When Fire Meets Ice - Completed.

67. F A M I L Y

A/N- Assalamu'alaikum and hello! I hope you're all doing well.

I just wanted to give a few key notes for the upcoming arcs of this book:

WFMI is the first book in the 'Power' series. It's not only about external gain of power but the test of it, through it.
This story has never been about burning worlds for love. It is about what love protects, what it stops, and what it refuses to let us become. It's just always about that ONE person.

Ahad's or their journey together from here on may not always look familiar, or comfortable. But it is intentional.
Every step, every pause and every internal conflict is leading somewhere that matters as the story begins to explore not just strength, but the cost of it.

So I ask only this - read with patience,
observe closely, and trust the characters as they navigate through this phase of trial.

Thank you.

Enjoy!

.

I N A Y A

Betrayal splits open the wounds you spend your entire life concealing and trying to heal.

Every scar and memory you convince yourself was fate, you hold the stitches of your wound intact with every ounce of blood and energy left.

Betrayal splits it open.

Then strikes it.

Again and again until you're bleeding. Every time you thought 'it was meant to happen', it suddenly turns into 'it was planned to happen'.

When you have finally accepted and began living with the partial truths, veiled and woven lies and secrets, suddenly, when the truth is revealed, how do you wrap your mind around it?

How do you convince yourself that the very person you accepted as a loved one, was the one behind your biggest miseries? Not for months, not a year or two. But ten years.

Ten years of pain. The void of my mother's warmth. The burden of being blamed for being the reason she was gone.

Was this what trials meant? Years of torment followed by a moment of peace, only to be shattered like this?

Just when I had found the love I craved all this while. Was this how it was being tested?

And when the dagger of betrayal twisted in the depths of my chest, the fury in my blood boiled. It seeped down, threatening to consume my entire being with the fire of revenge. To destroy him and his father. To make him beg, cry and wail for a moment of peace like he had made me do for ten years.

My reverie was broken when I felt Ahad shift beside me. The clock ticked in the background, AC humming in the far corner.

I kept staring at the ceiling, a confused mess. Anger, hurt, pain and betrayal clashing like storms. Each in a different direction, with a different voice of command.

A sigh escaped me when I felt his thumb brush my cheek. I shut my eyes slowly, releasing a shaky breath as I whispered, "Ahad."

"Yes, love." He breathed, brushing a kiss against my forehead.

I turned to him on instinct, burying my face in his chest as I inhaled the familiar scent. Mine. I could feel the strength with every beat of his heart. Strong and firm.