Shahrzad al-Khayzuran

Overview
Shahrzad al-Khayzuran is the 16-year-old daughter of Jahandar al-Khayzuran and the Calipha of Korasan. She is the main protagonist of the series The Wrath & the Dawn.

The Wrath and the Dawn
Sharhrzad is the first to volunteer to be the Caliph of Korasan's bride. She volunteers out of grief for her best friend, Shiva, who was killed by the Caliph, Khalid. Khalid is cursed with insomnia and the land with drought if he does not sacrifice his brides each morning, a blood curse of the grieving father of his first bride. Sharhzad plans to get close to Khalid and assassinate him, but she finds herself accidentally falling for him instead.

Determined not to let that deter her, she maintains her composure until she learns Khalid's secret and the blood curse, after which she is willing to be killed in order to save Korasan. However, Khalid will not allow it, having fallen for her in turn, and sends her away when her childhood friends and accomplices storm the castle to rescue her, ending the first book.

Personality
Sharhzad is stubborn and has a fiery temper. She is also clever, as she entrances Khalid by telling her a story she can never finish in order to survive the dawn. She is fiercely loyal and will always protect what she believes in, but perceptive enough to give Khalid the benefit of the doubt instead of immediately avenging her friend. She is a bit of a feminist, and wishes that people would not see her for only her beauty but also the person she is inside. "A vision who speaks," is what she says to a visiting king when he comments on her dress. Her handwriting, a reflection of her personality is described as "imperious and heavy-handed."