Stories-within-stories is a classic Middle Eastern format with roots much deeper than The Arabian Nights. Your book marries these traditions and implodes them.
Hamish was overwhelmed by the intensity...as if everything had been assembled just so, just right, in that moment for the two of them, coming around the corner.
He wasn’t sure when she began mentioning the curse. Later, when he looked back, he realized she’d said the word with alarming frequency since his arrival, spoken with the naturalness of words like bread and bicycle.