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 15
It's nothing personal.
It was the truth. Badriya didn't stab him because he was annoyingly charming, or because he had the heart of a hero, or because he kissed her twice—she finally remembered it when Ayaz was berating her for running from the Khadysians, and it wasn't pleasant. It wasn't even because he told her he was the damn prince of Zecaj. No, it wasn't all those reasons. All of those were nothing. Lies.
He was just another obstacle, another problem Badriya had to conquer. Another problem she had to take care of. In her world, there was no room for peace of mind. She lived a life full of uncertainties—she had to think on how to get her next meal or steal, how to slip from suspecting authorities, and even how to keep Mustafa from giving her measly job to someone else.
Every single day. And it never ended.
Up until the messenger's arrival in Klalasha, she remained in a cycle of surviving but never living. She learned not to get too comfortable when something started to become good for her. It would only hurt her back if she thought that it would last. She learned that lesson too many times, and then she stopped hoping altogether. Happiness wasn't permanent, and neither was love.
Ayaz was simply a means to an end, and Badriya suspected he thought of the same, too. Which was why it was surprising that he even fell for her. That kiss she started. . . it was only a distraction to break through his defenses, to take him off guard. She thought he'd see through it. But it worked.
It worked too well for her liking.
This wasn't like Rashid, whom she suspected had taken a fancy for her for a while—that is, until she rejected him and left. She only knew Ayaz for only a week, even less. But they—no, he got to the point that he captured her lips twice in the span of a few days.
Badriya pushed the thought away. If the kiss meant something for Ayaz, then it was the opposite for her. It was another one of her brilliant schemes to get what she wanted. Sometimes, she even surprised herself by thinking such a thing.
Now that Ayaz was out of the way, Badriya scaled the mountain of gold without hurry. It wasn't the same as climbing the foothill earlier that day, but she didn't complain. She had to get the jewel before Ayaz decided to recover, which she doubted he would.
Even with her arms turning sore and her breath going short, Badriya forged on. She still slipped and trembled, but she never let the Jewel out of her sight and mind.
It was almost there.
After what felt like an eternity, Badriya pulled herself up to the peak and collapsed in a heap. Her body screamed for her to rest. Her heart throbbed like never before. Her mouth turned dry as the desert. But it was all worth it.
And she did rest, all the while staring at the wonder in front of her.
The jewel was more beautiful up close. It shimmered with an ethereal light that shifted from gold to copper brown. Its diamond-like shape was free of blemish, its surface as smooth as a mirror, that the crescent mark on her face seemed to glow brighter.
One grab of her hand, and it would be hers at last. Her dreams would come true, and her suffering would be over. No more hungry or cold nights.
With a careful hand, Badriya reached her fingers for the artifact. It was cool to the touch, almost brittle like glass. The moment she enclosed her hand around it, a surge of vigor rushed into her. She gasped, but she let the feeling flow through her. Instantly, her body felt as if it woke up from a good night's rest. She didn't feel tired anymore.
She felt. . . powerful. Unstoppable.
She could finally do anything she wanted. Anything.
A tremor sent Badriya back to reality. The gold coins shifted beneath her feet. She yelped as she almost slipped at the edge of the mountain and let go of the Jewel. A small pebble pelted her forehead.
"Ouch!"
Looking up, her eyes widened at rocks and debris that started to rain down at her. The hill of treasure rattled even more viciously with every passing moment. A cold dread passed over as she realized what was happening.
The cave was going to collapse.
Holding the Jewel with both of her hands, Badriya slid down the mountain, her quick descent taking half the time she used while climbing. Once again, she was looking at Ayaz lying unconscious on the floor. The knife still stuck out near his stomach. She picked the thing up when she entered the cove while he wasn't looking.
Badriya paused, unsure whether she had to come closer to him to see if he was alive. But the increasing rattling of her surroundings overcame her worry for her former acquaintance.
He's fine. He's pretending that he's dead. I have to get out of here. Quickly.
His hand twitched. Badriya took a step back.
"Ayaz?" she hesitated. "Are you—"
A stalactite dropped nearby, taking Badriya by surprise. The shaking was getting worse.
Like a clap of thunder during a rare storm, a loud boom sounded inside the cave, and the quaking became more relentless. Badriya screamed as the hill of gold came tumbling down into a tide.
As soon as she closed her eyes, the weight of the treasures knocked her down like she was nothing. In no time, she was buried under the treasures, almost crushing her as if boulders sat over her body. She tried to move and get herself back to the surface, but with the weight of the gold pressing him down, she was essentially stuck.
Taking a deep breath, Badriya swept the coins away from her, kicking along. She pushed and kicked until she was finally up to the surface, gasping for breath. By the time she collected herself, rocks were now falling like rain. Ayaz was nowhere to be seen.
And so was the Jewel.
"Laa, laa!" Badriya looked around in panic. "I just had it with me!"
Her body trembled as hard as the ground beneath her feet. As she looked around for any sign of her treasure, her gaze eventually settled at the cave's exit. It was still unblocked, as if it waited for her to pass through before closing in completely.
There was still a chance to get out.
No. I won't get out of here without the Jewel. I'm so close.
Badriya dipped her arms back into the gold and treasures, searching for the Jewel. She felt her fingers through each and every one she got her hands on, discarding ones that didn't was her Jewel.
"It's here," Badriya muttered. "It's here somewhere. I know it."
Just as she was about to lose hope, a familiar, jagged thing made contact with her skin. She enclosed it around her hand and fished it out.
Badriya almost burst into a fit of tears. "It's you! I won't lose you again."
Exhaling, she secured it properly this time by holding onto it for dear life. Then she ran for the dark exit.
Whatever she was about to face outside, she didn't care. With the Jewel, no one could stop her from putting the world to its knees.