Fortune Favors the Cursed
the-reticent-seer
diverselit
diverselit
1.3K5
An orphan girl with questionable morals. A scarred prince with two lives. One relic to change their world.
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Badriya As-Sahra is sick of piling up camel dung and ...Chapter 14
Find me, Bin Shahrayar. See if you are worthy of the curse.
A howling noise echoed around Ayaz, and one by one, fire ignited from torches floating inside the cave. He gasped.
Coins of all sizes and metals surrounded Ayaz like grains of sand in the desert. Rubies and diamonds and other precious gems mixed along with endless coins. Jewelry piled up in large golden chests. Cups, dishes, staffs, and even clothes were scattered around with gilded finishes.
Ayaz sat in a sea of treasures, and he was drowning in all its beauty and glow.
But that wasn't the last of it.
At the top of it all, just an arm's length away from the cave's ceiling, drifted a stone with deep hues of copper and sand. Its surface shone like an evening star, needing no light source to see it by itself. A mysterious hum resonated from it.
The Jewel of Zecaj.
It was real.
"I-I can't believe it," Ayaz murmured.
He blinked his eyes many times to see if it was not an illusion. But it wasn't. The thing he was seeking—no, his father was seeking—was right in front of him. Right in the flesh. Now all he had to do was climb the mountain of treasures and grab it.
But he remained rooted in his place as doubt crept into him like a slithering snake.
If he took the Jewel from its resting place, what was he supposed to do after that? There was the matter of the Khadysians waiting for his return with the jewel, and if he didn't give it to them, Badriya would get hurt. Or worse.
And then there was the warning from the cave's entrance. Ayaz feared that he wasn't greedy enough for the Jewel's worth. As far as he knew, the warning meant that the only people who could enter and get the Jewel were ones who were hungry for wealth. The only thing he was hungry for was justice. He might get cursed if he even thought of touching the Jewel.
But Khalil's words haunted him the most. The Sultan was unpredictable, and who knows what he might unleash if he gifted the only thing that was stopping him from causing chaos to Zecaj and even the whole world.
What should I do?
Ayaz closed his eyes, counting his breaths one by one. He shouldn't panic over something like this. Losing his focus now would become the end of him.
Then he opened them back again to assess his surroundings. The cove seemed to have only one entrance, which was the one he took to get here. But there might be ones that are hidden from all the fortune lying around in heaps.
As he inspected every corner of the cove, he found not a single hole to get in on. The mounds of gold were as deep as sand dunes—there was no way he could dig his way through and find anything useful. It seemed that the only way out was to take the same path he came from.
Ayaz sighed. He might as well take his chances and grab the Jewel. Perhaps by then he'd think of a plan to escape with it and Badriya once he does.
His feet sunk under the treasure with every step he took onward, his gait turning slow as if he were walking in the desert sands. But Ayaz didn't let it bother him. In no time, he already reached halfway to the Jewel, but then—
"Oi, Ayaz!" a familiar voice called. "Wait for me!"
Ayaz turned around, stunned to see Badriya trudging towards him.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked in disbelief. "And how did you even get past all of those haris?"
Badriya smirked when she reached him. "I won't reveal all of my secrets."