Kissed by Chaos

Kissed by Chaos (10) - Banished

Kissed by Chaos

Chapter 10 - Banished

Raafi was afraid to look directly at his father even though he knew that he could be blamed for nothing. Regardless, it was never wise to stand in Zahir’s path when he was angry.

 The formidable King Zahir stood in front of his son in all his devastating, dreadful glory. Father and son stood in the middle of the tent like two warriors about to duel. A smudge of blood on Zahir’s left cheek caught Raafi’s attention. It only glorified his father as the deadly warrior his fame pronounced him to be.

He watched as his father opened his mouth and closed it again, his face reddening with each attempt to speak. When the words finally came, they cut into Raafi’s skin much deeper than he thought they would.

“You… I am disgusted to call you my son!”

Raafi flinched and looked down at his dirty boots.

“All because of you, for the first time in years, I have been defeated!”

With indignation clawing its way up his body, Raafi snapped his head up to face his father’s enraged expression. “I do not understand how this is my fault,” he said quietly.

After a moment of silence, Raafi was surprised to hear his father’s hysterical laughter. Sami and the few other advisors who stood around him looked up with equal shock. Sami stepped back instinctively with surprise as the king grabbed at his shoulder and gasped, “Do you hear that, Samiullah? He doesn’t understand how this is his fault! Can you believe it?”

“Your Majesty…” Sami began uncertainly, but his words were cut off by the sight of the tears dripping down the King’s chin. Laughing like a crazed old man, his whole body shook with the effort. Raafi watched silently as the laughter turned into deep, guttural sobs. He braced himself as his father faced him yet again.

“My son is dead,” he shouted, his voice trembling with the weight of his pain, despite his visible effort of restraining his sorrow. Here in front of Raafi stood a broken man and neither Raafi nor any wise old advisor knew how to put him back together. “Do you not understand, Raafi?” Zahir continued. “Adnan is dead, because of you. It was your job to protect him, and you did not.”

Raafi began to splutter out a reply, but he was silenced by the Zahir's unrelenting fury. “I will never hear Adnan laugh again, never teach him how to be a king. Do you know why? Because of you!”

Raafi was well aware of the fact that his brother was cold and dead. He was more than aware of it, in fact. His whole body felt empty, as if somebody had used a knife to carve out a piece of him. It felt impossible to Raafi that Adnan would never again irritate him, never again jest with him. And what of the plans they had made, for after the battle with Badra, to go out riding? 

“Father, you don’t understand,” he said weakly.

“What don’t I understand?” Zahir screamed, not bothering to wipe away the tears on his face. It seemed he had forgotten there was anybody else in the room besides Raafi and himself.

“There was a jinni. She… it… it killed Adnan. I could not have stopped her even if I wanted to and-”

“Jinn?” his father whispered, his eyes instantly widening with sudden shock. After a moment of slightly eerie silence, he turned around to face the advisors as if seeing them sitting there for the first time. “Leave.”

Sami exchanged glances with Raafi but before he could speak, Zahir repeated himself angrily. “I said LEAVE!” Without another word, Sami followed the other elderly advisors who scrambled hastily out of the tent. Once they were gone, Zahir’s eyes were fixed on Raafi again.