Shadow Seer [18+]

~ Thirty ~

The problem with her visions was that Sanaa could feel everything about them. The air that surrounded her or the touch of someone's skin was all so prominent and visceral that even fear, joy, pleasure and sadness rippled through her soul as she experienced the vision she'd been granted.

This meant, that Sanaa had felt Amir die.

She had seen the light escape from his eyes and felt the glee swimming through Ghassan when he stabbed his son through the heart. Sanaa had seen both the men in her vision, as though she were watching from a third set of eyes but were those eyes her own? Had she stood there and watched Ghassan kill the man she loved and done nothing? The possibility didn't bear thinking about and the only comfort she found was that her visions had the possibility not to come true. She'd told Ghassan as much more than once, when something she'd Seen had not come to pass. Her visions were possible futures, she'd learned from the first instance, not the only future. She had to believe that Amir would be saved from his father's blade. She had to believe it or she didn't know how she would survive.

There was something else about her vision that bothered her but she couldn't grasp what it was. Something about Amir and the child but it fell from her mind like smoke.

Her dark prince was still watching her and so she plastered a happier look on her face. He'd been so worried for her, she'd seen it in his eyes. When she lifted his hand to place a kiss on the back of it, he asked her softly, "Does it hurt, when you have a vision?"

She shook her head, "No. Not when they're natural. It only hurts when the Alamuhim use their elixir on me." Amir's gaze turned thunderous. "What is it?"

"That fucking elixir. I begged my father not to use that on you."

"You did?"

"Of course I did!" he snapped, although she knew he wasn't angry at her. "It was his stupid attempt to coax my magic out of me when I was a boy but it never worked on me or my siblings! He kept the Alamuhim working on it for years then he came to me about it a few years after he brought you to the palace."

Amir's anger suddenly deflated as he looked her over before reaching out and taking her lock of white hair into his hand. It had been braided into the rest of her hair but it wasn't hard to miss.

"Did the elixir do this?"

"I think so. It happened the night after he beat me and I'd been asleep for twelve days. I think... I think it ages me." She hadn't wanted to admit it before. Sanaa watched as Amir's rage blazed in his eyes before he closed them and took a deep and steadying breath. When he opened them, he seemed more reserved and immediately stood from beside her bed.

"Will you be okay for a moment?"

"Where are you going?" she panicked, sitting up a little straighter in the bed but Amir smiled his gorgeous smile and bent over to kiss her forehead.

"Just to wash. Will you be okay while I change?" Sanaa nodded, feeling silly for overreacting but smiled up at him shyly. He stroked the side of her face before picking up a few of his belongings and disappearing into the bathing room.

Sanaa lay back on the bed, listening to the sounds he made in the water but curiosity soon got the better of her. Surely one little peek wouldn't hurt. She'd seen him topless but unless she really wanted to play with temptation, she'd never seen him fully naked. Decidedly, Sanaa threw the covers back and walked gingerly towards the bathing room door. Thankfully, it was slightly ajar and through the crack, she could see Amir sitting in the large metal drum. His back was to her and so she watched, entranced as his arm and neck muscles flexed, as he soaped his skin. He'd tied his hair into a bun to stop it getting wet but Sanaa wanted nothing more than to run her fingers through the silky strands.