Scorched 14

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Omar's gaze was constantly on his father, they were in the palace and today was the day he was to get married to Mariam, it was also the day of the attack on King Jaan. He was unsettled, if the attack really did break out he would be safe no matter what he did, afterall his father was behind this, he would make sure his son was safe, Mariam might be spared - for now - the man behind the planned attack obviously wanted her so she would be wanted alive, but the King? It would mean his death. Omar watched his father interact with the men present like all was going smoothly and indeed all was going smoothly, at least that was what every innocent person here thought, he watched his father smile and laugh and shake hands, King Jaan was no where in sight, that was good.

Or was it?

Last night he had done something, he wasn't sure how effective or how safe his actions would be but then it was risky, things were bound not to fall in place all the time but he couldn't do nothing, not after the conversation he had overheard between his father and the so called Prince Aazim, there was to be a coup, an attack and it would happen before he and Mariam would get married. A part of him wanted that to happen, it meant he would not be tired down with Mariam by this forced marriage but that would be selfish. Yes, kill the King and put Mariam in danger for your selfish self. No, he knew he just couldn't.

Omar looked around, studying every man's face that he could, like be knew who the bad guys were and who the good guys were, but be didn't, he hadn't seen this Prince Aazim before and aside from his father, he didn't know who else was in on this. When the King showed up Omar's heart sank, and as the man took his seat, Omar could see his plans crumbling away. King Jaan was not supposed to be present, he had known of the attack from Omar, he was not supposed to be here. He thought of Mariam and where she was, if the King wanted to present himself as an easy target, he would not allow the princess into the mess. She would be broken and hurt but most importantly, safe. The ceremony began.

Mariam sat in front of the mirror in silence as the maids applied ointments on her face and arms, adding colour to her cheeks, eye lids and lips. Her body felt numb, she couldn't feel the many hands on her body but 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. How would their life change if this marriage happened? Would he abandon her and go back to his lover? Or would he take her along and still make up with his lover?

She wanted to cry, there had been enough time to break off this marriage, enough time to kill these feelings she was growing. She had resolved to accept her fate, or maybe she could show Omar and his lover just the kind of woman she could be, she couldn't attack Omar but she could attack his pitiful lover, she was afterall coming in between husband and wife. But what was she doing? Wasn't she coming in between two lovers by accepting and going through with this marriage?

"It's alright to feel sad and upset at first princess." She heard a woman beside her speak and she turned to face her, the woman wiped a tear off her cheek, she wasn't aware she had been crying. "You will get used to your husband and learn to love him eventually." She smiled kindly.

Mariam turned her face away without any emotions, she knew that she had some feelings for him but he would never reciprocate those feelings towards her. She sighed. She looked in the mirror and saw Parvina and Saadiya behind her adorning themselves with jewelries too, she smiled sadly, she knew she would miss them terribly.

"It's time to go princess."

"Ohhh.... look at you being all beautiful!" Parvina squealed.

"You look just perfect Mariam! Let's see Omar take his eyes off you!!" Saadiya supported.

A corner of Marian's lips came up in a quick smirk, if only they knew that she would be miserable after this, maybe this was her punishment for coverting another woman's man, but it wasn't entirely her fault, she didn't arrange the wedding herself. When she stood up, she felt weighed down with all the amounts of jewelry on her body and her neck ached, Parvina and Saadiya came to stand on either side of her, beaming with joy until a loud, sharp sound broke through them. A gunshot. The women in the room fell silent and stood still, Mariam reached for the door but her hand was pulled back by Saadiya who was shaking her head. Then another gunshot rang out, then a couple more, the women backed away from the door to the far end of the room and waited in silence with their hearts in their throats. The door was suddenly forced open and the women screamed, Omar stood in the doorway, his white apparel stained with red and he was breathing fast, he looked up and fixed his gaze on Mariam. She struggled away from the grasp of the women and walked towards Omar.

"Omar...?"

"I have to take you away from here." He rushed and grabbed her hand forcefully. She yanked back forcing him to face her.

"What's going on?" Her eyes glistered with tears.

"There's an attack in the palace," he held her hand again. "The King has been shot."

@Ozzyy @Hanzell the next part is definitely bringing some fighting action 😋😁