Shadow Seer [18+]

~ Eleven ~

AMIR

Ghassan called for the Alamuhim to administer the tonic and force further information from Sanaa's vision.

"Is this necessary?" Amir called out, his voice hard as stone even as he held Sanaa in his arms, wrapped in his father's bed sheets. The very reality of that made his jaw ache with tension and his blood boil with fury. He pulled her more tightly into his grasp even as the white robed men entered the room. His father had refused to address him even as they'd waited, Sanaa in trembling silence.

"Just have her call a vision herself. You don't need to do this!"

"And have her lie to me again? No, we do as I say."

Khalar stood just a step behind Ghassan but as Amir looked into the other man's eyes he knew he wished to be somewhere else. Namely, in front of Ghassan. Amir was not fooled by Khalar's piety or apparent loyalty to Ghassan. The man was a snake who wanted his father's throne and he would do almost anything to get it. Amir had tried to prove Khalar's duplicity to his father but Ghassan would have none of it. He refused to believe the worst of what could only be described as his closest friend.

If sadistic warlords could have such a thing, Amir thought as he glared at Khalar. The head Alamuhim directed his minions with barely a nod and two of the white robed men approached Amir where he still stood with Sanaa in his arms. She was trembling, her skin cold as she shook. Her head lulled against his shoulder, her short pants of terrified breath warm against his skin. He grit his teeth against the sensation even when he felt her eyelids flutter with exhaustion. She was going to pass out.

"We must take her, your highness," one of the Alamuhim said.

Amir bared his teeth, "I'd like to see you try." His words were sharp as blades, as potent as poison and the Alamuhim stopped mid stride. He looked to Khalar and the emperor who both said nothing, their order given. The man swallowed, clearly unnerved by the request but took another step toward Amir. the prince threw his arm out, sending a rope of shadow to clasp itself around the man's neck, choking him.

"Take one more fucking step toward her and I will gut you."

The man clawed at his throat, desperate for breath. Amir care for nothing in that moment. Innocent or not, if he touched Sanaa, this man would die.

"And what will you do to me?" Ghassan Dalmoud asked with a satisfied smirk. "What will you do, if I take one more step?"

Amir froze, his anger rendering him solid as stone. The move released the robed man from his shadow hold. His father was a bastard on his best day and he knew Amir could not defy him.

"You don't need to do this, Father. Have Sanaa Look when she's well. You don't need to rip the visions from her. She has no reason to lie to you!"

"She has every reason to lie to me!"

"And whose fault is that?" Amir roared, his own body now shaking with visceral anger. "You abuse her and expect her not to fight back?"

"Is this what you attempt with this childish defiance?" Ghassan questioned, his eyes darkening with sinister interest. Their onyx depths, now calculated and murderous. "To fight back, when you know all possibility of a positive outcome would be in vain?"

Amir glared at him, unable to say anything that his father wouldn't twist to his advantage. He wanted to fight, yell, to strike at the man who had given him life but at what cost? Sanaa continued to shake in his arms. She'd likely go into shock soon if he didn't get her away from here. His grip tightened around her as he glared at his father and the sly man inches behind him.