*Mature Content*

Rabiya

Her husband placed her gently on the bed, his lips tracing her collarbone in small, teasing nips, and she fell back against the pillow. Their room was dark, only the shadows of their limited furniture outlining the empty cavities of space, and their own desire being the only source of heat within a confined space. 

It definitely was not their first time together, but tonight was different. The air held a heavy intensity. Their hearts drummed to the beat of the other, sensations rolling off their bodies as the heat grew, the burning wake of sizzling desire crawling up the spine and words a slow breathy gasp. 

Adar brought his lips to her neck, kissing the nape of it as his hands explored the curve of her body, calloused fingertips going under her gown, pushing it until she shuddered at the cold air. 

There was a desperation in his kisses, his touch, and his heated eyes. When he glanced up to meet her gaze, she saw the intensity in his dark, cinnamon eyes, the heat and scarlet ache staring right into her. 

Dappled amount of moonlight peeked through their curtains, the shimmering glow outlining the sharpness of his jaw, illuminating the softness of his features while keeping the passionate gaze trained on her, pupils dilated. 

Rabiya smiled, pulling him up for a kiss, which he responded eagerly too. He captured her lips with ease, molding the rigid parts of his body to the ample curves of hers, fitting together like a puzzle. 

He tangled his fingers in her hair as he tugged her bottom lip into his mouth, his tongue swiping across before he devoured her mouth once more with a deep groan vibrating throughout his body, the tremors echoing to her. 

Rabiya swore she melted in his arms. Her whole body lit up like a firecracker at the subtle pleasure he managed to bring her to with just a kiss. 

Forcing himself to break the kiss, Adar moved so their foreheads touched, panting heavily as he opened his eyes to stare into hers once more. "You do crazy things to me," he murmured, pecking her lips again. "You make me lose all rational thoughts with just your eyes."

Adar's hands were under her gown, stroking the bare skin, and his lips trailed hot, wet kisses down the length of her neck again.

"Did you... want me to stop?" she breathed around the pleasure. 

His chuckle was a vibrato strumming against her nerves. "I love the hold you have on me. I love being senseless to your love, and I would not trade it for anything in the world."

Rabiya was growing impatient. After all the heart aches and pain she endured, all she wanted was to lose herself in the bliss she knew only Adar could deliver. He made her feel as light as a feather with his charming words, his ability to make her numb with sweet murmurs that drove her mind to a craving need. 

When she lifted her hips to roll against his, pressing to his most sensitive part, she released a desperate moan around her exhaled breath, drawing a pulse of lust from her husband as his eyes darkened. 

His teeth gently teased the fabric of her nightgown, an underdress she changed into earlier as she expected to sleep instead of what they were doing. How wrong she was to assume a night of slumber would be near impossible with such a dangerously attractive man sharing the same bed as her, a man she had the pleasure of calling her husband. 

"You really shouldn't play with fire," he rumbled, pinching her waist. "You might get burned."

A fearless emotion crossed her, a naughty gleam entering her crescent eyes as they sparked with challenge. "Then burn me, Adar," she whispered, tugging at his mass of black waves, hair disheveled from her fingers. 

He paused to take another look at her as if seeking confirmation. When the sultry expression stayed, his grin widened, and Adar wasted no time in removing articles of clothing between them, starting with his shirt. 

Once peeled off, he threw it somewhere in the room. Without realizing, Rabiya pushed herself up, bringing her hands down the hard, sculpted muscles of his chest, gazing with fascination as it tensed under the brush of her fingers. 

She never saw a man as beautiful and kind as her husband, never met a man who devoted his entire life to her without asking for anything in return. He lost as much as she did in his life, yet he managed to keep a smile on his lips whenever she arrived in his line of sight. 

Before their marriage, neither of them lost themselves in the paws of lust, nor did they ever act on it. Their wedding night was the first for both, and now they were madly addicted to each other. 

Rabiya's hands grasped the waistband of his trousers, ready to pull them off before he placed his hand on top of hers. 

"Let me," he said on a whisper. Gently pushing at her shoulders, he laid her down again, crawling on top of her body. "My wife seems to be more persistent than usual," he teased, nibbling on her earlobe as his fingers worked the strings and buttons of her attire. 

"Be quiet," she said airly. "Just kiss me."

His eyes were hooded with a yearning for her, sun-kissed muscles a mouthwatering sight for Rabiya to indulge in, and she would. She could only imagine the mess she must have seemed to him with her heated cheeks and flushed expression, chest rising and falling with her panting breaths, a rhythm that her husband took note of. 

He finished unbuttoning everything, pushing the hem of the gown up to bury his face in her bosom, a few teasing bites around her soft, full breast. She let out another gasp of surprise, biting her lip to stop the throaty moan from escaping. 

"Adar," she almost pleaded, inhaling sharply. 

"I don't care how many times the world tries to tear us apart, I will never stop loving you," he promised, removing his lips briefly to gaze down at her. His lips were as red and bruised as hers must have been. "I was in love the day I saw your tear-streaked expression, and I told myself I would never let those eyes ever lose their light again."

Her gaze softened, hands gripping his arms as their bodies were tangled together like sheets. 

There was sincerity clear in his eyes, an unmasked man completely vulnerable before her. He professed his love a thousand times, and her heart still fluttered like wings as if it were the first time. 

"I will always love you too," she whispered. "With you near, I doubt that light will ever leave."

He cracked a genuine smile, strands of inky hair falling across his forehead. "Now, where were we?" he smirked devilishly. 

Rabiya could only laugh before he engulfed her in his amorous kisses, fervent with need and longing. Under a full moon, the young couple coveted after the other's release, the pent up tension disappearing from their minds and uncoiling.

The air around them was full of the pleasure that coursed through their veins, a sizzling pulse that took as much as it gave, and Rabiya helplessly fell back against his arms, tangling herself in the pool of desire that she seemed to drown under, and she knew that the growing danger that awaited them could not break their bond apart. 

A love as raw and pure as theirs was not one to easily shatter. 

* * * * 

Waking up to the heat of his body, she melted against the firm muscles that sculpted his chest, sparks inflaming her body as she felt his arms pull her closer, grip tight. She almost laughed at his sleeping antics. A man of such eloquence could not bear to be separated from her, and he remained attached to her. 

It was still dark outside, the sprinkling of dawn beginning to break through the charcoal sky, and soon a hue of warmth would paint across her country, the aftermath of ballistic turmoil. Darkness was approaching, and when evil and greed added into a mixture, a disaster in politics would etch her history. They were racing against the clock.

Yet she couldn't find the heart to pull away from her husband.

Fortunate for her, he was always there to kiss her worries away and smile till her breath caught at her throat. 

Adar stirred in his sleep, groaning softly. "What has you tense so early?" he murmured in a husky, sleep-induced voice. The silkiness in his tone teased down her spine, bringing delicious shivers across her body and a flood of heat. "Surely you can't be thinking of me this early."

"I was not," she scoffed, an obvious lie. 

He chuckled deeply, rising to nuzzle her nape, leaving a kiss at her collarbone. "After everything that we've done together, embarrassment about desire is very out of taste." He nibbled a soft spot on her skin, hot breath fanning her ear. "Especially when you can feel my own need," he whispered as he pressed against her. 

Laughing, Rabiya sat up and shook her head in her fit of giggles. "No," she smiled. "We have to pray soon, and we have work to do."

Her husband laid back against the pillows, an arm outstretched behind his head, the white duvet falling dangerously low on his abdomen, rigid muscle outlined in a strict 'v' and taut with strength. The biceps on his arms bulged, a masterpiece in itself. Even after a rough night, his inky hair was tousled from her fingers, scratch marks on his shoulders, and still he looked unfairly perfect. 

But to Rabiya, there was never a day when he was not. The days when he was covered in mud and charcoal or the nights when his fears wrote across his visage in roads of stress, she still saw the beauty of his heart, saw the benevolence in his actions, and witnessed the gentle aura in his eyes. 

Rabiya tilted her head to the side. "Do you think we will ever wear our attraction out till it dims to nothing?" she asked, genuinely worried. 

At her question, his eyes widened before he laughed, sitting up as well. "Come here," he said, caging his sweet wife in his sturdy arms, protected and safe. Adar kissed the crown of her head, lips lingering for a moment. "There will always be more to our attraction than physical appearance. I will never understand all of your quirks or your boiling temper."

She narrowed her eyes, pushing his chest, but he didn't move. 

He chuckled again, dark, maple eyes bright with jest and sweet as honey. "Have mercy on my heart," he teased, gaze gleaming like stars. "How can I ever cure my curiosity when you surprise me every day so that I fall more and more in love with you? I could spend hours writing a thousand love letters to you, and you would still hold my heart in your hands. That is a promise."

Her cheeks bloomed like the petals of a rose, a deep ember coating her cheeks. "E-Enough," she stuttered, turning away. 

"No."

"What will I ever do with you?" she sighed, defeated. "And your constant need to make me blush?"

He leaned closer. "Well, that has a very simple answer."

"Does it?"

Adar's roaming hands trailed over the curve of her body. "Yes, it does. You can reward me for showering you in compliments."

"Time to get up," she said, jumping out of his grasp with a wide grin. "Rewards come with hard work."

He groaned, falling back onto the pillows. "You wound a poor man's heart."

Soon after, the two erupted into another fit of laughter, grins pure with the happiness that surged through them. Among the ashes of despair, there was always a flame that stayed alive, a sliver of life that burst with love. Adar and Rabiya were evidence of that flame. 

* * * *

Peace often chased after discord, and the villagers were a prime example. 

How many more nights of this nonsense must she endure? There was no end to their limitless greed, their hungry gaze, and the strumming of an irregular tune of purity. Tainted in the inky of their endless lies, Rabiya gripped her husband's hands tighter as she watched the villagers swear and argue amongst each other, yelling at her relatives for cleaning up the debris of her grandfather's estate.

With heavy hearts, they carried on their tasks of collecting personal items that survived the fire. The slurs and shouts were the rocks and knives that stabbed and pricked their hardened skin, yet the eyes could not hide the pain, nor would the misery fade into a dullness when it was as fresh as a deep wound, blood a river underneath. 

"How dare you touch our property?" yelled one man. 

A woman with a shrill voice agreed. "You lost rights to this home when Abdul Jalil died!"

Her family kept their lips sewn shut, but Rabiya could sense the flare in her brother's gaze, could see the growing hatred in her cousins' eyes. They may have lost their property and their path may have been marred with jagged struggles, however the fight continued to live within, the resistance, and their faith that Allah ad a plan. 

Then her husband did something that made the villagers gasp in disbelief. 

He stood in between the villagers' brutal humiliation of her family, arms spread wide as he pushed Rabiya behind him, shielding her body from them and the heat of his dark, turbulent eyes bore into the villagers even as some of the young men continued to shout. His jaw clenched, and then he narrowed his eyes at his parents, her in-laws. 

Many still did not know of their marriage, but she knew there were rumors that Adar married without his parents' knowledge. Not many knew the mysterious woman he chose to sacrifice his family bonds for was her. 

When Adar spoke again, his tone was clipped, authority thundering in waves as his voice targeted his family. "This family may not have a male heir to fight against a village, but this family is under my protection. Attacking them means attacking me," he announced. "And when you direct your attacks at me, you indirectly involve yourself with my resources, the powerful men I've befriended."

Rabiya held her breath, scanning the crowd as she saw fear chain them. 

"As long as Allah keeps me alive, I will defend the honor of this family, and I will use all my strength to punish those who seek to silence them."

Her husband did not have much to his name, but he did have allies that could turn the tides of their village war. He wore a crown among the villagers, had the reputation of a prince. Their time may be limited, but he made a vow. 

One that both Rabiya and Adar promised. For the sake of their new lives together, they had to protect the ones who would be forced behind. 

----

A real DUNDUNDUN moment. 

Peep the new cover though :D Testing some out to see which brings the most traffic to this book. Do you guys want to vote among the covers I do have? I'm thinking of setting a poll on my writing Instagram (shadiawrites). 

Also, I get this a lot about why I put mature scenes if I don't explicitly describe sex, and the reason is I don't write smut. Not me, not my style.

I do write steamy scenes, but I try to make them as eloquent as I can. Not a lot of people are comfortable reading those scenes, so I put a warning.

Also, I kinda heavily made a fool of myself during my lab and my TA thought I was hilarious, but I'm also kinda nervous laughing because I low-key could have failed >.<

Thanks for being my therapist.

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