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 42
Badriya watched Yusraa's back as they weaved silently through the palace hallways. The latter had a belt that held a pair of golden daggers. Yusraa wielded one while she handed to Badriya the other. It reminded her of the rusty knife she used to own. Aside from the difference in color, Yusraa's dagger looked almost the same as her old one.
For all the time she spent in the palace, Badriya didn't know that the place could be so quiet. When Yusraa told her about how everyone was outside the city mourning her death, Badriya thought immediately of Shahrayar. Somehow that bastard himar found a way to fake her death to cover up for her disappearance.
At first, she questioned why he would even trouble himself with the funeral and all, but she soon realized that it wasn't the matter of why, but who. She wasn't just anyone—she was the Crescent Princess, the noblewoman with humble beginnings who made her fortune by herself. Shahrayar didn't want people to suspect when they realized she mysteriously disappeared.
He wanted her gone.
Her grip on the dagger hardened, turning her knuckles pallid.
It would be a pleasure to kill him once she got the chance.
Her mind went back to the silence that settled in the palace walls like sand wet after a rare rain, thick and sticky. It was something that unnerved Badriya after hearing the anqa's ear-piercing cry. For her, it wasn't a coincidence that she'd hear it again so soon, and in such an odd dream that she was in—
Stop, she scolded herself. She should stop thinking that way. If she were to put trust in Yusraa, she had to believe she was awake.
They reached the courtyard, empty as the rest of the palace, when Badriya paused. "He's waiting for us."
Yusraa faced her, the crinkles in her forehead more pronounced. "Do you mean the Sultan is. . ."
Badriya nodded, expression grim. "We have to find the others."
Idris and Kabir already had a head start, and Ayaz was looking for the Jewel somewhere with a girl. For some reason, Badriya felt a twinge of annoyance when Yusraa told her that.
A rumble shattered the heavy silence. On the other side of the courtyard, the anqa appeared from their view. Marble walls and columns cracked apart as the creature emerged.
The anqa stood at its full height, stretching wide its majestic wings and long neck. The air around them stirred as it beat its wings.
Badriya gasped, blood draining from her face.
The anqa. It was real—and it was here.
"Dear god," Yusraa said breathlessly. If Badriya didn't know any better, the older woman was in a state of both awe and terror at the sight of the creature. At this point, she couldn't blame her. "You were right."
Badriya wished she wasn't. The anqa was the exact same one she saw in her nightmare. The same colorful plumage, the same deadly talons. The same bloody red eyes, now staring right into their souls.
The anqa shrieked its terrible cry, calling for their demise.
"Run!" Badriya shouted.
Badriya and Yusraa whirled just as the creature started to barrel toward them. The ground shook under their feet, but they did not let it deter their pace. Whatever weakness Badriya felt before was gone, now replaced with the sheer will of not reliving a single thing she envisioned in her dreams.
I will not burn alive. I will not burn alive.
Her sandaled feet clicked against the marble with every hurried step Badriya made, but the chaos brought by the raging anqa rendered her deaf and blind from everything else around her. She wasn't even sure if Yusraa was still following her or if she strayed away somehow without drawing the anqa's attention—she was too afraid to turn back and see for herself.