Chapter 8 The Weight Of Dawn

• The morning after the engagement ceremony came too soon. Sunlight spilled across Zara’s room like an unwelcome guest—golden and soft, but to her, it felt harsh, exposing. She lay on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling as the events of the previous day replayed in her mind like a cruel movie on repeat. The music, the forced smiles, the weight of tradition, and—most hauntingly—the muffled conversation she’d overheard between her father and Chief Kareem.
• She didn’t want to think about it.
• She didn’t want to remember her father’s voice trembling—not with fear, but with unease—as he whispered, “You promised this would never come back to us.”