One Thousand and One Nights (It so happened...)

Ten seconds till midnight

      The wine provided a buzz to his mind already. He looked down at his goblet, it was empty.

   He was about to pour himself more wine when he felt a whisper of lips on the nape of his neck. His soul trembled and he closed his eyes to calm himself down.

   He felt nimble arms wrap around his waist and a cheek on his back. His body revolted from the touch. "I am not in the mood, Khatun." He said grabbing her hands and trying to pull her off.

    "Are you in the mood for a story?"

   "I - What?!" He turned around to see her. He almost lost his balance. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

  She couldn't be here. She had left. He had recieved information that she did. Maybe he was drunk. He thought to himself.

    "You...I..I am hallucinating. You aren't really here."

       "Your majesty...I am here." Her palms rested on his chest.

  ***

  His heart raced against her palms. Dilruba met his eyes which were still in disbelief. He closed his eyes and opened them again and again expecting her to disappear.

   His chest bloomed in a deep breath and fell. His eyes hardened and in an instant he was out of her teacher.

    "What are you doing here, Dilruba?" He hissed.

    She hardened her stance too. "Why? Wherever would I be?" She scoffed in a mockingly playful tone. "Weren't we getting married today? We're married now."

    She saw him pace the room as his wedding kaftan glittered under the light of the oil lamps. "You were supposed to leave! You were supposed to go to Zeraliya!" He snapped.

   "No. You promised me that you would marry me. And you tried to escape from it!"

   He stood staring at her in rage, "This is the most foolish act I have ever seen!"

  "I am foolish, yes, that you are right. I blindly trusted you to keep your promises! But the fool that I was, never knew that all of those promises would be  out of the window as soon as you knew I was a whore!"

    He closed his eyes at the last word as if it had pained him. His chest still rose and fell. She could feel his anger coming off him in waves.

    "What are you angry for? That you married a whore?" She leaned closer to him as he turned his face away as if running away from her.

"That your wife hasn't been untouched. "She hissed harshly. "Is it the fact that every part of her body was touched by multiple men? Hmm? Or is it because I am not pure?"

   She looked at him and he had his head turned but she saw the veins in his neck popping. His jaw was set and his fingers were clenched.

   Dilruba knew he was on the edge. All of this should've scared her because darkness and dangerous dripped in the air and it leaked from him. But her heart beat fast from the danger. It thrilled her. She ached to taste it.

   She had been a whore, she was well aware of how pain and pleasure mixed at certain times. Some of her clients had the tendency to be rough because they were brutes. It had never excited her and she barely found it pleasurable.

   But right now, visions of him being rough flashed before her and she couldn't help the wave of pleasure it brought.

   But she was still angry at him. The temptation to push him over the edge was greater. She decided to kill him in a shot.

She walked closer to him trailing her nails on his tightened neck. He looked at her through knotted brows.

   "Why your majesty, I can guarantee you I can provide you with more pleasure than a virgin. My past experiences guarantee it -"

     "That. Is. Enough." He gripped hee shoulders pulling her closer so that their breaths clashed. "Enough. Dilruba."

      She scoffed, "You have to get used to such crude language, your majesty. After all you've married a...whore." she enunciated the last word.

   She saw his jaw tighten. "Stop saying that."

   "Saying what?" She feigned innocence. "What? A whore? But that won't change reality now would it? I am a whore! A whore! A WHORE!

  "ENOUGH! STOP IT. STOP IT! HAVE MERCY AND STOP!" He yelled, she saw his eyes fill with tears and he moved away from her pushing her away.

  For the longest time, he had her back towards her. He swiped his hair back, and his hand stayed in his hair.

   "Why did you come back?" He asked.

   "Why did you make me go away?"

   He turned to look at her, his anger was gone, exhaustion replaced it instead.

"The belief that it was because of your past is a lie. It had nothing to do with it. I let you go because I wanted you to be free."

   "Why?"

   She asked him but she knew.

"Because I- I..."

    She knew even though he couldn't say it. A new found hate filled.

"You let me go because it's me. Because you got attached to me."

  He let out a breath. She knew she was right. It gave rise to a new kind of anger in her. "Why was my life worth more than that girl?"

   "She knew what she was getting into, unlike you." He softened.

    She laughed bitterely, "And that makes it alright?! You brought her life with money? How dare you make such a bargain? You're not God!"

   Fire blazed in his eyes but underneath it she saw the despair.

"I don't see God making the situation here better! I am here. Alone!"
 
  Loneliness loomed off him. She agreed that he was alone.

   "You're a coward." She spat. "You're alone because of your cowardice. It is your ownmaking your majesty."

  "What do you want me to say, Scherezaade?" His walls were up again and his eyes were shuttered.

   "Let fate take its course. I was here because of fate but I am here now because I chose this fate. I am not letting someone else, who is loved by so many, replace me."

    "Is death really that easily acceptable to you?"

     "Do I have a choice other than to accept it, your majesty?"

    
     "You could've left."

     "And have the murder of an innocent poor girl on my conscience? I would rather die. Which I am anyway."

  She saw that his shoulders were slumped and that he looked utterly defeated. She walked closer to him and tipped his chin up to meet her eyes.

    "Why, your majesty, you should accept my death too. After all my death sentence is written by you."

     He grabbed her hand, "Your words kill me. Altough, no one had gathered up courage to speak to me this freely before. Everyone is thinking it, you say it."

    "Are you angry at my brazen words?

    "No. It's the truth.....You should've left." He sighef.

   "I couldn't. I hate you so much. For your cowardice, I knock at death's door. I only pray and hope my death gives you half my courage."

***
   
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