his reign? What did that say about his power?
"Khan!" He barked.
Only a whisper of sound indicated the assassin had entered the infirmary.
"Your Highness" the hooded figure thumped his fist to his chest twice and bowed.
"Bring me Hudayfa" Taimur ordered, "I need him back within this month. Take whatever you need, but do not fail me"
"Your Highness" Khan acceded, bowing his head before exiting.
Taimur inhaled deeply. He simply needed to wait a while longer. After that he and Hud would embark on a hunt. And there had never been a time where prey had escaped the two princes.
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