"Dhruv! Dhruv Maurya, you come here this instant!" My voice raised at my son, as he ran around the place with his muddy dhoti, splattering dirt all across the spotless floors of the palace which had just been cleaned.

"Coming mother!" He ran up the stairs like a bolt of lightening and came back down, no less faster.

I stood there with my hands on my hips.

"Sorry mother, I was just getting this." He raised a sword which was in his hands.

"A sword?" I asked him questioningly.

"Yeah - don't you remember? I have my sword fighting and blind fighting lesson with uncle Sushim."

"Oh yes, I remember very well..." I said quietly.

"Err - take care of yourself! Don't over work and remember to eat your f..." before I could finish, he ran off.

I shook my head. "That boy. Never even rests."

Suddenly, I spotted a small boy coming up the entrance steps. I paused and watched him come up innocently.

Every time I saw him, my blood went cold; every time he spoke, it reminded me of that cold, winter's day in which my definition of 'love' didn't seem credible enough to be recognizable for myself.

A flashback of the horrible incident played like a continuous video tape in my mind:

"Please Kaurvaki, love him like your own, give him all the happiness you can on my behalf. I beg to you. I bless your soul with countless wishes and I'm sure you'll treat him just as if you would treat your own son."

With this, her eyelids bashed together, and her soul floated into the air, almost visible to my eyes, and her body became lifeless.

"Good morning, mother." The boy's voice made me jump out of my thoughts.

I nodded with a faint, uncomfortable smile.

With this, I walked away, leaving him clutching a book tightly to his chest.

"Kaurvaki?" Rani Dharma's voice came from behind me.

"Oh, good morning." I said, stopping with a huddle of clothes around my arms.

"How's Dhruv and - and Krishna?" She asked, barely above a whisper.

"Good." I replied, trying to make a huge fuss.

"Getting on all right with managing the two kids? They really get along well."

"I wished I got on with his mother that well." I turned away, feeling my eyes pricking.

Rani Dharma sighed uncomfortably.

"You tried. And you were enduring enough." She rested a hand on my shoulder which made me feel slightly warmer and calmer.

"Anyways, how's Ashok?" I sniffed, changing the subject.

"He's alright. I expect he'll be back sometime this week after his meeting with the minister."

"I haven't seen him for months, is he - is he coping with Ahankara's loss?"

"To be honest, neither have I. It's his own heart that's beats the way it does. I do not have control."

We broke eye contact and I pretended to observe the clothes in my arms.

"Dry, aren't they?"

"Very." Rani Dharma whispered, staring deeply into my eyes.

"Well, I'll take your leave. There are many preparations for his arrival." I blinked away, raising my eyebrows to neutralize my weak expressions.

"Dadi Maa dadi Maa!"
My ears sensed the excitement of the three children: Dhrupad, Dhruv and Krishna all ran up enthusiastically and almost pushed over Rani Dharma in the process of embracing her. They were half as tall as her and she smiled surprisingly at their closeness with her. She bent down onto her knees and handed them all a ladoo which she had just prepared.

"Hey hey! Not so soon - first tell me: why aren't you at your sword fighting lesson with Mahamatya? I'm sure he'll be expecting you?" She asked them with arched eyebrows.

"Mahamatya was not there, Dadi. We saw him by the river. He said he will resume the teaching sometime tomorrow."

Rani Dharma looked at them suspiciously.

They shrugged.

"Alright, off you go. Go have a nice shower - the three of you. Your faces look as dirty as soot!" She patted them away.

💓

"Mahamatya, why are you hesitating to tell me what you witnessed at the ministry?" Sushim's harsh voice made zero effect on Mahamatya who was very calmly submerging himself in the holy waters of Ganga.

He titled his head slightly, not completely facing towards Sushim who was standing on the land with his arms behind his back; his eyes looking impatiently at the coolness of his actions.

"I will tell you everything, at the correct time."

"This is the correct time, why don't you understand? If Ashok comes back tonight with good news, I will not spare you."

"Is this the language I have taught you ever since you were young?"

"Mahamatya..." Sushim said through gritted teeth.

"There was a reason we came up with this plan to send you into the ministry court in disguise to overhear any important details the minister says to Ashok. I know he will threaten me with the support from the ministry, once he gains it, and he'll try and knock me off the throne. If you really want justice to happen to me, I suggest you don't waste even a second more."

"We'll see tonight, and observe his actions at the arrival feast for him."

"That's what I've been hearing for four years. 'Arrival feast, plans, arrival feasts, failures.'" Sushim said, rolling his eyes.

"Sushim. Don't panic. Your mother and I are capable of doing the right thing in order to keep your right on the throne secure. Don't interfere in our mastermind selves, such as us. You're to keep a close eye on Ashok and make sure he doesn't receive any external sources of evidence from any part of the castle tonight when he comes, because he is not yet aware that it was us, who killed his Guru Achanakya."

Sushim felt his nerves in his temple twitching with firstly the anxiety of the plan, plus the radiant heat of the sun that was glaring down on them.

"I promise you. Once we block the evidence reaching him, no one will doubt us ever again. However you need to play well, due to the ministry having plenty of trial records held during Samrat's life, firstly about me and then you."

"What if he gets hold of - you know. Those documents with the royal stamp. The ones that cleared Samrat's death assumptions? What if they find out that the stamp was fake."

"Oh please. Don't tell me you're regretting your foul moves five years later? If you want to maintain your position as king, you have to take some risks."

"I think I know the risks myself, thanks. However your job is to guide me, I suggest you do that." Sushim spat, smirking sarcastically while stepping onto a stone to appear taller than Mahamatya.

Mahamatya gazed fiercely back.