Liyah's breath hitched in her throat. The sandy desert stretched for miles and miles, without end. She looked at the two in front of her with an exasperated expression etched on her face, "Tell me this gets easier."
Rayan smirked, "Careful, habibti...
Thank you for all the votes, comments and the support!! School has been quite hectic but I managed to squeeze in a few chapters.
Love always, saharastardust *
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Chapter 5 | al Kinza Cave The sands of time reveal a hidden treasure within the dunes
"YA HIMAR!" A high-pitched, feminine voice screeched before the sound of shattering glass echoed through the walls of the servant quarters. An amused chuckle left Liyah's lips as she sneakily pressed her cheek against the wall. Liyah gasped as colorful strings of profanities spewed out the women's mouths. The loudness of the exchange between her bickering neighbors amplified as the tips of her ears touched the cold, cemented wall. Another crash resonated.
"If you dare ta– Haniya!"
The two had been at it for three days straight. She didn't have the slightest clue as why the two handmaidens next door were quarreling. Their escapade would religiously begin an hour before the sun's light touched the earth and would end as soon they both stomped off into the palace of the al-Tarifs in the midday heat. For three days straight– Haniya and her companion devoured any form of silence surrounding the quarters. Their ruckus was almost enough to distract the girl's thoughts from trailing to what Soraya and Zuleika had exposed to her in the souq seven nights ago.
Almost.
Liyah sighed heavily when the loitering thoughts of her supposed destiny sprung back into her head. The only words that left Soraya's mouth had to do with Liyah's strange departure out of the city. Soraya revealed no detail of Liyah's prophecy– proclaiming that she would not understand in her state of shock. The girl somewhat agreed with her grandmother, for the souq left shivers running down her back. The mystical, unearthly aura of the nightly bazaar was uncharted territory for Liyah.
And whether she could believe the potion books and palm readers that the midnight souq hid, remained unclear to her.
Liyah brushed the dust off of her abaya and abandoned her spot against the wall dividing the two compounds. While her afternoon entertainment was comically unmissable, she knew that she had other priorities to attend to– including posting a letter that should have been across the Atlantic Ocean by that time.
Liyah unfolded the letter than had been almost glued to her palms with her beads of sweat. The girl chewed her lip in concentration as she proofread the letter that she was required to send to her mother the day that she arrived in Almasahra. Her eyes carefully raked over the letters of fresh, dark blue ink, hoping that her mother would not sense any sort of hesitance in her words.
