I'd burn every soul I knew if I thought the fire was warming you.

— Hozier

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Him

"What is the report on our soldiers, Taha?"

"We've a good number, my Ameer. But a great portion of Baghdad's army is still under general Eskander. Besides, he has freed mercenaries from war prisoners and they're working for him. It can put us at a disadvantage."

"Then we'll need more on our side. If it comes to mercenaries, I'm willing to pay double the price Eskander pays to the treasury for them."

"The crown will not permit you to buy war prisoners. They'll only suspect you more for treason and Al Hadi will find an excuse to oust you."

He takes his mark and releases the arrow from his bow. It hits exactly in the center of the mark. He loads another arrow in his bow and takes a mark again.

"I've thought about it, don't worry."

The arrow hits the mark once more and he lowers his bow, running his eyes over the grounds of the barracks until they fall upon Eskander and fixate him. He's busy training the soldiers, quite a number surrounding him. But he knows just the man who has always been a rival to the general. Someone competent and daring enough to stand against him. He will need that man to be on his side. He'll have to find a way to do it.

"Taha?"

"Yes, my Ameer?"

"Send a messenger to Muawwiz ibn Al Jarrah. Inform him that I want to meet him as soon as possible."

Her

"Who is the lady?"

"Which one, sayidati?"

"The one behind the bushes with a book."

"Ah. That's syeda Jumana. She's the caliph's personal physician."

"Al Hadi's?"

Tamara gives her a puzzled look as if wondering whether there's another caliph known to anyone.

"Yes, sayidati."

"Personal physician, you say." Noura eye the woman. "Interesting."

Jumana looks up and their gazes meet. She has a book in one hand and a herb in another. Her eyes flick from Noura to Tamara before she straightens from where she's leaning over the bushes and tips her head at Noura. Noura acknowledges her greeting with a nod.

She walks around from the bushes to come into the clearing. Putting the herbs between the pages of her book, she hugs it to her chest.

"Amira Noura Al Makhzum?" she speaks softly, a question in her sun alight eyes.

"Yes," Noura affirms.

"Marhaba, Amira. I've been wishing to meet you ever since I first heard about you," she exclaims excitedly.

"And when did you first hear about me?"

This makes a smile spread across Jumana's lips. "Long time ago."

Noura arches a quizzical eyebrow. "And who would have mentioned me to you?"

"You were everyone's interest during Al Shafay's reign, Amira, so everyone mentioned you. Although I first learnt of you from the caliph himself." Her smile spreads, becoming warmer. "My name is Jumana bint Zaidan. I'm a physician at the palace infirmary."

"Well, are you studying herbs here?"

She chuckles and gestures in the direction of the palace. "Yes, I like the quiet here. The palace harbors distractions."

"I feel guilty for interrupting you."

"Ah, no, don't be. I was done here anyway." She invitingly tilts her head towards the pathway leading deeper into the gardens. "Do you mind joining me for a walk?"

Noura steps forward, accepting her invitation, and they stroll down the pathway. There are jasmine shrubs around them, more in number than the last time she remembers, different varieties and colors adorning the gardens of palace, and there are rose bushes up ahead where the pathway leads to a pergola hidden in the greenery.

Jumana runs a finger over the delicate white curtains of the pergola and glances back at Noura.

"Here, it's quiet."

"Looks like an escape spot," Noura comments as she goes to get under the pergola with her, the sun filtering little through its roof due to the shade of the trees over it.

"It is. I'm not a palace girl. And this is my safe haven."

Noura doesn't reply, only studying her. She's wearing a simple dress, paler than the blue of the sky before them. Her eyes are beautiful, zealous and bright, reminding her of honey, though at the same time like an ocean with secrets at it depths. Her hair are partially covered by the headscarf, a few dark locks framing her face. She's a pretty woman, Noura thinks, and though she tells her she isn't a palace girl, there's a grace and calmness to her which Noura cannot relate to if she recalls her own time at the palace when she first arrived here three years ago. Or maybe Jumana has adapted over time. Maybe she could have been like her. Noura doesn't know.

"Does the palace not please you?" Noura inquires.

"Why would you assume that?"

"If you seek escape from it," she gestures around them to the secluded spot, "what am I to assume?"

Jumana chuckles, then hums. "It's beautiful. But not everyone is welcoming, and it can get overwhelming. So I prefer it at night. During the day, I usually come to the gardens."

"I see."

They sit down on the cushions. There's a pond visible in the distance. The birds chirp above them. Tamara stays close beside Noura. Jumana puts the book down between them and Noura catches a glimpse of the title.

Poisonous herbs and their antidotess.

"You're from Baghdad, Amira?" Jumana questions her before she could ask her about the book.

"Yes."

"Do you like it here?"

Noura smiles in reply. "I do. As long as Adam is by my side."

Jumana only smiles back before looking down, fidgeting with the hem of her dress.

"I've heard bits of your story," she tells her. "They say Al Shafay was smitten with you. If I hadn't known better, I would've said that maybe it was because you're a beautiful woman. But I learnt that it was because of your childhood together."

Noura tilts her head inquisitively, a little wary. "What makes you curious about me, syeda Jumana?"

"As I've said, people talked about you, and they got me really curious. I wanted to meet you." She now fidgets with her anklet. "But you know, Amira, the more I learn about everything and everyone, the more bothersome it becomes."

"What do you mean?"

"You look like a nice person. I wonder how you managed it when you were captured forcefully and brought to the palace." Jumana looks up at her, abandoning her anklet. "I, however, came here willingly. But sometimes I don't know how to keep going."

"Why did you come here?"

She lifts a shoulder in a shrug. "I had nowhere else to go to."

"Why though? Where is your family?"

"I had my father. He passed away and I had no one else besides him." She sighs, though it's not remorseful but exhausted. "I grew up traveling from one place to another with him. We mostly lived by the sea. Life was very different than now. I liked studying plants. He was a physician too so he taught me a lot about them. But then he fell sick and couldn't recover."

"I'm sorry about him."

Jumana brings her knees to her chest and stares into the distance. "Life happens. Death happens too. What can we do?"

"We live for those who stay. And we pray for those who leave."

Jumana turns back to her, seemingly bewildered but pleased, and smiles again.

"I would've asked you how you kept going, Amira, but I think that's not important. I think what's important is that why you did. And I think I already know why, because I know why I hold on despite not knowing how I'll keep going. I just know why I have to."

"And why would that be, syeda Jumana?"

She blushes and picks up her book. "Do you want to continue our stroll?" she asks instead, deflecting her question.

Noura let it go and nods, and they both get to their feet as they make their way towards the pond.

That afternoon she sends Azar to the barracks to ask Eskander to meet her in the evening. He sends a message back that he'll inform her when he arrives at the palace.

At evening as she sits in her chamber before the vanity, Roya combs her hair for her while Tamara arranges her dresses. A thousand things go through her head. It's not only a concubine being sent to her husband in an effort to break them apart, but the many schemes running against Adam in the court that can hinder him from succeeding as the caliph again, with which will come the possibilities too dire for her to even imagine. And though Adam wants to protect her, she recognizes the power Daryush holds and the consequences of his final disapproval against her husband in front of the council. If he's unwilling to be fair towards Adam and favor him, she's determined to find the reason and change his opinion.

"Roya? Tamara?"

Noura turns towards them. Both the girls stop their work and offer her their full attention.

"Yes, khanum?"

"Listen to me. I've an important task for you both."

"Whatever we can do for you, my Amira?" Tamara asks.

"I want you to keep an eyes on syed Daryush and tell me whatever you find about him that could be of advantage to us."

"You mean to spy on him, Noura khanum?"

"If that's what you want to call it, yes."

Roya tips her head without hesitation. "Then we shall not disappoint you, khanum."

"But I want you both to be careful," Noura instructs. "Daryush is not to suspect anything or he'll only turn more against Adam. Will you be able to do it?"

"Don't worry, sayidati, no one will suspect anything," Tamara assures. "If it's for the Ameer, then you'll find me loyal and capable. I'll do as you ask of me."

"Thank you, Tamara."

Noura looks at Roya who smiles and nods in agreement as well.

"I'll always have your back. You can rely on me."

Noura smiles and stands up, taking Roya's hand in hers and squeezing it lightly. "Thank you, Roya."

She turns back to the vanity where the box with the crown is lying-- the one Adam gifted her. The one that holds the hope of their future together. A promise. A dream. Her gaze lifts to her own in the mirror.

"Wit is the essence of success. I cannot sit back and watch everyone play one another, when everyone wishes to be the master and for the others to be the puppets. I'll have to find a way before time runs out."

"There's less than a year left. If we act rightly, Ameer Adam can be a Khalifa again," Tamara says. "If not, three years of truce might have earned sufficient time but will prove unworthy."

"Then I'll make sure to make it worth it. Adam ruled anonymously before, but not anymore. He has been patient so long. His patience will be worth it."

"What is on your mind, Noura khanum?"

Noura closes her eyes. There's a lot on her mind. There's much to figure out. But she has to keep going. And she knows why-- she knows the answer to Jumana's question. She loves Adam, and for his sake, she'll find out how to keep going.

"The months are adding to one another, and each day feels like a month in itself. But this time shall pass too no matter if the wait feels long. And when the current Khalifa completes his tenure, then the day will come when my husband will reclaim the throne. When the court will decide upon the next ruler for this kingdom, I'll make sure it is him. I'll do everything in my power that they favor him. You will see, he'll get there again, and I'll be by his side all along."

"But how will you do it?"

"Just like how a Malika should. Just like how my Khalifa did."

She faces her handmaidens, her words sharper than arrows as she speaks them, just exactly how Adam had once spoken them to her.

"Betrayal deserves no mercy in punishment. The rest can be forgiven."

A while later Azar informs her that Eskander has arrived at the palace. He escorts her to take her to him, guiding her through the corridors to the balcony near the courtroom where Eskander waits for her.

"Nour." He greets her with with a worried expression. "You called me urgently. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Eskander, but nothing else is."

He frowns. "What is the matter?"

"The day I returned to the palace from home, I found a concubine in my chamber. She was sent to Adam," Noura hisses, "by your Khalifa."

Eskander pauses, his jaw clenching, and Noura can see his eyes turning from serene to chaotic in an instant.

"I didn't know about it," he admits.

"I wouldn't expect you to know and let it be. I'm not blaming you."

"I'll look into the matter."

"My husband is not taking concubines, Eskander. Make it clear to your Ameer. The next time he sends a woman to him, someone at the palace will die at my hands."

"Will that someone be me?" a voice from behind her speaks up.

Noura feels a chill run down her spine. She freezes, eyes suddenly widening at the realization of being caught by none other than the man under discussion. Eskander looks up from her to behind her, and as if any doubts are left to be confirmed, he takes them away when he tips his head.

"Ameer Sulaiman."

She releases the breath she didn't know she was holding. Gathering her courage, she turns around and her gaze goes crashing with the familiar pair of mismatched orbs. They're the same old eyes of a young prince from her childhood claiming to hold magic, kindling a nostalgia that devours her like a beast as it did in the bazar of Baghdad three years ago. Her palms begin to sweat and she drags them subtly across her dress, daring herself to stay still as he moves forward into her vicinity, dressed not like a beggar or a soldier as she had once known him, but living up to his title now.

"I was looking forward to welcoming you to my palace," he says, tying his hands behind his back, a roguish smirk slowly creeping up his lips as he comes to stand before her. "But I see you look forward to killing me instead."

"Only if you intend to keep doing what you did, my Ameer," Noura manages to retort, making him chuckle.

"Then I shall really sleep with one eye open, Malika."

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We might be halfway through the book.

PS: I'm already planning a new story. Can you guess what is it this time?

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