The Wrath and the Dawn

It was because I swore I would never say it, and a man is nothing if he can’t keep his promises.

So I write it to the sky—

I love you, a thousand times over. And I will never apologize for it.

. “You must love her a great deal, Khalid-jan.”

After a beat, Khalid lowered his sword, his brow marred by pain and consternation. “Love is—a shade of what I feel.”

“You must love her a great deal, Khalid-jan.”

After a beat, Khalid lowered his sword, his brow marred by pain and consternation. “Love is—a shade of what I feel.”

“How right you are. You are not mine.” He dropped his palm from the door. “I am yours.”

“Is that kind of disrespect . . . normal?”

Shahrzad lifted a shoulder. “It’s not normal. But it’s not unexpected. It’s the curse of being a woman,” she joked in a morose manner.

“Shazi.”

A suggestion of a smile played across his lips.

“Shazi. It suits you.”

Khalid was beside her in a few long strides, pressing his hand to the ebony door. Preventing her from leaving.

“What do you want me to do?” he said in a low voice.

She did not look up, though her heart thrummed in her throat. “Prove that a real man doesn’t make a show of what’s his. It just is.”

“Is it? Are you mine?” Khalid asked with quiet solemnity.

Her conviction wavered further. “I told you; don’t try to own me.”

“I don’t want to own you.”

She swiveled her neck to meet his gaze. “Then never speak of sending me away again. I am not yours to do with as you will.”

Khalid’s features smoothed knowingly. “How right you are. You are not mine.” He dropped his palm from the door. “I am yours.”

Before she could stop her hands, they reached for him, as though they existed for no other reason than to touch him. Her fingers brushed across his jaw with a feather’s caress before pulling away, and he closed his eyes on a soft inhale. Like the poison toying with its remedy, Shahrzad’s hands ignored her and took control, a mere taste of his skin not nearly enough. Never enough. They began at his brow and eased their way to his temples before sliding into his hair, smooth as silk, dark as night. She watched his eyes open and turn from liquid to fire under her fingers. Shahrzad ran her palms down to his neck, where she paused.

“Why won’t you touch me?” she whispered.

It took him a moment to reply. “Because if I start, I won’t stop.”

“Who asked you to stop?” Her fingers traveled to his chest.

“What if I can’t give you the answers you want?”

Again, she returned to nothing.

Yet there, in the warmth of his eyes, was everything.

“Then give me this.” Shahrzad stood on her toes and brought her mouth to his. When he did not respond, she curved her tongue against his lower lip, and his hands drew across her waist in a slow burn. She thought he would push her away, but he dragged her against him. Khalid kissed her, melding nothing to everything. Shahrzad wrapped both arms around his neck, and he backed her into the ebony door until she was braced up against it, each of their breaths matched, measure for measure, beat for beat.

He knelt before Shahrzad and brushed her hair over her shoulder to look at the wound.

“I told you,” Shahrzad said. “It’s not bad. It can’t be much worse than a scratch.”

Khalid poured water from the pitcher onto a strip of linen. He lifted it to her neck and began cleaning the wound.

Before she had a chance to react, she was lifted off her feet. Khalid dismissed her protests as he carried her away from the carnage, with Jalal and the Rajput following close behind. When they crossed the threshold, the lifeless bodies of the two Royal Guards positioned outside her door stared up at her with glassy eyes. Their throats were slashed to gaping maws. She stifled a gasp.

“They’re all dead,” Khalid said without looking at her. “Every guard in this corridor is dead.”

She tensed her grip around his neck as he continued down the hall. Once they rounded the corner, soldiers burst through the doors, led by General al-Khoury.

“Is she hurt?” the shahrban demanded in an urgent voice.

“I’m fine,” she replied, momentarily taken aback by his concern. “Really, I am.”

“She’s wounded,” Jalal clarified.

“It’s not bad,” Shahrzad countered. “Put me down. I can walk.”

Khalid ignored her.

“I can walk, Khalid.”

Again, he refused to look at her, much less respond.

They moved down the hallways with guards lighting their path, encircling them in a gleaming bastion of steel and torchfire. Deciding to cede this particular battle, Shahrzad leaned against Khalid, closing her eyes to the glare for an instant, and his hold on her tightened.