Hello readers! This is my contribution to this new fandom. I absolutely adored The Wrath and the Dawn and personally cannot even stand the wait (no matter how short!) for the next one. Please let me know what you think! I would love feedback so I can improve and grow as a writer. Thanks for the view and have a good one!

xHatter

I couldn't believe it. "Khalid." His name, like a prayer on my lips, flowed from me in a whisper. Waiting; wanting. Aching.

His eyes met mine as he strode closer, and I suddenly couldn't catch my breath. They pinned me to the spot; I was sitting cross-legged on the ground.

And then he stood before me, our eyes were still locked, and he offered me his hands. I grasped them, hungry for his touch; hungry for him. I stood up slowly, savoring the sight of him. As I rose, I took in his powerful, clothed body, and his hands, bare but for the ring whose twin I wore on my own hand, and, saving the best for last, his face. A face I'd never be able to forget: a smile, just for me; a twinkle of amusement and adoration in his eyes; a nose that crinkled when I said something funny and he struggled not to show emotion; a tongue that did wild and wicked things to me; and a secret dimple that only came out when he was truly happy—I'd seen it only once.

One hand came to rest on my hip, and the other held my jaw. "I've been looking for you, wife."

I grinned, transfixed, "Oh really? Well, clearly, you found me."

"Oh how I've missed your smart little mouth." I raised a skeptical brow, and he chuckled.

"Khalid," I said again. Suddenly everything was there: Our love, our longing for the other, our sorrows, our fear…He was my other half, and together we completed the circle and were whole; never ending. Never had I seen my equal, never had I been so mesmerized by a man.

I would have been content to stay in his arms forever, staring into his eyes, breathing the same air, but something stirred in this in-between place. Winds began to pick up, and the fog in my brain had started to clear; details were coming back to me and I wasn't ready.

I let go of the Caliph and tried to figure out where I was exactly, and was disoriented. I found that I was both nowhere and everywhere: the ground wasn't really a ground but a gradient tile of some sort, but it was on all surfaces—Where had Khalid come to me from?

Turning back to Khalid, I found that he was looking at me, and that there was something in his hands. Upon further inspection, I recognized it and a sliver of fear pierced me: It was a silk chord. He began walking towards me, and I backed up, instantly confused as to why he would be coming for me…

I screamed as the silk chord wrapped around my throat.

It was hard to discern through the choking, but I heard him whisper to me urgently, "Stay safe, Shazzi. For me. I will find you again."

"Kh—" I couldn't speak, I'd lost too much air.

Suddenly, I felt my shoulder being shaken. And a voice that said, "Shazzi! Shazzi! Wake up! It is just a nightmare!"

I still couldn't breathe. I wanted to answer, but something was choking me and I couldn't. Breathe.

"Help her!"

I gasped as air filled my chest, and I gulped it in, never wanting to feel as I'd just felt again. I opened my eyes, hoping, wishing that it would be my Caliph who was here with me, saving me.

"Shazzi, you scared the shit out of me. Are you alright?" But I knew this voice as Tariq's, knew that face as his, and knew that I shouldn't have hoped or wished for something that was so impossible.

Reluctantly, I sat up. I was practically bathed in sweat. "Yes, Tariq. I'm fine. A nightmare is all."