Royal Temptations

Chapter Two

The storm that hit Syria came fast, rain attacking their small farm hard. The ground became slick with mud, making it close to impossible to finish ploughing the fields.

There was mere metres left to be dug, too close to finishing to stop now. That was what Rania had told her father when she left the house at dawn. That was five hours ago. It was four hours ago that Rania had finished the field and a mere hour back that she had started over again for the second time.

She was simply distracting herself with mindless tasks, dreading the news she would receive once she returned to her family. Usually ploughing the fields would make Rania's day seem timeless, making it feel like minutes before the sun started to disappear on the horizon once again. Today was different; today time was haunting her.

Shivers were shaking her body, making the work even harder than when she had began. Even the hard grinding of her teeth couldn't stop the loud clattering sound they made as they chattered away. She let out a defeated sigh as she finally surrendered to the storm. She stabbed the plough rather roughly into the muddy ground, frustrated with anything and everything. She pulled her forest green-drenched cloak closer to her body as she trudged in the direction of her awaiting home.

The first thing that was noticeable was that Ashur and Sebeen had left their tools just sitting on the workbench that was placed neatly off to the side of the porch. With the scattered tools and wood, it made the desk nearly invisible to the eye, it looked anything but neat. One thing Rania knew about her brothers were that they had a tendency to keep everything spotless. That meant something so unexpected had occurred that her brothers had rushed off leaving everything without a second thought.

Rania pulled her cloak off and hung it gently on a hook next to the door; she refused to let that small sign of her brothers disappearance get to her. It could mean anything. She entered the house with a smile plastered onto face, refusing to think anything was wrong. Even the loud sobs of her father attacking her ears didn't make her smile falter. She forced false hope into her own mind as she pondered on the thoughts that they might be cries of joy.

As she entered the kitchen and took in the sight of Ashur and her father, her smile dropped along with her hope. Her fathers cheeks were scathed with trails of tears, his eyes rimmed with ones yet to be shed. Her older brother was in no better condition as he nodded towards the papers sitting on the oak table. That was the only recognition she got as the grown men returned to comforting each other. In a different situation Rania would of found the sight hysterical, but as she scanned the letter that had caused this scene she found it anything but humourist.

She raced out of the kitchen and headed straight to her oldest brother's room, the words of heart disease constantly running through her mind. She was a smart girl and attended school regularly and with a photographic memory she remembered reading about such illness in a text book. She also remembered the initial cost, with the surgery and the after treatment it would range from three to four thousand dollars. So much that she was sure not a single Syrian could afford it without putting themselves in debt.

As she entered the master bedroom of the house that her brother somehow convinced their father to let him have, she smiled at the sight of Sebeen and a sleeping Lilith both curled up on the window seat. Seb smiled back, sadness tainted his eyes as he ushered for her to join him.

Rania followed his unspoken orders and curled up next to her eldest brother, placing the scattered papers that had held her spot in a neat pile on the floor. She believed that was the reason to Sebeen receiving the master bedroom. He was a writer and an artist, one who would continuously complain at having to sit on the cramped window seat hours on end in his old bedroom, the one that Rania now had.