The Wrath & the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn, #1)

by Renée Ahdieh

Then he returned to the foot of the bed so that they were positioned on opposite ends, as far from each other as possible. So strange. Shahrzad rolled on her side and burrowed into the mass of silken pillows. Her bronze ankles dangled off the bed. The edges of the caliph’s amber eyes tightened, ever so slightly. “Would you like me to continue the story?” she said. “Sayyidi?” “I almost thought you were above the use of honorifics now.” “Pardon?” “Have you forgotten who I am, Shahrzad?” She blinked. “No . . . sayyidi.” “So then a lack of decorum just comes with your sense of comfort.” “Inasmuch as bitter apathy does yours.” Again, his shoulders rose and fell. “Tell me, why do you find it permissible to talk to me like this?” “Because someone has to,” she replied without hesitation. “And you think it should be you?” “I think it should be someone who isn’t afraid of you. And, though I do feel . . . anxious in your presence, the more I see of everything around me, the less I have reason to fear you.” As soon as she said the words aloud, she was startled to realize their truth. In the single day she’d been his wife, she’d seen remarkably little of the bloodthirsty monster she’d expected. This time, it was much more than a mere flash of surprise that etched its way across his face. His astonishment burgeoned into dismay before it melted back into the landscape of emptiness that forever shrouded his features. “You know nothing,” he countered. Shahrzad almost laughed at this. “You’...