Desert Wind

Alex was jerked awake by someone grabbing his chin in a punishing grip. His eyes flew open only to find his previous torturer leaning over him, the dark, almost completely black gaze burning a hole into his face.

“No! Please…” He started to protest, trying to push the man away with little success, as his wrists were gathered in one large fist and pinned over his head.

“Husam! What are you doing?” Came a voice from behind, but Alex couldn’t see the speaker, since his line of vision was filled with his attacker, but it was definitely male and had the same accent as the woman before.

The guy holding him down barked something back in Arabic, but it seemed like that didn’t satisfy the questioner.

“Father said that we have to use English when we’re around him.”

This time the brute looked back over his shoulder and asked something sarcastically, or at least it sounded sarcastic to Alex, going by the tone.

“Yes, we will tell on you.” Came the unimpressed reply from another voice.

The man glanced back at the boy, his eyes filled with disgust.

“Fine.” He rasped. “I was just inspecting the damage.” He stated, clearly angered by the fact that he had to make a concession to him. Thankfully another few seconds of staring later, he let go of his captive, turning away immediately.

Alex sat up, his panic not subsiding as he took in the other three men in the room.

“W… who are you?” He asked shakily, pulling the covers tighter around himself as he remembered that he was naked under them.

“Please, forgive our rudeness.” Said the owner of the first voice. Alex recognized him; he was there at the tower, he was the one who dropped that fucking scarf that almost killed him. “My name is Asad ibn Ramiz ibn Tamim Al-Shamal. I am the viceroy of Shassan Emirate. These are my brothers: Husam, the head of the Shassan Guard who you have already met and they are Fathi and Falih.” He said, gesturing to the two younger men standing to the side with crossed arms; they looked like identical twins.

Suddenly the boy remembered that nonsense, the woman from before said; you are now married to the four princes of Shassan Emirate.

He buried his face in his hands. This can’t be real; he was so sure he just dreamed that.

“This can’t be happening…”

The bastard called Husam snorted.

“You’re complaining? You ruined something that was planned for years!” He spat, making the boy fidget uncomfortably.

“B-but how? I never gave my consent… Don’t I have to say ‘I do’ or something like that to get married? And… and I’m a man, there has to be a law against this! I thought Muslims disapprove of homosexuality… ” He asked from no one in particular.

“That’s right.” Asad ibn something explained. “But we are not Muslims.” Alex could hear pity in his voice, though it didn’t make him feel any better. “In our religion, there is a very delicate ceremony for marriage; the bride only has to accept the Veil of Vows, which was made by the other party’s family and blessed by our priests.”

“The Veil of… ? Oh!” That must have been the scarf. That meant…

“S-so… We… we are married? I mean, really? There’s nothing to do about it? I’m not a follower of your religion, nor a citizen of your country and I’m a man on top of it… Doesn’t that matter?” He asked hopefully, refusing to accept this madness.

“Unfortunately, no.” Said one of the twins, stepping up to them. Under other circumstances Alex would have pegged him to be a university student, with his modern haircut and western clothes.

“We were searching our laws for a loophole, but the rules pertaining to the royal family are not written in Arabic, but in our old tribal language, and that doesn’t distinguish between bride and groom, referring to both with the same word and it has no distinguishing pronouns for the two sexes.” The other twin told him, walking to his brother’s side.

Alex felt the room spin around him, this was so fucked up! What will happen now? And why were there so many of them?

“And… and how come there are four grooms? I mean… I only ever heard of the other way around.” He pointed out.

“It is an old custom to prevent fights for the throne; the princes of the emirate marry one wife, so they won’t know who is the father of the next heir.”

The boy tried to comprehend the information; it was a bit unusual for his mind, but in a twisted way, it made sense.

“W… what about divorce?”

“There’s no way to divorce the first wife of the princes, only if it is proven that she is barren.”

“Well, then that’s settled! I sure as hell won’t give birth to a baby since I’m missing some essential organs for that; just open a fucking biology book!”

Asad massaged the bridge of his nose with a pained expression.

“Unfortunately biology books were not too common when our laws were made, we can only prove that you are infertile if we spend every night for a year in the same bed with you.” He said, clearly not happy about it.

“Wh…” His gaze unintentionally landed on the aggressive bastard, making him shudder. To spend a year with the guy who beat him up? In the same bed?

“No! I… please, can’t I go to jail instead?”

“You little…! Ungrateful shit!” Husam sneered, his hands balled into fists. “You think you can have your pick? Just for your information, you would be heading back to wherever you came from in a coffin if it would be my choice, so be very thankful that it isn’t!”

“Yeah? So should I be happy that you can beat me up any chance you get? Thanks, but if I were into domestic abuse, I would have stayed home with my dad!” He spat back, not really caring about giving away to much information.

“I can already feel the love…” One of the twins put in, making a face. “This year will be so much fun!”