Author's note: To AnyaSharma97 Sriram_Gudimella vidhu25 joshidhawal kalyanipalle -This chapter is dedicated to you. I am pretty sure, you know why.

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I stiffened. The smile on my face at once disappeared. I gaped at her, feeling a sharp breath leave my lungs with a shock, reminding my recklessness.

In these past few days, especially since the night we had danced, besides finding a way to win the challenges and her heart, nothing else had worried me. She had asked for time, and I gave it to her, to such an extent that I completely let it slip out of my mind. Thanks to her for reminding me today and thanks to her for keeping the promise she had made.

Feeling slightly apologetic, I held her wrist and gently pulled her closer. She stepped over without hesitation, but her face was still showing the nervousness. The day I meet Shaytan Rup wasn't far away. God-forsaken otherwise, but we were going to live in this parallel universe for tentatively two to three days. We were running out of time and I suspected if this reason was pressurizing her to finally reveal her possible dreaded past.

"Are you sure?" I asked, feeling my overwhelmed curiosity.

"I don't know," she whispered, her gaze straight on my lips and unwavering, finding difficult to look into my eyes. "But you were right, you do deserve to know about my...her past."

"Come here," I said, pulling her and we both sat down at the threshold facing each other. Getting closer, I wrapped both of my hands around her palm. "Talk to me about it, if you really want to. I just don't want you to be hard on yourself. Okay?"

She nodded. "I want to."

"Then talk to me."

She blinked to try and stay focused, her eyes already getting to shine. "Do you know about all the clans of Paramarashtra?" She asked.

I arched my brow, thinking about each one of them. "Yeah, I guess."

She swallowed. "Do you know about the Clan of Almourah?"

"Al...Almourah?" I asked shrinking my eyes, "No. I haven't heard about them before. Who are these people?"

She gulped. "They are no people. They are beasts, for real. Large, ugly and frightening, with two heart and two lives. They are the superiors in inventing and performing the dark magic. And they..." She gasped, slowly placing her other hand over her mouth.

"And they what?" I asked, feeling heart drumming hearing about this horrific clan I had no idea about.

"They f...feed on women."

My grip on her palm loosened, my mind suddenly blocked out. "What?"

She bent her head, squeezed her eyes until a tear rolled down and repeated, letting me hear the voice loud and clear. "They feed on women. They drink women's blood, right out of their veins. That is how they survive and perform magic."

I was appalled and that was a massive understatement. Every word I heard in my brain felt like a live wire, running down to convulse my body with a pulsating current.

"My God!" I exclaimed, with a choked voice. "You mean..."

"They tear apart woman's skin and seek pleasure out of her cry of pain," she said, now fluently, as if she wanted to speak her heart out. Tears continuously streamed leaving streaks on her face and I let it pour down. "But they make sure she is not dead because they want to hear her cry and they want to suck on her fresh blood...every day. No matter how old she is, no matter whose wife or daughter she is."

"Where do they live?" I asked, "Because I have never seen nor heard of these...these beasts."

"Uttarameer," she replied, wiping her cheeks, "That is where he resides and grows his clan."

"He? Who is this he?"

"Almourah," she said stiffly and hatefully.

"What is he?"

"The inventor, the pioneer of the most brutal dark magic in Paramarashtra, the kind of a magic your friend Tyrell's now a victim of. The advanced dark magic user like Shashi Thribhuvan is his apprentice. He made himself invincible through the dark magic he invented. Nobody, nobody, and nothing exist that can become a cause of his death. That is why he is still alive and sustaining somewhere in Uttarameer, since past thousand years."

My mouth was hung open, eyes refusing to blink. For the first time, her detailed account of giving away the information froze me, sending chills all through my body. "How do you know this?" I asked, with a subdued voice.

"If I tell you, promise me you won't be mad."

"Nazira, I promise," I said, holding her hand firmly again, "Just tell me everything you know."

"I read King Harsh's scroll," she said nervously, and I leaned a little back, getting irked to hear his name out of all the people, "There's a lot of things he went through for his people's safety, although against the wishes of the Panchayat. And the only person who supported him was Doctor. That is why I am telling you, when we go back you should read his scroll."

"What has King Harsh got anything to do with Almourah?" I asked immediately, trying my best to keep my temper in check. Everything, even a littlest of the little affair happening in Paramarashtra was always related to King Harsh. For once I wished if there was anything that didn't include him in.

"He and Doctor together, as a team, they implanted a seal forbidding a dark magic user like Almourah and his clan to cross the borders of Uttarameer. He accomplished it at a very young age. This is one of the reasons why King Harsh is hailed and respected as a great king. He is the only king out of all who managed to stop Alourah's growing atrocities against women. But after everything he did, as usual, it backfired. Complaints were filed against him in Panchayat, that whatever he asked Doctor to do was against law and order. He had to make a lot of atonement for using unapproved magic."

Swallowing a hard lump, I averted my eyes and stared blankly at the cliff of the hill. For the first time I was touched and somewhere at the bottom of my heart, I took a pity on the dead person against my own conscience. To stop the seemingly looking darkest clan from hurting the people of this country must have been one tough task, yet he stood out victorious. The choices he had made, especially leaving the list of cruel people alive, might not look righteous, but his intentions had always been in favor to his citizens.

Is my impression on him proving wrong?

Nazira fingers warmly caressed my skin. I looked back at her, watching her innocently rub her eyes. My mind quickly shifted to the details she had given. Going through everything, I formed an idea of what she might have undergone with my grandmother.

"I can only imagine what must have happened," I said, feeling a cold sweat at the back of my neck, "But you tell me. Feeding on the blood of a woman, is that what happened with my grandmother?"

I hoped, with all my heart, for her to say no. But to my horror, she nodded. Her face scrunched. Her skin on her forehead and temples folded when she narrowed her eyes, her chin quivered. She was making her efforts to block out the disgusting days she had gone through. But damn the dreaded past, it never fails to torment.

She let her sob out and I pressed her hand, my own eyes filling up picturing an old woman going through the terrible pain only to make some psychopaths seek the pleasure.

"Why?" I asked, my heart sinking.

"Because of this hostility between King Harsh and King Bhupathi Garg...."

"Who is Bhupathi Garg?" I interrupted.

Her features softened and her face stayed expressionless. However, her stare placed a direct blame on me. This extreme lack of knowledge was the consequence of my decision to never to touch his scroll, which now turned out to be an outrageous one.

"King of Narula dynasty, Madhyakshetra," she answered, running her hand through the bottom of her eyes, "He is Queen Premila's brother, from another mother."

"Oh," I said, and willed my own tears back, "So do you want to tell me how this started, this hostility?"

"There have always been conflicts between both the families- Thribhuvans and Gargs. It started many generations ago. They fought just for a piece of land which was actually owned by Rawat. But Gargs showed a meaningless desire to own it for themselves. And now Bhupathi Garg is the king, and he is greedier and crueler than the previous kings. He is not after that small land. He wants to take over the complete Rawat Dynasty.

Finally, both the families decided to end this feud by taking a mutual decision of uniting the dynasties. King Harsh marrying your grandmother was a business deal, an agreement. As expected, this marriage brought peace between the dynasties. But it was only temporary. The Garg's never interfered in the Rawat's affair until the historic escape of Shashi Thribhuvan."

"Is this escape has anything to do with the Gargs?" I asked the first thing that came into my mind.

"I don't know," she said, "Maybe, because Shourya once told me that Gargs, like Shashi Thribhuvan, they show reverence for Almourah."

My eyebrows instantly shot up. "I don't understand the connection. But, forget this. Tell me, what exactly happened with my grandmother?"

Sadness surfaced over face again. She took a deep breath and ran the back of her hand through her cheeks and neck. She seemed to be preparing herself. "There was a man, Bhupathi Garg's distant relative. I don't remember his name. Varchas? Maybe, I don't know. He located Queen Pramila when we were living in Paschimgarh."

She inhaled deeply and covered her mouth. I squeezed her hand, giving the time she needed to steady herself.

"Bhupathi Garg had only one intention. He wanted, by any means, everything King Harsh ever possessed. His kingdom, money, lands, jewelry. Everything. Your grandmother was the only Thribhuvan alive and was the only inheritor. In order to claim everything legally, he needed her signatures. She straightforwardly refused. There were death threats. She still refused.

She knew her brother was dangerous. From the very first day, she was against to let them have a glimpse of me. Only to keep me safe, she insisted me to hide in a closet before they came in. And I stayed there for many hours. It was too dark, and I couldn't hear. I didn't know what was going on outside with her. But every time she opened the door to let me out, I always found her drenched in blood. Bruises, teeth marks were all over her neck, hands, and legs. I was twelve but understood that something terrible was happening with her. I asked her several times, she never once told me. She always stayed quiet, and just let me clean her.

This went on for few days. My teacher, who Queen Premila hired for my education, he came to know everything. He was poor and was able to live with the money Queen Premila used to give him. He could do nothing except pitying us. But months later he couldn't keep up and decided to revolt. He feared the King but he was more loyal to her. He stayed back one day, against Queen Premila's wishes and tried to save her. But I wish he just left before they came in like he did every day. Atleast, he would have lived."

That man was a monster with dark magic, now I know he followed Almourah's footsteps. He killed my teacher right in front of me, brutally separated his head from his body. That was also the day they first saw me. I was just a kid. From what I understood, it was useless to hurt me, because I wasn't eighteen. But they still hurt me. A lot. They...they made me watch Queen Premila's blood get sucked."

I gasped, taking my hands off her and turned away completely. JUST STOP, I wanted to shout. But nothing came out of my mouth. How could I? Wasn't I the one who put a lot of pressure on her to reveal her secret? I wasn't even feeling worthy of myself to ask her to stop. It was getting unbearable. My heart felt heavy, my stomach churned and I was choking for breath. This was next to inhumanity, brutality, and to only to imagine that such people existed made me want to puke out senseless.

She placed her hand on mine. I stirred and nervously, guiltily turned around to look at her. I realized my visions were blurry, and I blinked heavily to clear my eyes.

"This wasn't the end," she said, her voice sounding too sympathetic, her eyes turning dark and haunting.

"More?" I asked, my heart momentarily constricting.

"Days turned months and months turned a year. They came every day, had the blood for hours and left, as if a pleasure trip. Queen Premila, she turned ghostly. Giving away her blood turned as if it was a part of her life. She even stopped feeling the pain. They gave her food and forcefully fed her. They also gave her medicines to heel so that she lived. They fed her, so that she produce more blood.

That man was addicted to the smell of her blood, he wouldn't leave her. Bhupathi Garg accompanied him. Even after he had the signatures, he still kept coming only to quench his relative's hunger. He used to tie me in his grip and made me watch. He said I needed to learn to give away blood just like the Queen. I cried and he was so vexed with seeing me crying every day, that he began threatening me. He said if I shed a single drop of tear, he would kill her once and for all. I couldn't let that happen. She was the only one I had, she was my world. All I wanted from her was to live. I had no other choice and I did what he asked. I controlled myself, held my tears back and kept watching. Just watching."

I clenched my jaw too tight that my cheekbones pricked. My eyes widened hearing her speak. Stop, just stop. I prayed in my mind. I felt my chest tightening, burning rage hissing through my body. I resisted, but how hard I tried, I couldn't stop a picture of her eyes that had gone dry raising in my mind. I was angry at nothing but myself because of what I had accused her days earlier.

"I told you she died because of me!"

"Why do you keep saying that? Did you kill her?"

"Believe me, I tried." she continued, dropping her lashes, her lips downturned. She looked regretful and that made me slump my shoulder down, my anger melted giving a freeway for a compassion to flare in my heart. "But I couldn't bear it anymore, there was so much blood everywhere. Bhupathi Garg's vicious face, the assault- to see it every day, it was just too much. I was tired. I wanted this to end. I realized she was enduring all this pain only so that I don't live alone. But I had it. I wanted her to rest in peace. I burst into tears, and Bhupathi Garg stood by his words. That day she breathed her last."

She covered her face with her hands and broke down. It was painful to see her wail. I hated to let her cry alone. She wasn't alone anymore. She has a friend in Leena, a brother in Pruthvi and me...we were her family now. I refused to keep this distance anymore. I pushed myself forward, sat on my knees and embraced her. I let her torrents of tears soak through my shirt. She clenched my shirt over my chest tight and cried placing her head on my shoulder. I gently caressed her, running my hands through her hair. But I didn't stop her. I wanted her to cry.