Shadow Seer [18+]

~ Twenty Five ~

Between the talents of the Alamuhim, Archimedes, and Miri, Sanaa's wounds slowly begun to heal. They gave her a variety of recovery remedies that staved off infection and stopped the ongoing pain of her back slowly stitching itself back together. Despite her healing wounds, over a week later, Sanaa's tears continued to fall. They all thought it was simply because of the pain but none could understand that it wasn't only physical.

She had been granted a brief moment in time to live her limited fantasies with Amir and now that dream was well and truly dead. It was abundantly clear, now more than ever, that whatever she and Amir had felt for each other had never been real. If it had, he could never have whipped her.

Whipped.

With his shadow powers, Amir had reduced her to chattel, lesser than human by treating her like filth. No one deserved to be whipped like an animal. It was cruel, disgusting and inhumane. No one should be able to do that to another person, much less someone they claimed to love.

I love you.

Three small words that held so much power. She'd dreamed of hearing those words from anyone but to have them uttered by the one man she'd been drawn to the majority of her life, now felt hollow. They meant nothing, did nothing because of the horrific act he'd committed immediately afterward. Was Amir so weak he couldn't have stood up to his father and not abused her this way? It didn't matter, she realised, since she was done with understanding his past trauma. She knew he couldn't have killed Ghassan because of the curse but he could have refused. He shouldn't have been able tor raise his hands or his powers to her and she could never forgive him. Amir had chosen this by letting Ghassan use him, and Sanaa no longer had any illusions about him changing. As long as his father controlled him, Amir would continue to do his bidding. The power Ghassan had over his only son was root deep, buried with the love Amir had for the family that would never be returned to him. If only there was some way to find where Ghassan had buried his family...

No, Sanaa stopped herself from going down that road of forced redemption. Amir had whipped her. She shouldn't be thinking of ways to improve his life.

As Sanaa lay in the infirmary on the ninth day of her recovery, tears came anew at the hopelessness of her situation. She would have continued wondering why the emperor bothered getting her patched up if he was just going to beat her anyway, if not for a visit from Khalar al Sim. His white robes and slippers were pristine, his dark hair and eyes calculating as he took a seat by her bed and looked down at her. He was a tall man, reed thin, with poisonous eyes and a hooked nose. He was clean shaven - as were most holy men - with dark kohl under his eyes that gave him a foreboding expression even on the rare occasion that he smiled. Sanaa was lying on her stomach to avoid pestering her wounds. She stared at him with her cheek resting comfortably on the plush pillow.

"What is it about you?" he whispered, though the words were harsh. Like a whip. Sanaa flinched. "What is it about you that has two men willing to go to war over you?"

Sanaa didn't bother to reply. She'd always hated Khalar. Not only for the role he played in administering the elixir that caused her pain, but for his general disdainful nature. He'd always looked at her like she was nothing, an irritant that he wished to be rid of, and she did not know why. She'd never asked to be here. She'd never asked for any of this.

"Have you heard the story?" he breathed, his question clearly rhetorical. "Of the general and the shadow girl?" Despite herself, his words intrigued Sanaa, understanding immediately that this was about Ghassan and Amina. "There was once an intelligent and ambitious general who wanted nothing more than to rule a kingdom. He had lands, riches, women; everything his heart desired except true power. He knew the only way to get it was to take it, and one day, with the help of his loyal advisor, he schemed to take that power from those who would keep it from him. Before he had begun to truly execute his plan, however, the general met a woman and fell in love. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and when the general realised he loved her, he lost sight of his ambitions and lost interest in claiming power for his own."