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 9
Whilst biting on a flatbread provided by one of the twins for breakfast, Badriya scrutinized Ayaz who also ate alongside her, staring at nothing in particular.
He looked like he hadn't slept the whole night, unlike her who almost slept like the dead. As he sat directly under the rays of the sun peeking from the horizon, a subtle shade haunted the bags of his eyes. Badriya assumed that the intense look in his gaze meant that he was trying to murder something or someone in his mind.
Ayaz sighed, his eyes meeting hers. "What is it?"
Badriya raised a brow. "You should ask yourself that question. You looked like you dreamt of a ghul in your sleep."
"I didn't even sleep." He settled his uneaten share of bread on the plate between them. "My mind was too busy thinking."
"Of ghuls?" Badriya teased.
Ayaz rolled his eyes. "There are worse monsters than ghouls in the real world. I've been thinking of one who's been controlling my whole life."
"Who?"
"My. . . father." He winced at the word. "Do you know that feeling when you loathe someone so badly that you want to hurt them, but when you think you finally got the chance, you just. . . hesitate?"
Badriya tossed the last of her bread into her mouth. Chewing slowly, she thought of his question. She wanted to shrug at him and tell him that she didn't, but the intrigue his question brought to her was something new. It wouldn't hurt if she answered-she didn't have to be honest with him, either.
"Well. . ." Badriya began, "I think it depends on who the person is. I'm guessing you're talking about your father here."
Ayaz gave her a small nod.
"What did he do to you?" Badriya then added quickly, "It's alright if you don't answer at all. I don't want you to owe me-"
"It's fine," he said. "I don't. . . mind. I just need someone's opinion about this. You don't have to think that you'll owe me by sharing your own secrets."
"Go on, then." She gave him a shy smile, bordering on a sly grin.
Let's know more about you, Ayaz.
He took a deep breath before continuing, "My mother. . . she died when I was young. And it was all because my father killed her." Badriya stared at him, wide-eyed, but didn't say anything. "He caught her cheating on him with a-someone, and he got so blinded by his rage that he ended her life. Just like that. Since then, he'd treated me like I also did something wrong too. As if I was my mother's accomplice to her deed." He gazed at her, hopeful. "What do you think?"
"I. . ."
Badriya swallowed. Why did it feel like he'd just read her mind?
He wasn't the only one who had a similar history to his. Before she ran away from home, she used to have parents of her own that cared for her-that was before she lived in Klalasha by herself. Her mother and father loved to spoil her with the little money that they had, and thinking of it right now made her think of how guileless she was to waste coin like that. But it wasn't her fault that her family was ruined in the first place.
"Well, I think you should hurt him back," Badriya answered, grabbing his bread. "I'd never forgive him for what he had done. It was his fault, and he must suffer the consequences. A life for a life, don't you agree?"
Ayaz nodded, as if her answer was satisfactory. "Perhaps."
"Help! Help!" a familiar young voice shrieked. "Somebody help!"