The suffrage of heartache for the privilege of loving, who would have known it better than Dahab? She had been in love, even with her tired tired bones, sunken eyes and laden soul, her heart had known how to love but then again hearts are absurd and absurdity spells doom.
She watches him from afar, It was the first time she had seen him as a vizier, with a swish of his silken robe he slithered through the banquet hall like a desert snake. Vicious, in his stance, she was bound to this very man.
It had been her first time into the palace's gate and she was sure of it to be her last. Lateef, the vizier, her bethrowed had fetched her here against her will. She resented him for it.
The banquet was thrown by the Khalifa, lavish and rich, as it weaved through the night. It nauseated her.
Goblets of wine shone under the moonlight like desert grains. Maidens of harem scattered across the hall as the silken robes and vicious laughter shrilled across the room.
Dahab silently twists through the crowd, finding an escape, anything better than to watch people corrupt their souls
The wind hits her hair as she exits the banquet hall, a sigh birthing from her tired soul and wearied bones. Dahab silently stares at the bazaar lights from the balcony relishing the isolation the night graced her.
"Must you abandon a banquet so lavish" A voice cuts the thick air of winters as Dahab turns around. She watches a man appear before her sight.
"Not everyone fancies normalizing and enjoying Haram, the forbidden, Sire" Dahab snaps looking away, she peers at the man with a newly birthed curiosity as he leans against the wall.
"Ah Haram, that's a big word" He chuckles mirthlessly, eyes fixated on her.
"So is the punishment for committing it" Dahab taunts as her hands wrap around the ivory handrail
"The fact is, we humans have normalized sins and corruption, going against the will of God, we have glorified rebellion but what good is this barter to one, it can not and it will not profit them"
She voices her thoughts, Her eyes twisting into a silver frown, She closes her eyes as the winds hit her face.
Beyond the city limits, the stars shine down just as bright, the winds crafting the dunes like flickering waves
"Acting pious, aren't we? Had you been so chaste you wouldn't have been here, in this brothel-like palace, in the first place"
"This.....the opinions and the judgments people seem to nestle about others who aren't answerable to them astounds me"
Dahab smiles at him with disdain. Her eyes trace the city lights for a moment before flickering back to him
"Minding your own business these days might as well be named an art" She adds looking away. There is a moment of silence as she watches the man scrutinize his gaze on her
"You are quite an argumentative woman"
"Pardon me for not entertaining your absurd allegations or queries"
Dahab bites back smiling at him.
"My Ameer" Dahab hears Lateef walk, slow echoing steps as he stands before her.
"Pardon me if the girl has created any trouble or misbehaved" He apologizes as he stands before her.
"Nay it's nothing, I can banter with her all day" He laughs
"That's one way to call yourself petty and jobless, now, isn't it? " Dahab smirks. She watches her fiance glare at her "I apologize again, Sire" He speaks looking down with respect. Dahab rolls her eyes. Petty Royals and their puppets.
"His lordship, Khalifa has summoned you, My ameer" Lateef speaks silently as they walk away conversing about trades and politics.
Dahab sighs as she sits on the stairs leaning against a pillar.
She watched her fiancee mingle with people, prolonged conversations and icy laughs, this was the man she had been bound to, the man she had always loved, but love was absurd and so was Dahab.
For a long long time, her eyes trace up to the silver plate hung in the obsidian cloak of the night. Dahab silently closes her eyes. She misses home. One can barter a thousand dinars and still not bargain the warmth of home and Dahab misses it. A lot so. This was the first and last of her being inside the palace's walls. She had promised herself that nonetheless destiny had different plans and 2 years later she'd be here again, either ruling it with her iron fists or in the dungeons of the same palace.
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