Mariam returned to the palace with Saadiya and Parvina from their shopping trip which had taken most of the day. Her father had allowed her out of the palace in the company of Saadiya, Parvina and a few guards to go shopping in Riyadh, that was what she had requested for her birthday, the little freedom that was given and her father had granted. She collapsed exhausted on the bed after ripping the abaaya from her body, the weather was hot and she imagined herself submerged under the cool waters of the pool of Al Lith.
Sometimes she hated being royalty because it limited her, there were things she couldn't do and places she couldn't go, and places she was allowed to go, she didn't go alone. Saadiya and Parvina were her only true friends and she wondered how things would be between them after she had gotten married. Did married women keep friends? If they did, would they even have the time to maintain contact?
"Saadiya? We would still be friends right? And Parvina?"
Megan sank into the bathtub, allowing her body welcome the warm and soothing water. She had missed this; the peace of mind that comes with the loneliness of her apartment, the freedom to do as she pleased without being restricted, the lavender smell of her bathroom and quacky, the small rubber duck sitting on the edge of the bathtub. She reached out and rubbed the slippery head before squeezing the belly, it made a short quack noise and Megan half laughed. She squeezed it two more times before dropping it in the water close to her chest.Leaning back and relaxing, she let her hands drop on either side of the bath tub. Her left hand reached out for the bottle of wine which laid just below the tub and she lifted it up. Deciding not to bother refilling the now empty glass, she brought the bottle to her lips and tipped her head backward, gulping the red liquid down in a rush. She choked and coughed, placed the bottle down and chuckled sadly."Omar, I'm really sorry." H
Mariam absent mindedly walked down the hall from her room heading to the garden through the back door, the garden in this part of the palace was private and secluded, it was the only one in which only she and her father were allowed into save for the gardener who came in here once a week to care for and maintain the place. Today wasn't one of those days that the gardener was supposed to show up so she knew she would be alone. She wanted to be alone.Saadiya and Parvina would come today but they wouldn't come here as it was still too early, well Saadiya could surprise her and show up a bit sooner than expected as there was a lot to do, she was just like that but Parvina would not, she on the other hand never liked to stress, Saadiya would repeatedly tell her of how spoilt and lazy she had grown up to be and Parvina in her defense would say she more than deserved it being the daughter of the Queen's step brother. She was royality and had to be treated as such then she woul
The evening was chilly and silent, the sun hung on the horizon, slowly setting and the breeze that blew in was cold, causing goosebumps to form on the skin but Omar didn't bother to get up to shut the windows. He laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling feeling torn and exhausted and alone and all round broken. These past few days had stretched him emotionally so much so that he felt used. He felt like he couldn't do anything right and to think that all these drama happened in only a week, if a medium had told him that his life would be spun recklessly this way in such short time, he wouldn't have believed.But it had happened, he was being offered power on a golden platter in his marriage to the princess and in exchange for that, he would have to give up on love, give up totally on his woman, that was the price to pay. He wasn't willing, it was just too expensive and power wasn't something he wanted, he had had his share of the taste of power and he knew that more wou
Omar had turned his room upside down in search of his passport, he had started looking for it as soon as he woke and he had been searching for it all morning, it shouldn't be missing because he knew where he had kept it; inside the smallest compartment of his mini suit case, but it didn't find it there. Where else would it be? The drawers? No. He searched in all his bags but couldn't find it. If it wasn't there then....He sighed as he collapsed on the bed as the realization dawned on him, his father must have it. The man was just as stubborn as he was. He got up from the bed and walked out of his room, heading to his father's room. He would have to find that passport, find it and be on the next plane out of Saudi Arabia to America. He would leave his egoistic father and this ridiculous marriage, a union neither he nor the princess wanted and he would go find Megan.Yes he would. But could he really just leave?The Sheikh wasn't in the house
Khalid bin Aaban reclined in the back seat of the Mercedes driving down the road in so much speed, his feet tapping impatiently on the floor of the car and his thoughts swam about wildly in his messed up mind, and to think that his well thought out and long term plan was finally going to be executed in the way he wanted it to go, why did things have to go haywire in the last minute? What did Prince Aazim think he was doing by attempting to mess up his well thought out plan? Did he perhaps find out about his true motive?Khalid shook his head negatively, he had been extremely discreet and careful and he never told any one about his own selfish plans, yes call him selfish because he knew that he was but this had taken him years to set up and he had been too patient, exercising it down to extreme thinness and would be carelessly allow it be blown away with the wind like dry chaff thrown up in the air? Never, he was always careful never to say them out loud even when he was alo
The traditional silver white throbe which Omar wore fitted him perfectly, it was decorated with silver sparkles along the whole length and he had a matching white ghutra placed on his head, on top of that was the tagiyah and holding the two in place firmly was the double black cord, the Iqal. He stood in his room in front of the mirror and glanced at himself through it and thought that he was perhaps well over dressed for the marriage ceremony which he knew wouldn't be taking place.It was all a sham and knowing that he was just being used as a pawn for the attack made him feel like he was part of the plot. He straightened himself, running a hand down the throbe and feeling the richness of the fine material and his lips twitched in a half side smile, he imagined himself getting married to Megan instead of the princess, she should have been his bride. He sighed, knowing that he could still get her, she hadn't gotten back together with Samir and he would not be getting marrie
Mariam sat in front of the mirror in silence and stared at her image as the women applied ointments on her face and neck, while also adding colour to her cheeks, eye lids and lips. Her arms which were weighed down by the volume of bangles on them rested heavily on her laps and her body felt numb, she couldn't feel the many hands on her body and she didn't even see her own reflection staring back at her even as she gazed into the large mirror. because her mind wandered. She was getting married to Omar, the man she had come to develop strange feelings for, the man who loved another, and the man who had told her bluntly to her face that her would never love her. She broke.It would have been better if she didn't know how he felt for her, if she didn't know whether he liked her or not or what he thought of her. It would have been much better not to know because that ignorance was truly bliss and she had dwelt in that ignorant bliss. Loving him was not what she had wan
The men's hall was gradually beginning to fill up with every man coming to greet and congratulate the Sheikh and Omar, they accepted their congratulatory handshake with a smile on their faces but Omar's smile was only pretentious, two hours had gone past and with every passing minute he felt even more anxious and more tensed. Sometimes he strained to breathe properly."Omar," his father placed a hand on his shoulder but didn't look at him, with a smile on his face he leaned in closer and whispered. "Fix your face, you look too anxious and worried. I don't want you sending off wrong signals."Omar side eyed his father whilst keeping a steady smile on his face, he found it hard to pretend and just wanted to scream at his father and question him about the attack and why he would involve himself in such, didn't he know that it would create a mess? He leaned in closer to his father after accepting a brief handshake from a man."I know the plan father." Omar whispered witho
The drive from the airport was a long one even though it took less than an hour but still, for Omar bin Khalid, it was a long drive. He buckled in the back seat of his car to keep himself from jumping every second because of his racing heart, he couldn't keep himself stable and if he had the powers to, he would super speed to where he needed to be."Hurry up please." He beckoned to the driver who nodded and stepped on the accelerator.They weren't on a free way and couldn't go more than 80 kilometers per hour according to the speed sign but Omar knew that if he was the one behind that wheel, he would break that speed limit and damn the consequences, but this wasn't Saudi Arabia and being the Sheikh's son didn't hold as much importance here as it did in Saudi, this was America, he would face the consequences and face the law. He nervously tapped his feet on the floor of the car and kept looking out the window, bringing his fingers to his mouth. He had last seen Megan a mo
Sheikh Khalid bin Aaban reclined on the sofa in the spacious living room with his feet propped up on a low stool, his head leaned back against the head rest, his hands crossed over his abdomen, his breathing calm and even and his eyes were closed but he was well awake and well aware of what went on aroung him, his ears picking up every sound of movement around him. It had been almost a month since the failed attack on the palace and on the King's life and each time he he remembered it, he became bitter.For seven years they had gathered, for seven years they had met and for seven years they had planned and all their sacrifices for Prince Aazim had now been all in vain, their efforts had crumbled down hard and Khalid couldn't exactly place the blame on any one. Since the death of Aazim which Khalid knew had been his son's doing, the rest of the members had not met as every man feared for his life and Prince Aazim's palace in Riyadh had been abandoned and forgotten. Khalid st
Mariam walked Omar to her favorite place in the garden, both of them talking and constantly laughing, Omar had become a regular in the palace and he occasionally visited, King Jaan had grown to be comfortable with him around his daughter and he still wished that the wedding between them could still take place but then Omar had to return to the army. Omar chuckled when he remembered that, his father had been clever enough and eager to save his skin to have come up with such an excuse, and now he would have to go back to America and this time he even had his father's approval.Sheikh Khalid bin Aaban had admitted defeat in his actions and although Omar knew that his greedy father would most definitely come up with another scheme in other to attain more power, Omar knew that he was safe and away from any of his father's future plans, he had shown him just how much he also could do to get what he wanted, and now he wanted just one thing and that was to be back together with Meg
Saadiya walked towards the room which Omar had told her that Mariam and the King would be in, she paused at the door a while and knocked before pushing the door open and stepped in. Mariam was seated by her father's feet with her head placed on his knee and her eyes closed and enjoying the motion of his hands on her hair and he patted and stroked her to calmness, she must had been crying, Saadiya thought."As salaam alaikum your highness." Saadiya greeted in a bow and both the King and Mariam turned to her."Alaikum assalaam Saadiya, come inside." The King ushered her in.Mariam, on seeing her dear friend, sprang up from her father's feet and rushed into the arms of Saadiya, her tears flowing afresh and she sobbed into her chest."Saadiya..." She cried. "Where did you go? You shouldn't have left me too.""I had to... Mariam, I had... Parvina." Mariam looked up to her eyes as soon as she had mentioned Parvina. "I had to take her body home.""She's really gone?" Mari
Omar left the room, closing the door quietly behind him and walked down the hallway, heading for the room in which he had his father kept in. As he thought about the whole scenario that had played out last night, the small talk he had with his father shortly before the King was killed, ok no, shortly before the doppelganger was killed leading up to the attack and his and Mariam's unfruitful attempt at escape, down to the surprise Mariam and her friends had unwrapped before his very eyes about them being impressive fighters, a soft smile played on his lips, but that smile was quickly replaced by a frown when he remembered Aazim, the man who had caused the untimely death of Parvina.Although Omar didn't know the girl as well as he knew Mariam, he could tell that she was the liveliest of the three friends, she was the smallest and undoubtedly even the youngest of the three. He cleared his mind and tried to wipe it off by thinking other things. Saadiya, where was she anyway? Si
Omar sat on the edge of a table situated by the wall, close to the window which had no burglary and stared out into the morning with his right hand placed on the window still, his left hand which was injured was held up in a sling that went over his right shoulder. His left palm was placed over the injury on his abdomen where he had been shot and around it was a bandage. He absent mindedly ran his thumb over the spot as he looked down at the workers busy downstairs.From his position one storey up, he could see the courtyard down below, the canopy which had been placed over it as a decoration for the wedding that did not happen last night had long been removed and the bodies cleared away, all that was left in the courtyard was just the bloody mess which was being cleaned up by servants. Omar tried to imagine it not being so much different from washing off the blood in an abattoir but he knew it had been human beings that were killed last night and not animals, assassins or not, t
Sheikh Khalid bin Aaban opened his eyes slowly and stared up at the ceiling, at the fan slowly rotating and he let his eyes follow the circular motion before he blinked, once and then twice, he stretched his hand by his side and could feel the soft foam beneath him, he placed a hand on his chest and he wondered where he was or how he had gotten to be here and why was he just waking up. Propping up on his right elbow, he tried to sit up but his head ached terribly and he grabbed onto his forehead, wincing in the excruciating pain hee felt that throbbed in his brain. Thinking it better, he laid back down to calm himself and tried again to recollect how he had gotten here. Taking a deep breath, he looked around the room to familiarize himself with his environment, the bed he was on was set in the far end of the wall where the door was directly opposite and in between the bed and the door were two single sofas facing one another and a fancy glass table seperating them. To his
Omar watched Aazim lift the sword high up with fury in his eyes and he saw the blade come down and rolled away just in time, but the blade didn't reach down, instead what he heard was Aazim scream out loud in pain, Omar looked up at Aazim who was holding on to his bleeding hand, a small knife had stopped his strike and had sliced through his fingers but didn't severe it. Omar looked back at Mariam who was still on the floor holding Parvina in her arms and looking at Aazim with a triumphant look in her eyes and a wide smile across her face, she was the one who had thrown the knife and with a perfect timing and good aim too. Aazim hollered in pain and the sword fell from his hands, he held on to his bleeding hand, wrapping it with the cloth he wore and looked up to Mariam, giving her a death stare. Omar smirked, the girl surely did know how to anger someone and find trouble."You! You insolent little brat!" Aazim growled. "You will most definitely pay for this!"Mariam picked up
Mariam got up sharply and faced the group. "We need to find my father." She announced and everyone looked at her in confusion."But... Mariam..." Saadiya stammered, not knowing exactly how say what she wanted to say and pointed to the dead man on the floor."This isn't my father. This isn't the King, it's his doppelganger." She cleared their confusion.Omar looked on in bewilderment. "Doppelganger??""You mean to tell us that this man lying dead here on the floor isn't the King?" Parvina asked still in surprise and bent down to get a closer look at the man. "But they look so much alike. It's a striking resemblance!""Hmm.." Mariam nodded. "He had always had one close to him and kept in a safe place, I guess it was for times like this. It's sad he had to die.""But, why would he bring out his doppelganger, did he perhaps know?" Saadiya asked no one in particular."For my father to bring him out it only meant that he knew of the attack before it