Shadow Seer [18+]

~ Twenty Three ~

Sanaa couldn't breathe. Her chest felt as though a rock had been placed in the centre of it. She simply did not know how to process the unthinkable words that she simply slumped to the ground. Her legs could not hold her weight and as she collapsed, Amir was immediately at her side. He pulled her into his arms then onto his lap as he sat on the carpeted floor and leaned against the couch in the middle of her sitting room. Amir cradled her, her head just underneath his chin as she attempted to get over the shock of his damning words.

"My father knew that the more of Cotai he conquered, the bigger the target on his head would become. He also knew that one day, he would have an heir who would be more powerful than him."

Sanaa said nothing, content to listen to him finally sharing with her.

"As I got older and understood who my father really was, I grew to hate him and all he stood for and so I promised myself that I would kill him when I was strong enough. When he ordered me to kill my mother and siblings, I tried to kill him instead. When he saw that I was going to turn my powers on him, he finally revealed his secret."

Amir's voice lowered once he'd cleared his throat, "When he was still a general for the King of Cotai, Ghassan and Khalar made it so that if my father were to die from malicious intent, then the person responsible for his death would die as well."

Amir kissed the top of Sanaa's head and spoke softly into her hair, "I didn't believe him at first but the look in his eyes when he dared me to try, I knew... I knew he was telling the truth. He saw my indecision and while I was vulnerable, disgusted and hurting he preyed on my weakness and my anger and ordered me to kill my family or else he'd submit my sister, my beautiful twin sister Amira to a fate worse than any his guard committed against Princess Elyria."

Amir was silent for a long time and she knew there was more to come, more she did not want to hear but knew he needed her to.

"When it was done and only Amira and I remained... he hurt her anyway because I'd disobeyed him. And made me watch."

Even though she'd known it was coming, nothing could have prepared Sanaa for Amir's words. That he could subject his own daughter to torture of that nature was beyond thinking about.

"I've tried to have him killed but nothing worked," Amir continued. "Poisoned wine, hunting mishaps, anything that would look like an accident, the person I employed would turn up dead. I felt so guilty getting people killed but I was too scared to end my own life."

"What changed?" Sanaa asked, her voice soft in the darkness that shrouded them.

"You did, Sanaa," Amir's voice was even softer, yet darker somehow; honest. "How I felt about you, changed how I saw myself. The more men that died, the more guilty I felt and so I decided that I would protect them from dying unwillingly rather than sending them to their deaths. Even if that meant keeping a monster in this world."

Amir adjusted Sanaa in his lap so that he could look directly into her eyes. Gently, he took her face in his and kissed her lips so tenderly, Sanaa felt like she'd melt into him.

"I couldn't let innocent people throw their lives away for the sake of one man."

Sanaa listened and she heard him but she had to voice what bubbled up inside her even as she stared right back into the mossy depths of his eyes. "What does one life matter if it would save countless others?"

Amir was silent for a long time but she was content to wait, to listen to the rhythm of his heartbeat, warm and solid underneath the palms she'd placed on his chest.

"When he hurt you and I... and I did nothing–"

"Amir–"

"I did nothing!" Sanaa jumped but he soothed her with a gentle stroke of his fingers against her face. "I couldn't let him hurt you anymore. I couldn't let him hurt the woman I..."