The Desert Prince
ACT III: THE CHOICE
Chapter Six: The Return
Approach to the palace was its own punishment. The city greeted me with a silence that tasted of waiting, of held breath. My arrival like this, dust in my beard, sand in my hair, blood still visible on my torn robes, was a spectacle the courtiers had not properly composed. They stood in the courtyard, faces thin as folded paper, e…
