❝My love will drown you to the depths of the sea.❞
Furat bin Kiyan, the fleet admiral of Al Andalus, is a spy and a rebel on a mission to kill the caliph of Cordoba and claim the throne for himself. But finds himself in trouble at the hands of Rahaf...
And when wind and winter harden All the loveless land, It will whisper of the garden, You will understand.
— Oscar Wilde
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November, 951 Al Mariyya, Al Andalus (Almeria, Andalusia)
"HAVE YOU EVER been to a brothel?"
One can wrap sin into silk. One can adorn skin with gold. Let the glitter blind the eyes. Or one can run away from the life of a lie. What is more beautiful?
What is more destructive than a sin glorified?
It has been an almost decade since he last stepped into a brothel. In twenty eight years of his life, the place has seen him only thrice. Then three times proved enough, he learnt his lesson and never turned back. But it wasn't a repentance— a giving up of a sin. He doesn't think his heart is capable of something so holy after being friends with the devil all his life.
"I know you have been. You're not a saint."
"I haven't in a long time."
Kanan laughs at his reply.
"Pity. I forgot the ocean doesn't have brothels."
"But it still has women."
"How long since you lied down with one?"
He doesn't answer the query. Kanan doesn't press for it.
"I've paid a generous sum for the night," his friend reminds him. "I'm not about to let my money go wasted."
"I had only asked you for a place to stay."
"And I found one of comfort."
"For yourself."
The streets of Almeria are lit with lanterns hanging outside every house. The sound of their boots echoes off the cobblestone pathway and mingle with the soft cries of the sea in the distance. Though twilight has only slipped into night, it is quiet as the two cloaked men make their way to what Kanan thinks to be heaven
The years they have spent away from each other have been longer than his journey to Al Andalus. And even if the sea is his home, he has spent his life as a corsair, but it has worn him out and he would rather rest to recover than indulge in celebration of their reunion. Kanan might still have the heart of a careless, adolescent boy he once was. But he has changed. A lot.
