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...
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Chapter 10 | The Reveal the fortune teller held her breath, refusing to let the stardust of the desert escape her lips
"WAKE HER UP!" a venomous voice rang through Soraya's ears. She fluttered her eyes open, attempting to clear the raging phosphenes clouding her vision. The woman stirred from her lethargic state on the cold tiles as a solid leather boot connected with her ribs. Liyah's grandmother let out a breathless whimper when she felt pools of a metallic liquid seeping through the cotton of her abaya.
Soraya placed her wrinkled hands to her head, desperately trying to suppress the throbbing above her temples from intensifying. She knew that she must have been out for a day of two. Her scarlet blood was beginning to form a firm crust on her lower lip. She fought hard not to think about the memories of the night that Almasahra's stable state shattered. After the princess's suicide, Soraya had successfully convinced the Almasahri heiress's parents to flee from the evil-infested grounds of the palace. Soraya could sense that the evil had finally broken the protective barriers that generations of royal fakirs had built around the palace.
The scarred sorcerer was here. Soraya knew that General Shakil and his guards could only hold the off the threat for a short while before they invaded the royal court. She had sensed it on that night and had immediately sent Rayan off with her granddaughter and the princess. The longer the keys to al-Kinza Cave remained in the palace, the greater their lives were at risk and Soraya would rather see her own life wither and crumble away, like a wilted, dried desert rose, than to ever witness those beloved children die.
"Soraya Zoghbi," a shadowed figure boomed as he stood at the entrance of the corner cell. Soraya zoomed past the hoards of men in black clothing before her eyes landed on the figure. He began strolling towards the woman in a slow motion, careful not to let the upper part of the cloak reveal his identity. The man extended his hand towards her. "The renowned Soraya Zoghbi of the al-Tarif royals, I have waited a long time for this moment. Yallah, let me help you. "
Her stomach dropped. Though the woman's eyes may have been tainted by time, but she could still make out the curves of three distinctive glowing curves etched into the man's hand.
Shin
Pure horror consumed the woman. The scarred man seemed to energize off of the fear painted on the woman's face. A deep, guttural laugh resonated from his throat as he sunk his grimy nails into Soraya's forearm and thrusted her into the wall of the crimson-stained cell.
"I have waited a long time for this moment." He gritted through his teeth as he pushed the helpless woman further into the bricks of the cell wall, "To torture the woman who coerced the Khalifa to go into hiding; to torture the woman who conducted a faux murder and released the princess into the depths of the sand dunes."
