More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Irsa studied her sister’s face, seeking an answer she hoped to understand.
Her sister was just as lovely as ever, though her features had changed in the few short months she’d been at the palace. Not by much, and not in a way most people would notice.
Hot tears slipped down her face. Yet she refused to lean on him. Refused to succumb to such weakness. With a weary sigh, Tariq wrapped his arms around her.
He would burn alone—again and again—before he would ever watch such a thing. “I cannot make her smile,” Khalid said. “Not anymore.”
always, Tariq wore his every emotion like ill-advised regalia. Sadness. Frustration. Anger. Bitterness. Longing.
It was not fear that drove her to such reckless thoughts. It was fury.
Her heart lulled for a beat in the warmth of memory.
It was because they were two parts of a whole. He did not belong to her. And she did not belong to him. It was never about belonging to someone. It was about belonging together.
and Khalid looked as pristine as always.
The beat of his heart rang loud and true against her cheek. The only measure of time that mattered.
His eyes inciting her heart to riot.
“I’ve missed the silence of you listening to me.” Shahrzad attempted a weak smile. “No one listens to me as you do.”
The flawless awareness behind every look, every whisper, every sigh.
hate your scars, too,” Shahrzad murmured. “But skin is skin, be it a man’s or a woman’s. And pain is pain. Don’t lament mine more than I do yours. And trust that—if ever there comes a time when an injustice is done to me—you will be the first to know.” She pressed a kiss to his injured palm. “And I will stand by your side as we right it.”
Their lips soon found a rhythm. And their bodies met, seeking the same. Seeking a moment of perfect balance. A moment that held everything. And in that moment, they lost all consideration for anything beyond themselves. For in that moment, there was no pain. There were no scars.
When she laughed, Shahrzad was rewarded with one of his uncommonly effortless smiles. The kind that changed a face of shadows into one of light.
Without a second thought, Shahrzad shoved Khalid aside.
was simply a laugh that spoke of a better time. A time when a small boy laughed at better, brighter things.
“Jealousy is a childish, petty emotion.” The caliph switched the single shamshir to his left hand in a single, fluid motion. “I don’t feel jealousy. I feel rage.”
“Yet you wish for me to trust that you deserve Shahrzad. That you are what is best for her.” Tariq refrained from sneering. “I would never presume such arrogance. And rest assured; the day I concern myself with your good opinion will be the day the moon rises in place of the sun. But know this: I will fight for what matters to me, until my last breath.”
know.” Khalid knelt before her, his hands coming to rest at her sides. “I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. But”—he stopped short, the harsh lines on his face melting away—“you cannot do that again. I—cannot watch such a thing again, Shahrzad.”
Khalid’s chest rose and fell on a deep inhale. “I wish you would not be so stubborn.” He echoed her earlier words as his thumb grazed her cheek. As his eyes rippled with unfettered emotion. Shahrzad smiled. “Are you a genie or a fool?” “A fool. As I’ve always been when it comes to you.” “At least you can admit it.” “At least twice.” One side of his mouth curled upward. “And only to you.”
“Give me a meaningful love or a beautiful death!”
“It does not take courage to kill. It takes courage to live.”
