Confusion swirled her thoughts as she desperately tried to pick up the pieces of her memories. Closing her eyes, Nadira forced herself to concentrate as she recalled her last thoughts. She was going to school, she had just left her house, and she was headed to class. Shifting in bed until she sat on the edge, Nadira looked up to the window in her room and squinted at the sunlight. That was it! Like the light being turned on in a dark hall, the rest of the forgotten scenes revealed themselves. She had been crossing the street when she felt suddenly weak and fell. Alarmed Nadira stood up, checking herself over for any injuries when her bedroom door opened.
"Finally, you're awake," Candrii Razdan said with an air of impatient excitement that made Nadira pause. Excitement was not an emotion her mother displayed often.
Sweeping into her room, Candrii grabbed a hairbrush off the table and ushered Nadira to sit back down on the edge of her bed.
"Come on, let's at least get you looking presentable before you leave," her mother tsked under her breath as she grabbed huge sections of her hair and brushed it none-too-gently.
Nadira tried to turn her head to give her mother a quizzical look, but Candrii firmly turned Nadira's head back into position before running the brush through her hair.
Wincing at her mother's heavy hand as she pulled through the tangles of her bed head, Nadira tried to catch her mother's eye without moving her head. "What do you mean, leave?"
Finishing with her hair, Candrii took a step back and nodded to herself as she examined her daughter's now brushed hair before meeting her gaze with an impatient look. "When you leave for your own house, of course. Now come on and hurry, Idrak has been here all day waiting for you to wake up so he can take you home," she said, waving her to follow her to the door.
Standing up with a jolt, Nadira felt the blood drain from her face. "Idrak is here?"
"Of course, he is," Candrii sighed aloud in frustration as if she was tired of having to explain such obvious things to her. Walking down the hallway, her mother paused at the top of the stairs and lowered her voice as she shot Nadira an admonishing look. "Really, Nadira, who faints coming back from their honeymoon. If you do not get your act together, you’re going to lose the man just days after marrying him."
Nadira stood there frozen in the hall as her mother descended the stairs. Nothing she had said made any sense. Questions began to swirl in her mind as Nadira replayed her mother's words over and over again, but the voice from downstairs halted everything. With a renewed surge of energy, Nadira raced down the stairs stopping in her tracks when she saw him sitting in her father's chair. With glistening black hair that curled just past his shoulders and honey brown skin, a man sat in their living room, dominating the small drab space with his presence. Although she had never seen the handsome man before, Nadira knew by the radiating heat that emanated from him and the empty black eyes exactly who this was.
Catching her presence, the man stood with a pleased smile that made Nadira wince in disgust.
What was he doing?! Pronounced cheekbones, tall with a swimmer's build, glossy curling black hair that was combed back while wearing dark gray slacks and a pale silverish blue button-down shirt, the man looked as if he walked off the cover of a Saudi GQ magazine. He looked ridiculous.
"There you are, my lovely wife," Idrak extended his arms outward in a welcoming gesture and Nadira couldn't help but glance at his blunt human hands with suspicion. Stepping forward, Idrak stepped past her father, who stared up at the man as if he was sitting in the presence of royalty or something. "I hope you are feeling better now, how insanely foolish of you not to eat for so long, my dear."
And while his handsome face held a smile, she could feel the cold fury buried beneath his words like a warning.
He had saved her, the realization hit her like a blow to the stomach. Turning away from his penetrating gaze, Nadira caught sight of her mother rolling two suitcases in her direction.
"I packed up everything I could find in your room, but if you ever need anything else, you could just come back and…"
Holding up his hand, Idrak stepped forward. "That won't be necessary, I will give her all that she needs."
Looking from one to the other, Nadira took a step back from both of them, shaking her head. "Stop, just stop," she yelled, holding up her hands. Glaring at Idrak, she willed herself to see past this fake façade and imagine his real face, with the coal-black skin, curving horns, and sharp fae-like features she had come to know intimately that night.
"What is she talking about? And what do you mean by wife?" she demanded.
The shock on her mother's face dissolved to a familiar anger as she shot Nadira a scathing look. "What are you saying, you—"
Her mother's snarl was cut off as Idrak narrowed his gaze at the woman and pointed to the kitchen.
As if a reset button had been pressed, the woman's anger vanished immediately replaced by an odd out of place serene smile. "Let me make some tea before you leave," she said before turning and walking to the kitchen.
Glancing to her father to see if he had witnessed what she saw, Nadira watched with wide-eyed shock as he too suddenly stood as if a thought suddenly occurred to him.
Walking past them to the two suitcases, Samad Razdan grabbed both handles. "I will take the luggage to the car."
Alone now, Nadira warily eyed the man standing in her living room.
"Idrak," she began with a deep breath hoping to calm some of the panic and anger swirling around in the pit of her stomach. "Please tell me what is going on. Why did you call me your wife?"
Lifting one hand in the air, Idrak twirled his blunt human fingers until a cloud of thick white smoke appeared over his hand. Unnerved but still transfixed by his magic, Nadira tensed as she stared at the images appearing within the smoke.
"Because you are," he said matter-of-factly.
Scenes of her mother and father laughing and smiling as they sat at a lavish table setting passed before her eyes, changing into scenes of herself dressed in a beautiful pink and white lehenga. Pressing a hand to her stomach, Nadira steadied herself as she watched in muted shock as the human version of Idrak stood next to her as the priest officiated their union.
Shaking her head, Nadira turned away from the happy images of her family. "This is all fake," she whispered aloud. Looking down at her feet, Nadira stopped. Yes, her clothes, that was it. Whirling back around to the demon, she pointed an accusing finger at him, this time her voice held conviction. "It is fake, I am still wearing my clothes from school."
The cool expression of satisfaction he wore as she watched his fabricated wedding slip away until those odd empty eyes of his hardened. "Yes, that's right, the very same clothes you were wearing when I plucked you from the path of an oncoming vehicle this morning."