Rajah's Curse

Chapter 59: Their Escape

One would think that after hearing about their impending doom, a person would immediately jump into action to try to prevent it.

Aladdin and Abbi...did not do that.

Their kiss lasted for so long and grew so intense that I feared I would be forced to witness something meant only for a married couple to experience. To my relief, Abbi's stomach rumbled and the two of them decided it was time for dinner.

After giving me a brief rub on the cheek and a promise to be back later, Abbi followed Aladdin onto his somehow newly restored magic carpet, and off they went into the night.

My body slumped to the ground with a clink that sounded suspiciously similar to glass hitting glass.

It was another sign that Prince Ali had, at last, been telling the truth.

This place was a lie.

'Prince Ali' was a lie.

And Jasmine...

I could accept most everything else.

But how could the Jasmine I had been with all that time, the one who had kissed me, declared her love for me, asked me to marry her, and died right before my eyes, be just another magical fabrication?

I went over every encounter with her in the last few weeks again and recalled all the times that I caught her acting strangely. In hindsight, it was obvious she had not been herself. Her sudden commitment to marriage, odder-than-usual humor, disinterest in food, overly-taciturn argument style, and even how she acted after our first kiss, they were all signs and I'd noticed them. I'd known something was off, but I had been far too concerned about proving how perfect a partner I could be that I had refused to follow my instincts and pursue the truth.

Now...

Veins of light, her serious expression, and that unspoken entreaty.

Now...

There was only Abbi who might look, smell, and sound like Jasmine, but after seeing Abbi's reaction to Aladdin's story and being so close to a soulless death thanks to his actions, I could not say Abbi was Jasmine. No sane person would so easily put aside the heinous crimes Aladdin had committed with nothing more than a brief reprimand.

He should have been dismissed and discarded at the very least and for his crimes, a dishonorable death would be more than justified. That's what became of a flawed and dangerous prince. It was certainly what 'Prince Ali' deserved, what Aladdin deserved, and...

It was what I deserved.

But I must be as unscrupulous as Aladdin because my heart had ached at hearing Abbi's words to him, watching her kiss him.

After everything he'd done, all the mistakes he'd made, she had decided to stay by his side to the end and...

Love him.

Never had I been more jealous of a prince and he wasn't even that. Aladdin was an imposter, a nobody, and yet...

In that moment, and even now, I wished...

A hand touched my cheek. I could feel again. I hadn't noticed the lack, but now, I experienced my body coming back to life.

"Rajah," it was Jasmine's voice, her scent. "Wake up."

My eyes fluttered open with a few clicks. A blurriness I had not registered before, cleared. The world became real once more, or at least somewhat real.

I was still in Ababwa which meant the beautiful woman smiling hopefully at me was probably still just Abbi.

"You have to stop scaring me like this," her chastisement was as affectionate as her touch.