★

A prince in exile, a general by fate.
He laughs to bury what aches-
charm worn like armor,
grief tucked beneath golden thread.
Steel in his stride, storms in his eyes-
and a heart, he thought was long dead
Until her.

~Burq Mutassem Sulaiman~

★

Amidst the silence of the night,
wanders a soul in search of peace.

He is no prince -
his fate abandoned that title long before he was born.
But he is a warrior, a warrior,
a general clad in armor carved from charm,
his pain hidden behind a disarming smile
that could lay any woman's heart on a platter-
except the one he longed for.

When fate takes the reins
and binds him to a princess he never wanted,
will he give her the love she deserves?
Or will the ghosts of his past
haunt him until the day he dies?

★

Grace carved in stillness,
eyes like dusk before a storm.
Crowned in duty, cloaked in poise-
she speaks in silken defiance.
A heart guarded,
until a warrior's gaze dared to stay.

~Warda Hassan Qutub~

★

She was raised to be more than a daughter-
A sister to a Sultan, a princess made of poise and silence.
Graceful as a moonlit river,
yet every step she takes is weighed by duty.

She speaks little, but her eyes know grief.
They've seen promises broken,
and thrones claimed too young.

Behind her elegance is a fire no one sees.
Behind her stillness, a storm that waits.

When fate places a general in her path-
a man who hides sorrow behind laughter,
will she let herself fall for the one
who was never meant to be hers?

Or will her crown crush what her heart dares to want?

★

★

He laughs to hide his wounds.
She smiles to hold her world together.
A general with no kingdom.
A princess with no dream.

Bound not by love, but by fate,
they stand on opposite ends of duty.
But what begins with sharp words and silences
may grow into something neither expected-
a love born in shadows,
and forged in fire.

✨ Even hearts hidden behind armor are written for one another.

****************************

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                                                     ★

Hello readers!

~First of all thanks a lot for giving this book a chance. It is a historical muslim story and I try my best to make it halal though I don't guarantee that all the incidents in the book are halal.

~English is not my first language and I'll make mistakes throughout the book, please have a big heart and of course constructive feedbacks are welcomed.

~ I write these kinds of stories because my interests lie in this genre.

~ This is my second book and the stories are interconnected though you can read it as a standalone too.

~ I've tried my best to make this book readable, I'm a new reader and started writing out of impulse but soon it became my escape from reality. I couldn't stop writing after that.

~ Comment a lot, your one comment makes my day. Literally.

                      ✨Happy Reading ✨

"𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭!"

Burq curses under his breath when the fine weather turns suddenly into the pouring rain.

He pats his gray stallion who picks the speed as the first drop of sky's water descends on the polished skin of 𝘈𝘢𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘲- the stallion.

Aaahiq never liked being closed to water. It was either him or the water on the same ground. If it was some other place, the stallion would have already left the place and taken shelter far away from the source of water, but the loyal Stallion would rather die than to live his master alone.

Although Burq feels pity for him, he knows the years old rivalry between him and water. "I'm sorry my little one, I promise I'll keep you away from the water until the next moon." He sympathizes with the furious animal.

The stallion halts at the crowded entry of the local 𝘣𝘢𝘻𝘢𝘢𝘳. Burq dismounts, his black cloak sheds water droplets.

He wraps the lead rope around the hitching post and with the final pat to his stallion, he makes his way toward the narrow alleys.

He pushes through the bodies, his huge frame makes the task easier for him. He roams his gaze through the crowd, people- buying, selling, negotiating.

His steps halt when he senses commotion in the bazaar. A huge crowd gathers around a 𝘮𝘢𝘣𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢 (incense burner) seller.

A young girl, holds a golden 𝘮𝘢𝘣𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢 to her chest, crying when the seller tries to snatch the burner from her hands, claiming that she has stolen the burner from his shop.

"Nah," The girl cries, her dark eyes sparkle with unshed tears. "Nah ya 'Am' I didn't steal it, I swear it's mine." A tear slips from her left eye.

Beside her the crowd watches the show, not bothering to solve the issue.

Burq clenches his jaw.

The middle aged man goes furious. "Ya Allah, you see, people, this girl lies. I saw her, she stole it from here," he gestures toward a spot on his wooden stall "from right here."

"Yes, yes, I saw her eyeing my 𝘲𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘴 (carpets) too, she felt suspicious to me also," the shopkeeper beside the incense burner one added.

"Yes, you see, I was not wrong. This girl is indeed a thief! let me get back my 𝘮𝘢𝘣𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢 from her and we should hand her over to the 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘪 (area In-charge)-Saddam 𝘢𝘨𝘩𝘢.

The girl starts crying. The man holds her by her arms and tries to push her on the ground when Burq interrupts.

"𝘚𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯 (patience) ya 'Am'," he roars, his deep voice manages to hush the crowd.He shoves the bodies away and appears in front of the man.

The man pauses, hands holding the girl harshly.

Burq clutches the man's arms and shoves him away.

The girl wastes no time as she hides herself behind Burq, Sobbing softly.

The man stumbles but manages to stand. Clearly dominated by the man at least a foot taller than him.

"What is it agha,?" the man asks, trying to sound someone who is in power. "This girl here has stolen my good, I request you to hand her over to me." The man says, an unsuccessful attempt to sound agitated.

"First, let me know her crime," he asks calmly. The crowd goes deadly silent.

"I told you, she has stolen my good." The man claims.

"This thing?" Burq gestures toward the burner in the girl's hands.

"Yes," he agrees.

"Let me check then." Burq turns to the girl.

"May I hold your 𝘮𝘢𝘣𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢 for a while, young lady?" He asks her politely. The young girl's cheeks turn pink as she nods and hands him over the burner.

"This burner here," He shows the burner to the crowd. "Does it look it belongs here?" He asks. The crowd murmurs to themselves.

The burner was definitely not one of the kind, the burner seller had.

"This burner here has fine miniature art, precisely done, far better than the bold and casual patterns he has on his burners." Burq roars, his voice dominating as he address the crowd.

The crowd hums in acknowledgement.
The man goes flustered under the disappointed gaze of the people around him.

"This proves that the girl is innocent." Burq says finally eyeing the man,he smiles, making the burner seller uncomfortable.

"And now, he would provide a fine 𝘮𝘢𝘣𝘬𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢 of young lady's choice as compensation." Burq declares.

The man widens his eyes. "Why would I do that?" He asks, clearly agitated.

"Yes, why would he do that?" The carpet shop's owner chimes in.

Burq turns and smiles to him too. "Not only him, my brother, you would also provide her with a fine 𝘲𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘯 of her choice."

The carpet shop owner gasps. "What is this nonsense? What does it have to do with me?" He asks, furiously.

Burq crosses his arms on his chest. "Because you are just charged with the crime of defamation of the young lady, when she was clearly guiltless and you my brother," He eyes the carpet shop owner. "You are the partner in his crime, I saw that. So, if you both don't do as I say, you are going to get your head on the platter, and you must know, how strict our Sultan is, if it regards a young lady's honour."

The crowd hums in agreement.

"This young 𝘢𝘨𝘩𝘢 is right, you must do what he says." An old man tells to the two shop owners, who curse under their breath and proceeds to do what Burq says.

The girl gets the burner and carpet, giggles happily.

The crowd starts to dissolve, people go back to their business.

Burq too, heads towards his destination when he halts as he feels a tug on his cloak.

He turns.

The girl immediatey drops the corner of his cloak as she hugs the goods in her arms.

"𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘬𝘳𝘢𝘯 (𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶) agha," She says, cheeks tinted pink, eyes down to the ground.

Burq smiles. "No worries, can you go to your house by yourself? Do you need assistance, kid?" He asks politely to the girl.

Her face falls. She looks him in the eyes.
" I know my way home, thanks." She says, stomping her foot on the ground and moves to the opposite direction.

Burq frowns at the weird behavior of the young lady.

She looks him from over her shoulder. "I'm not a 'kid' agha." She shouts from where she was standing and strides off.

"Did I not just help her?" He mutters to himself but shrugs.

Kids are like this. He should know better. Hamama too shows tantrum most of the time like this.

He marches towards the narrow alley in the middle of the baazar. The alley was closed from the other end.

He stops at a blue- painted wooden door. He knocks.

After a few moments, an old lady, opens the door, her pale skin, a sharp contrast to the black scarf she was wearing around her head. Her sea green jalabiya was old.

Burq gives her a warm smile.

"Salame alekum, 𝘬𝘩𝘢̃𝘭𝘢𝘩-aunt," he says, leaning on the door frame.

The old lady- Fatima Jan- smiled hard with her few missing teeth. "I thought you wouldn't come." She says, opening the door wide for the man to enter.

"Not a chance," he says with a grin as he takes the old lady's hands in his and kisses them out of respect.

"Where is , Am?" He asks as he searches the space for his uncle -Sayyid Idris.

It was a small house with two rooms, an open kitchen in the backyard and space in front. Its clayey walls were freshly painted, he could smell the soothing fragrance of earth mingled with the aroma of food.

Burq picks a grape from the basket of fruits, placed on the small wooden table in front of two small couches.

He pops the grape in his mouth as he sits on the couch.

"He is busy cooking your favourite 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪, he is compensating for the last month when you didn't pay us a visit." She says , showing fake anger as she sits on the couch beside him.

"I'm sorry, khãlah, I couldn't manage," he says, as he turns toward her. "It was a mess at the palace because of Sikander's marriage and all, you must know by now, No?" He asks, popping another grape in his mouth.

"Of course I know, who doesn't?" She says and smiles at him. "I'm expecting something more." She says, eyes narrowed.

Burq bites his inner cheek. He knows where things are going. He prefers to stay quiet on the matter.

"Sultan is younger than you, he can marry then why can't you?" She goes on "I'm afraid by the time you'll be willing to get married , all the fine women would be having kids- half of your age." She murmurs under her breath.

Burq laughs at this.

"Not everybody knows, but you do have a fine sense of humour, my khãlah." He chuckles as he pinches the old woman's cheeks. She slaps his hands away.A smile on her face. She tried to show him anger but failed miserably.

"Only Allah knows what can get you to get married," she murmurs, head shaking in disappointed as she stands up. "Wash up first, let me set up the lunch." She says and heads back toward the kitchen.

Burq stands up too. "Nah,ya khãlah,another time." He says as he holds her hand, stopping her.

"But..,"

"Next time.I promise. Today we have guests to attend at the palace," he says as he picks out a velvet red pouch from his pocket and puts it in Fatima's palm.

The old lady looks at the smiling face of Burq with an unreadable expression before she lowers her gaze at the bag in her palm.

"We are just two old people, we don't need this much-"

She couldn't get to complete her sentence when Burq interrupts her.

"Apologize to Am on my behalf and tell him I will definitely eat whatever he cooks, but next time." He murmurs as he makes his way out.

The old lady doesn't protest. She purses her lips and gives him a reassuring nod.

He grins as he goes out.

The rain has stopped now. The sky was clear. He makes his way towards his stallion hurriedly.

He needs to be at the Palace before dusk.

"Did you miss your master?" He smiles as he pats Aashiq. The stallion neighs.

"Let's go back then." He says as he mounts the stallion.

He reaches the palace and finds the entire caravan already reached. He curses under his breath and dismounts the stallion.

He hands over the riens of his stallion to the stable keeper boy and rushes back inside.

He needs to change—his hair was almost damp but he cared less. He put the cloak off his body in one of the chamber, he found open on his way to Royal court.

Sikander was busy talking to Sultan Alizeyd of Qahira when he reached there.

"I apologize for being late," he says, smiling, as he enters the court.

Alizeyd stands up from the couch he was sitting to greet him with a smile.

"I would be really offended if I couldn't see your efforts in reaching here on time," he chimes in as the men shake hands and hug.

Burq laughs as Alizeyd gestures towards his state— damp hair and almost wet kurta.

"As far as I remember we don't have any such emergency that needed our general to run through the rain himself," Sikander says as he narrows his eyes at him.

Burq rolls his eyes. "We did, it's just that our mighty Sultan doesn't need to know that," he says as he goes to sit on the couch opposite him.

"By the way, I don't know about external emergencies,but Sumayya had been searching for you for almost whole day when you were off on your adventures." Sikander announces casually as he picks out the darkest berries from the fruit basket and eats them.

Burq's eyes widen. His breath hitches. "Ya Rab, I forgot." He murmurs to himself.

"I guess you just invited the lost battle for you," Alizeyd says as he chuckles. Sikander joins him too.

"I'm hibernating in my room for the next few days until my sister forgets all about setting me up with all the young women she makes friends of." Burq says as he drops his head back on the couch.

Sikander chuckles. "Trust me she isn't forgetting anything."

"Why don't you just marry and be done with it," Alizeyd proposes as he takes sip of his tea.

Burq looks at him with narrow eyes. "Great solution, my friend, no wonder you are the Sultan of such a big estate." He mocks.

Alizeyd glares at him while Sikander was busy enjoying the banter.

Sometime passes in their banter and small talk until it was the time for dinner.

All the men head toward the dining room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"𝘏𝘢𝘥 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶... 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘳—𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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It had started to rain. The journey has proved itself, quite troublesome for her. There is nothing in the world which she hates more than rain. There was once the time when she liked rain but the tragedy took her interest in rain with it. Now, it's a lost memory.

She has no idea why people find this extremely irritating season - full of delays, mud and noise-soothing.

Soothing?

How could something so full of obstacles be soothing and a source of comfort.

The rain even delayed their journey.

The voyage comes to a halt. She recognised the territory.They have reached the destination.

Sultan Sikander Abraham Shah's domain, his Palace.

She has known the Shah family since she turned eighteen. Her brother, Alizeyd, and Sultan Sikander once met while hunting in the outer land of her estate. They had been friends ever since. Sultan Sikander even attended their mother's funeral. She was nineteen at that time.

She remembers that one time when Sultan Sikander was invited by her brother for dinner. He stayed the night. The whole palace's women went gossiping for weeks imagining how charming the man was with his striking blue eyes, dark brown wavy hair and huge masculine frame.

The man is handsome, there is no doubt about it but she fails to imagine him as her spouse everytime she has ever tried.

Her brother's mentions of Sultan Sikander- during the rare moments of conversation with her, when he was not distracted by his work, didn't go unnoticed.

Her brother's rejection of 'fine' marriage proposals from princes and Sultans had already hinted at what he truly wanted. But bringing her here to this palace-personally-confirmed any lingering doubts about his intentions.

She steps out of her carriage, her hands move to adjust her veil. Her brother has already dismounted his stallion and went to greet Sultan Sikander, who was standing at the entrance of the palace with a warm smile on his lips.

"Do you feel sick, princess?" Anam, her handmaiden comes to stand beside her as she asks.

She doesn't get to respond when her brother calls her out.

"Warda, come forward." He calls, smiling.

She nods and heads in the direction of her brother. Her handmaiden follows her.

"𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘢, Sultan." She greets her. He tips his head in acknowledgement with a soft smile. His gaze never lifts to see her. Whether he is doing it out of modesty or he is genuinely being not interested in her, is still a mystery for her.

"This way, princess." He says, spreading his right hand to show the direction, they need to go through.

The men let her take the lead. She walks ahead of them with guards flanking her closely, quietly guiding the way. Alizeyd and Sikander follow her at a decent distance.

She takes in the view, the fine architecture of the Palace.The combination of white and red marble, gives a breathtaking view to the arched gallery, the contrast glitters in the dull evening sunlight, giving it a marvellous look.

After Passing through the tens of hallways and alleys, they reach the guest room.

The men let her rest for the day, while they head toward the Royal court.

She enters the chamber, the fine floral scent distracts her. She notices the vases filled with different kinds of flowers in her chamber. A warm smile appears on her lips. The flowers make the air in the room, sweet and light, calming her travel-worn mind.

"Princess, should I prepare your bath?" Anam asks her gently,stepping inside the chamber behind her.

"That would be really nice, Anam. And please bring out something comfortable for me to wear." She says, sitting on the wooden stool in front of the mirror as she proceeds to remove her jewelry.

"Bother not, princess. Is there anybody who knows you better than me?" Anam boasts, rummaging through the trunk- she carried of Warda's belonging.

Warda glances at her through the corner of her eyes as she smiles at her.

"Here it is." Anam announces as she lays the dress on bed- a sea green short kurti with fine thread embroidery at the long sleeves, paired with long skirt of same colour.

After getting ready, when her mind was somewhat clear from the fatigue of travel, she notices how beautifully the chamber was decorated.

Everything in the chamber was off white in colour, giving it a subtle and peaceful look. The window on the left side of her bed was huge. She could look at the fine view of the magnificent gardens. She notices the small cupboard, in the corner of her room, which holds some books in it. The smell of old books comforts her. She searches through the books but nothing was of her interest. She goes back to her bed.

"I assume you would want to rest for a while before they call us for dinner." Anam says as she heads toward the door. "So, excuse me for a while." She gives her a sheepish smile.

"Where are you going?" She asks her though, she probably knows what she's up to.

"Nothing much, just collecting some information about the palace.We are going to stay here for a few days, we need to have the track of gossip." She says, and without listening for Warda's reply, walks out of the chamber.

Warda shakes her head. She heads toward the giant window in her room. She sits on the platform near the window, enjoying the view.

The palace was magnificent, no doubt about it, but the thing she liked most was its gardens - bursting with flowers like jasmine, lily, sunflower, roses of every colour and many such flowers whose name she doesn't even know.

She notices a figure in black cloak, hurrying to get inside the main hall, passes through the gardens, skipping the long route. It doesn't take her long to recognize him as someone in power, the way he was managing to order the guards, attendees through his gestures, says enough.

She chuckles when the man climbs the parapet to reach the hallway, bypassing the main entrance. How barbaric.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴!

The man must really be in a hurry for something. Judging by the way the guards and attendees don't look bothered by his extravagant ways of entering the palace, shows that this was usual for them.

That was something she wasn't habitual of seeing around her. She has only seen men either in refined clothes with measured steps or men in armor, ready for war ground.

The man disappears through the alleys. She stands there for how long, she doesn't know.

She gets distracted by the voice of her handmaiden.

"Amirãh," she calls, entering inside the room.

Warda diverts her attention from the view outside and notices that it's already dark.

"Sultan Alizeyd is asking for your presence in the dining room." She says.

She nods. They head toward the dining room.

Anam leads her like she has been living here for decades.

Alizeyd spots her first. He was already there, talking with Sultan Sikander.

He takes few steps toward her and places a protective hand around her shoulder. "Did you rest well my 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘢?" Alizeyd whispers to her and chuckles when he sees Warda's horrifying expression on her nickname.

"Akhi!" She whisper yells at him. "Don't call me that, anybody can hear you."She whispers back as she searches her surroundings carefully in case somebody listens to her nickname.

Alizeyd chuckles.

Warda notices the arrival of ladies in the dining room. One of the ladies, in a beautiful dark maroon gown, orders the attendees to set the dishes on the low table.

Sultan Sikander says something to Zohra and she nods.

"Ma sha allah," Alizeyd comments as they head toward them. "I can smell 𝘬𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘣, even from here." He says, Sikander smiles.

"Of course you would, the goats were gifted by you anyway." Burq says, as he appears.

Alizeyd laughs.

"Shut up, Burq." Sultan Sikander mumbles, a failed attempt to reprimand him.

"I was the one to slaughter the first one, don't believe him if he says otherwise," Burq says, smiling, as he puts a hand on Alizeyd's shoulder.

Wards steps back. She looks at the man whose contagious smile made the people around him smile too.

His light brown eyes are warm. He moves to the side, taking his tall form with him and suddenly it clicks her.

He was the man in black cloak.

"Ladies, let me introduce you to our guests here." Sultan Sikander says, she turns her gaze to him.

"This is Sultan Alizeyd Hasan Qutub, the Sultan of Qahira and my good friend and she is princess Warda, Alizeyd's sister." Sikander gestures to her.

She greets the ladies, suddenly feeling awkward to have all the attention on her.

"Ma sha allah, such a beauty you are, 𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪." The elderly woman says with a warm smile on her face.

Her genuine smile reminds Warda of her mother. She immediately looks down on the floor.

"𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘬𝘳𝘢𝘯, 𝘬𝘩𝘢̃𝘭𝘢𝘩." She thanks her. The elderly woman smiles back.

Sikander introduces the woman with hazel eyes, who had a little girl in her arms, as his sister-in-law. Sumayya.

"And she is my wife, Zohra." Sikander pulls her wife closer by her waist as he states that.

Warda lifts her gaze. The woman is... gorgeous.Too gorgeous. Her dark brown eyes were captivating. Zohra's face lits up as she smiles and greets them.

Warda sighs internally.

What was her brother even thinking, trying to set her up with a married man, that too, who has such a beauty as his wife?

Sultan Sikander then says something. She doesn't comprehend. Her gaze lifts to the man behind him.

"The man is sayyid Burq, amirãh." Anam whispers in her ear. She startles but manages to not bring out much of emotions.

"What are you doing Anam?" she says in a hush voice, glaring at the woman.

"I just answered your queries."She giggles."You are observing sayyid Burq for quite a time." She says in a teasing tone.

"I wasn't observing." Warda says defiantly.

"Yes, as you should. Because it's not appropriate to observe another man when your 'maybe' spouse is right in front of you." Anam murmurs.

"Shut up. You speak too much." Warda reprimends her.

"Yes of course." Anam says with a sly smile. "By the way, sayyid Burq is the general of the sultanate, in case you are wondering." Anam says and steps back when Warda glares at her.

They sat for dinner.Dozens of dishes are placed on the table.The aroma of food mingled with the scent of flowers-placed in the vases.

"Sikander, I don't know how did you manage to prepare all my favourite dishes, but trust me I'm impressed." Alizeyd says, smiling as he takes a bite of 𝘣𝘢𝘬𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘢.

"The credit goes to my wife." Sikander says proudly.

Burq fakes his cough. Sikander narrows his eyes at him. Alizeyd chuckles.

Warda lifts her gaze and finds Burq smiling. She notices he has dimples on his lower cheeks. He is no special, she gathers. But his dark black, slightly curly hair and dimples on his lower cheeks... they suit him well. Too well when he smiles.

She drops her gaze abruptly when he accidentally makes eyes contact with her. Her cheeks heat up, she feels as if she is being caught stealing something- caught red handed.

She talks with Sumayya and Zohra for a while before going back to her chamber.

She sits on the bed with a thump. What is she even doing here?

She misses her palace.

"Anam," she calls her handmaiden who was staring out of the window.

"Yes, amirãh."

"Isn't there any library here?" She asks, she needs to find her sanity back. And the only cure she knows is books.

"Yes, of course there is." Anam smiles. "Do you want to go there?" Anam asks. Warda nods.

"Let's go." She says, and they move toward the library.

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"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘢𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵."

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Burq rushes to get inside the stable. The stable keeper boy— Sarfaraz, salutes him at his arrival. Burq tips his head with a small smile on his face.

He passes the raws of multiple stallion and mares to reach his grey one. His stallion was on the floor, laying. He crouches down to his level as he hugs the poor animal.

"Ya, rab." Burq nudges his face in stallion's neck. "How much I'm sorry for letting you stay in the rain for so long." He murmures  with guilt. The stallion whines. The stable keeper boy steps ahead and stands beside Burq.

"As you ordered, sayyidi, 𝘣𝘢𝘺𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪̄— veterinarian, has examined him and I've just given him his suggested dose of potion." Sarfaraz informs him.

Burq leans back from the neck of his stallion. "What did the 𝘣𝘢𝘺𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪̄ say?"

"Nothing much, he has just caught chill. He needs to rest for two days and he'll be fit and fine as before." The young man says, gesturing toward the laying animal.

Burq pats his stallion on his stomach sympathetically. "No way he is going to get out of this stable before one week." He declares, as he leans back to hug his stallion again.

He doesn't know how much time he spends with his stallion. He talks to him as one would talk to a human being and as if the stallion understands everything, he neighs everytime Burq says something.

"My Lord, sultan asks your presence immediately." An attendee comes— breathless.

He pats his stallion."Get better soon,𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘣𝘪."

With a final kiss on his stallion's head, he hops on his feet as he marches away from the stable with the attendee.

"What's so urgent you came out running?" Burq asks the attendee as he walks through the hallways.

"I don't know, sayyidi." The man replies.

"Yes.How would you know?" He mumbles to himself.

As he reaches Sikander's study, he doesn't wait to knock. He bursts open the door.

Sikander doesn't lift his eyes from the papers in his hands.

Burq saunters toward him and plops on the couch.

"Accustomed to my arrivals, I see." He grins as he picks an apple from the fruit basket—placed on wooden table.

"Who can dare to barge in my study like this other than you?"Sikander says, more like stating a fact.

"There is one. I know." Burq chuckles as he leans forward. "Last time I remembered Zohra was the one who never knocks before entering." He grins.

Sikander narrows his eyes at him as he sits opposite to him.

Burq lifts his brows." I meant to say that, it is a sign of a happy marriage." He gives him a mocking smile."you have goodness in your life." He says as he takes a bite of his apple.

"I will pray to Allah that this type of goodness find you soon."Sikander says, as he leans back to put his arm on armrest.

Burq laughs."So, tell me why have you summoned me so urgently?" He throws the apple core in the bin.

"You do know that Alizeyd has arrived with his sister." Sikander asks, looking him in the eyes.

Burq nods."yes, I know. I have seen her at dinner."

"Do you find her appealing?"

Burq's  brows lift in amusement."Appealing for what?"

"Appealing as a woman. Do you find her beautiful?" Sikander asks, eyes searching for any answer on his face.

Burq furrows his brows."You do know that you are talking about Alizeyd's sister, do you?"

Sikander closes his eyes."Just answer the question first."

Burq leans back on the couch. When they got the news of Sultan Alizeyd's arrival with his sister, he kind of knew Alizeyd's intentions behind this.But now Zohra being here, that possibility has gone for good now.

"She is beautiful, no doubt. Women of the palace have been divided into two groups since she arrived, one who are obsessed with her elegance and one who are jealous." He chuckles. Sikander smiles.

"If you agree to this arrangement, I have been meaning to ask about this to Alizeyd tomorrow morning."

Burq's eyes widen, his smile falters. He looks at the man sitting in front of him in bewilderment.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know very well what I am talking about?"Sikander spats.

For few moments he doesn't have anything to say.

"Why are you dragging me in it? I thought it was your mess." He says.

"Do you call marriage a mess?" He reprimands him. "At some point in life everyone has to marry. Why not now?"

Burq shakes his head."You couldn't get me any more dreamy proposal. How would I even thank you for that?" He says sarcastically.

"Stop being sarcastic. I'm serious."He deadpans.

"You are mad."Burq chuckles as he picks a berry and ploppes it into his mouth.

His mind goes wild as he even thinks about it.

Sikander reads him for moments."If you are just being stubborn because you don't want to marry now, then stop. You will have to, and you know that. So, stop troubling everyone around you.Sumayya is never at ease because she is always busy thinking about you!" He stats, loud enough for his voice to echo in the room.

Burq runs his fingers through his hair. "She is a princess, Sikander." He says the obvious. As if he might be forgetting the fact.

"Oh, is she?" He mocks him.

Burq rolls his eyes."why would she want to marry me, a general, when she must be having rows of princes and sultans for her?" He asks the thing he finds unable to believe.

"That is for her to decide." Sikander says."I want your approval first to continue the conversation."

Burq stands up from the couch."If you so want to embarrass your friend, then be done with this wish of yours." He says as he picks another apple from the basket and heads towards the exit.

"I assume it is positive from your side then." Sikander shouts from behind him.

"Whatever." He shouts back as he shakes his head at him.

Burq has never considered the possibility of it. To say that she is everything a man could ever ask for, wouldn't be wrong. But the marriage of such an incredible woman to him? Burq almost laughs at the possibility.

His friend has gone mad, he always thinks of Burq more than he already is.

Burq doesn't think about the matter seriously. He knows nothing like, what his friend is thinking, would happen.

He glides through the route to royal library. He isn't getting any easy sleep tonight. He has been meaning to learn how a human mind works. Today, he intends to learn a thing or two about it.

The magnificent doors of the library are open. They always are.

Burq entres the library—whistling.He doesn't look around. He knows where he is going to find the books,which he is searching for. The huge floor to ceiling shelves of books have wooden ladder to reach to the upper section of shelves.

Burq finds the ladder and reaches to one of the shelves. He grins as he finds the book. He climbs down the ladder and heads to toward the exit.

His steps falter when he hears a feminine voice, calling him perhaps.He turns.

There is she—the princess of Qahira. She is standing there. Beside her there is a pile of books which is stacked neatly there.

He raises his brows."Are you calling me? Princess." He asks.

She crosses her arms over chest as she says."Can you see anybody else around here?"

Although her tone was not egoistic, it did sound egoistic to Burq. For someone who is talking to him for the first time, she is quite bold.

He plasters a smile over his face for the sake of courtesy."Of course not. How may I help you? Princess." He asks.

She gestures toward the pile of books beside her on the black wooden table.

"I need these books to be carried in my room."

Burq bites the inside of his cheek. He wonders if she doesn't know who he is, but there is no way she didn't see him at the dinner. He shakes his thoughts aside.

"Of course." He moves to carry the books. She interruptes.

"I'm not done with the books. I need that book over there." She takes a few steps and gestures toward a book, she couldn't reach.

Burq furrows his brows."Why do you need so many books?" He says, but proceeds to move in the direction of the said book.

"I don't know about you people, but in our sultanat, we use books for reading." She says, sarcastically as she rolls her eyes.

Burq grins as he sees her."I see."

"What does that mean?" She asks him, feeling uneasy by his grin.

"Which book?" He asks at the same time.

"That one." She points out. He draws the book from the shelf. He reads the title 'One thousand and one nights' and frowns.

"I didn't know we have these kinds of book here too."

She takes the book from his hands and place it neatly on the stack of books.

"I asked you what did that mean." She verbalizes, crosses her arms and watches him.

He sighs."I said, I understood."

She narrows her eyes but doesn't press it further. "Take these to my room."

He rolls his eyes."Of course, princess."He says and holds the books in his arms.

She doesn't wait for him as she saunters out of the library. He follows her.

The stack of books blocks his view,he takes  half of the books from top and holds them in his other hand.

She looks at him from over her shoulder. "Don't tell me the undefeated general of the Sultanat can't hold these weightless books." She mocks him followed by a chuckle.

He gives her a crooked grin."𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘬𝘳𝘢𝘯 ya Rab, at least you know who I am."

She stops at the threshold of her room as she turns to look at him.

He watches around and finds her eyes on him. He was caught off guard. He hasn't noticed before,but now when she is close, he can see the exact shade of her eyes. He has never seen such intense green eyes in his life. Her eyes have freshness, the kind of freshness you find when you see the leaves  dripping water drops, early in the morning.

He doesn't want to admit more than he already has before Sikandar, but now that he can see her from close—she is... really a rare beauty.

She shifts from one foot to another as she looks here and there— clearly ignoring meeting his gaze.

He clears his throat as he notices that he has been staring at her. His ears go warm, he curses himself internally for being such a bastard to make a lady uncomfortable.

"Where should I put these books?" He asks, this time he doesn't lift his gaze from the floor.

"Do not fret, I'll not tell anybody that you have been staring shamelessly." She mumbles,a mocking smile on her face as she calls her handmaiden to take the books from him.

He closes his eyes for a moment in mortification. Of course she couldn't let it just slide and save them both from awkwardness. He has gathered that much about the princess of Qahira that she has got a sharp tongue.

But perhaps she doesn't know that Burq doesn't shy away from situations like this.

He leans over the slightly parted door and looks her in the eyes with a wicked smile."Why would you not tell anybody?Princess.Does that mean you like me looking at you like that?"

That makes the smile on her face vanish. Her cheeks turn a lighter shade of pink. Clearly, she didn't expect that comeback from him.While his grin broadens, he surely caught her off guard.

"That-"

"Save your words princess." He interrupts her as he hands over the books to the two eager handmaiden of hers, who were taking more than necessary interest in their conversation.

"We have our whole life to debate like this." With these words he turns and stride toward the hallways ahead.

She looks at his retreating figure in bewilderment, thinking about what he just said.

Before she could make herself to ask him what did he mean by that, he was out of her sight.

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"𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶—𝘴𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶."

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