This book is a sequel to Khalifa and cannot be read as a standalone. To avoid spoilers, description and excerpt are added inside the book.
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Started: May 2, 2022.
Completed: December 3, 2022.
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cover by @xniftykayx
The taste of blood, which is life, is the same salty taste of tears, which is pain.
— Gabriela Mistral
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Him
He runs his hand over the grave and his eyes follow the movement. It's hot from the sun. He's crouching beside it for long now. The sun is burning his skin too but he pays no heed to it.
He sighs and looks up at the sky. It's the same sky everyday. The same sun for every new day. The same sky from the past. The same sun once rising over the kingdom of his father on this land. His gaze falls back down to the grave.
"Baba."
He fists the sand. It slips from between his fingers. He buries his fingers into it, as if trying to reach for what's buried beneath.
"At least he gave you a grave," he mumbles to the winds. "He's a good man, baba. I wish you never rebelled against him."
He removes his hand from the grave. It's covered in sand but he doesn't bother wiping it clean, staring out at the expanse of the deserted land before him. Nameless. Isolated. Where his father lies buried away from life.
"I forgive you. For the hundredth time, I forgive you." He puts his arms over his knees and lowers his forehead against them. "I still love you, baba. I pray each one of them forgive you too. May my Lord forgive you too."
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Her
The sword is struck out of her hand for the fourth time. This time she doesn't even bother picking it up to continue her training. She's not usually this easy to be defeated, but her lack of enthusiasm today cannot be help. Azar must sense it too because he sheaths his sword.
"Let us continue this another time," he suggests.
Noura wordlessly goes to sit under the shade of a tree. Azar comes to offer her water and she thank him. He settles under the shade too a little away from her.
Her mind keeps slipping from the world around her to only one man-- to last night. It aches her to recall what had happened, but she cannot stop thinking about it. Sometimes, she thinks she understands him. Other times, he leaves her wondering if she has ever truly known him. The secrets of Adam she is kept in oblivion to could be many to count. Yet she chose him against all reasons, only for him to keep her an arm length away every time. Only for him not to trust her.
Noura swallows a lump in her throat and blinks as she feels her tears pushing through. She mindlessly picks at the grass and hushes her heart. Azar shifts beside her.
"Did you receive the general's letter, Noura khanum?" he asks her.
Noura only nods in reply.
"He wrote me one too," he tells her. "They've moved to Baghdad."
