Kissed by Chaos

Kissed by Chaos (17) - Anticipation

Kissed by Chaos

Chapter 17 - Anticipation

The stout, stocky man loping out of the gates of the Mustafa palace seemed as surprised by Elisabeth and me as we were by the majesty of the palace itself. He did not even attempt to mask the disbelief spread across his worn, tanned face. After a rapid conversation in Arabic passed between him and Raafi, he stepped back and motioned for us to continue through the gates and into the palace. He kept his eyes fixated on Elisabeth and me as we cautiously followed Raafi inside. Sami lagged behind and walked alongside Ridwan. I listened to Ridwan’s hushed murmurs and even though I did not understand a word of Arabic, I could hear the amazement in his voice. I vaguely wondered how he knew about us.  

If I had had it my way, I would have stood outside and simply stared at the palace from afar. No amount of flowery words could do its magnificence justice. It loomed over us both menacingly and awaited us as if in welcome at the same time. The golden sun made everything – every smooth, curved dome and every leaf of every powerful palm tree – glitter spectacularly. It also gave everything a warm aura and the sand encompassing the palace only added to its beauty. The Mustafa palace more than met my expectations of what a wealthy Arabian king’s palace would look like.

As I walked behind him, I could not help but stare at Raafi’s figure walking confidently into the palace’s arms. This all belonged to him, if he really was the prince of Mirzan as he claimed to be. Or rather, this would all belong to him in the future. What was he like around his people? Was he as illusive and mysterious to them as he was to me?

A small, warm hand wrapped itself around mine, safely steering me out of my train of thought. I glanced beside me at Elisabeth, whose nervous eyes were fixed on me. “What’s wrong, Elisabeth?” I asked.

“What do you mean, what’s wrong?” she retorted in disbelief. “It has been almost two decades since we have seen our mother. If she really is here, has it not occurred to you that she may not want to be found? That she may not want to see us? After all, Claire, she was the one who ran away from us.”

No, the doubts had unfortunately not evaded me, though I had been desperately trying to run away from them. No matter how far I got, they simply caught up to me and wrapped me up in their inescapable clutches once again. It was undeniable that there was a large chance that our mother had no desire to see us. The letter she had written to my father had not been intended for our eyes. Perhaps she had never wanted the life she had been destined for, never wished to be our mother at all. Perhaps she was happy here alone in Mirzan, where her past life had not yet caught up with her. Perhaps she had her own little family whom she loved and was content with. The thought made my stomach swirl unpleasantly.

“Yes, it has occurred to me,” I murmured softly, surprising myself with the fear rippling through my body. This fear was not a fear born out of the thought of camping out in the dark shadows of the forest at midnight, or being persecuted by the men of God and by the man I once loved. This fear was instead a terrible fear born out of the overwhelming possibility that I was not wanted here.

For once in our journey, I desperately needed my older sister to grant me answers. “What happens if she doesn’t want us, Elisabeth?”

Her eyes widened, as they always did when she was trying to fight back tears. She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly and finally gave up on replying.

“Claire? Elisabeth? Is everything alright?” It was only after hearing Raafi’s question that I realised Elisabeth and I had come to a standstill outside the gates. We rushed to catch up to Raafi and Sami. After glancing up at me with apparent concern in his dark eyes, he turned to the gates that were being pulled open for us. They revealed a line of men dressed in all black, their eyes downcast and hidden under hoods. The golden hilt of some kind of weapon glinted at their belts. Not for the first time, it occurred to me that perhaps we were walking straight into the dragon’s lair.