Kinara

Summary: "Humari Amrit se doorr rahiye."

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He pulls her into the passageway outside and holds her face between his large hands.

"I have never made you sign that," he tells her.

"I will never do so. It's an obsolete document that serves no purpose. Something that the English left behind. You weren't even supposed to see it. Yakeen karo. Yakeen karo humara."

He sighs against her and rests his forehead on hers.

"Mujhe darr lag raha hai yahaan," Amrit says softly. "She is mad Veer, she is not in her senses. Koi apni aulad se itni nafrat kyun karengi?"

Veer doesn't say anything. In the silence that follows Amrit could hear the receding chaos of his breathing.

"Tumhe hum pe yakeen hai?"

His voice is washed in awe that Amrit's throat tightens. Veer draws her closer, his head bowed in a reverent gratitude.

"Amrit..." he mutters, "Amrit, tum itni achchi kyun ho?"

He had been ready for her accusations, anger, tears and perhaps resentment.

It wouldn't have been the first time that he'd have drawn close to someone only to have them brutally cut off from his life. But Amrit is different, her anger, resentment and tears were for him, not on him.

"Aap sahi the," she tells him now, soft words that remain between them. "Upar wale ne mujhe aisa banaya hi nahi. Maine shaq karna seekhi hi nahi.

"Itna kuch nahi hota agar todi kam Masoom hoti. Par Shaayad issi liye, unhone ek Amrit ke liye ek Veer ko bhi banaya hai.

"Yeh sab nahi hoti agar main aap par todi yakeen kar leti, bewakoof ki tarah aapse woh baat na chupati. Issi liye maine yeh faisla kar li. Jab taq aap kudh mujhe chhod nahi dete, meri dil tod nahi dete, meri har raaz par, har saans par aapka haq honga.

"Aap mujhse joh bhi kahein mein maan lungi Veer, yakeen ka sawaal hi nahi utt tha. Mujhe ab kudh par bharosa nahi rahi. Main logo ko pehechana nahi sakthi, mujhse kudh ko sambhala nahi jaati..."

She moves and presses her forehead against his heart, her arms gathering him closer.

"Bass ek guzarish hai, mujhse koi chal matt kijiyenga. Iss baar toot gayi toh kudh ko jodd nahi paaungi."

Veer takes her words in silence. He knows where she is coming from and cannot resent her for her reservations.

They might have shared intimacy, might even have feelings for each other - but it did not change the fact that they had known each other only for a few months. They may have become irreplaceable parts of each other's lives but still they were strangers.

"Main bhikar jaaungi. Barbaad ho jaaungi. Mujhse ek aur bewafai bardaash nahi hongi."

Veer kisses the top of her head, holds his face buried there for a moment longer.

"Humari zindagi mein aap ki jagah koi nahi le saktha. Na aapse pehele koi thi, na aap ke baad koi honga. I see all my life in you, with you; my wife, my queen, mother of my children. Iss zindagi mein kissi aur ke liye jagah hi nahi bacha. Hum aap ko bhikarne nahi denge, kudh toot bhi jaaye - aap ko tootne nahi denge."

"Mujhe yahaan nahi rehena Veer," her voice is so faint that he has to strain his ears to listen. "Mujhse saha nahi jaati."

He kisses her hair again.

"Chale jaayenge," he mutters.
"Tumhare alawa aisa kuch nahi joh hum chhod kar nahi jaa sakte."

"Bass kuch dino ke liye," Amrit clarifies. "Because this is your home. This is where you belong. I don't want you to give up on your right because of my fears. I don't want them to succeed on chasing us out. But I don't want to be vulnerable here either. I don't want them to see me breaking apart. Bass kuch dino ke liye, yahaan se chalte hai."

"Amrit," Veer says after a moment.

There is a tilt to his voice, suddenly a spark of amusement. Amrit is relieved to hear that, for she did not enjoy falling into these bitter conversations.

She doesn't say anything as he tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and smiles against the shell of her ear. Oh, she almost hears the mischief in his breath, this better be good.

"Are you asking me to take you on a honeymoon?"

Amrit draws in a breath, mortified as colour warms her cheeks, but she is gladdened at the same time. Only Veer - only he could push a conversation off rails so fast.

He touches her cheek with the back of his palm, enjoying the colour he had brought to her face.

Despite all the intimacy they had shared Amrit makes his heart race, makes him intoxicated with her thoughts all over again.

"Bataao," he says softly. "Kahaan jaana chahti ho tum?"

It is no longer a joke, he hopes she realizes that. Amrit lifts her thick lashes and meets his eye, those large eyes wide and void of ghosts. He could almost see a tongue in cheek reply forming in her head.

But Veer never gets to hear it, for the moment is trampled upon.

"Veer!"

Veer goes rigid, the hand he had pressed against the wall beside her clenches.

His face that had softened as he bowed towards her hardens until Amrit could no longer read him. He turns to face his mother.

"Ma sahab."

The look Rani sahiba gives Amrit is full of such venom that Amrit shudders. Her eyes sweep back to Veer's.

"Humein baat karni hai. Abhi. Akelein mein."

When Veer speaks his tone drips with sarcasm.

"Shaastron mein likha hai, har punya mein aada haq patni ki. Agar usse hi shaamil na kare toh punya ki baat toh ho nahi sakthi."

"Waise bhi punya aap se hota nahi," Rani Sahiba replies scathingly. "Come to the study. Humari itni toh maan rakhiye ke humein dobara na bhulani pade."

With that she sweeps off. Veer watches her go, still rigid, still ready to attack. Amrit lays a cautious hand on his arm.

"Kuwar -"

He turns abruptly and presses his mouth to hers. Amrit's words melt into a gasp.

Veer backs her into the wall and takes possession of her mouth, his hands cupping and tilting her face for better access, his teeth worrying at her lip and sinking into their softness, swiping alternatively with his tongue. The metallic sting of blood makes him pause. He inhales raggedly, pulling away, pressing his forehead to hers.

"Maaf karna jaan," his voice is a ghost of a whisper, heavy with regrets. "Hum, hum -"

he squeezes his eyes shut and his frame heaves.

"Hum phirse uss andhere mein nahi ghirna chahate."

Amrit strokes his face with cautious fingers.

"Go," she whispered. "I'll be here."

"Promise?"

"Hmm," she hums. "Not here - as in here in the corridor. I'm going back to our room."

Veer likes the sound of that particular phrase "our room". He presses a kiss on her forehead.

"Go. Rest. Hum aate hai."

*

The newspaper hits him square on his face before falling to the ground.

Where it lies Veer could see that it is a copy of Aawaz, folded so that Alfaz e Ranjhan faced him, in glaring dark letters she had written, "zindagi ke queemat : the price of living."

Oh.

Veer drags his gaze away from words he had seen inked on Amrit's rough drafts and meets his mother's furious eyes.

"Woh Ranjhan iss mehel mein nahi rahengi." Rani ma begins rather calmly, she takes a breath and goes to sit behind her late husband's desk, takes a paper from the stack at her elbow and crumples it in her hand.

Only she would do that, Veer notes with mild irritation. Nobody touched the late king's desk, apart from the cleaning household staff. Even they are meticulous enough to keep everything where they are.

There is no point of pretence, so he does not waste his energy on that. Still he is meticulous enough, Veer wants to know how much his mother knows.

"Aur Kaha rahengi Ma sahab? And how did you know?"

"Yeh," she gestures at the fallen paper. "Things she know. After all, how many women have seen the scars on your back - scars you have inflicted yourself and now you are using to tarnish my reputation! Bhagvaan ne humari pareeksha li rakhe hai aap ki ma bana kar!"

"Oh," Veer arches a malicious brow. "The way you were talking before I'd have guessed there were many many such women."

But Rani Sahiba isn't listening to the dangerously calm tone of his, instead her tantrum continues.

"This is why you married her didn't you? You wanted to ruin us all from inside! Ek humari swaabhimaan hi toh the humare pass, humari Ghuroor hi toh the - uss par teez pohochane, to destroy my dream, my career only you brought her into this house! Kushi mila? Apne ma ki baare mein yeh sab likhwake kushi mila?"

The chuckle that escapes Veer is a bitter one. He bends down to pick up the paper, and places it on the desk right in front of her. He smoothes the article for better effect.

"Aap ne toh humein beta maan na bandh kar di, par hum aap ko ma maan lein? Yeh Kahaan ki insaafi hai?"

"Veer!"

His eyes that meet hers are hard and cold. Some colour drenches from Rani sahiba's face. He looks so much like his father, she thinks unwittingly. So much, that at times it was hard to concentrate on her present.

"I heard every word you said about me. About her. Your son and his wife.

"Humari patni ek baazar mein bhikne wali cheez nahi hai. Aap ki yeh baat hum kabhi chahkar bhi bhula nahi payenge. Maaf nahi kar paayenge.

"Ever since the moment you found out Amrit is Ranjhan you've been trying to ruin her. You've been trying to stop her. You knew it because she wrote about me. Because she dared to question your motherhood. And you made plans to have her sent to a brothel!"

Rani Sahiba stands up.

"Agar aap ki pitaji zinda hote toh ek kothe se lai hui  ladki ko iss ghar ki bahu -"

"Baba sahab hote toh aap humse iss tarah kabhi baat nahi karti," Veer cuts her off.

"In this family, daughters in law are cherished more than daughters. You, yourself enjoy so much power thanks to that. Yeh matt bhuliye ma sahab. I might not care, but I know the rules of this family as much as you do. Agar zaroorat pade toh yeh parivaar aap par kitne meherbaan hai, ek ek kar ke ginnwayenge. Aap Amrit ko likhne se ya kaam karne se nahi rokh sakthi."

Rani Sahiba snorts, disgust etched and morphing her face into something twisted.

"Aap rokh sakenge usse?" She asks. "Kal ko yeh Akif ke saath chale jaaye, rokh paayenge?" She gives a short snort of mirth less laugh.

"Your connection with this - this man Akif - almost got you killed. He has influenced you against me. He is using your wife to do the same. Or have they been a team since before? Kitne aadmi hai iss ki zindagi mein, Prem, woh Farook Ansari aur ab yeh Akif? Aisi aurat ko patni bulane mein aap ko sharam nahi aata?"

"Aap ko pata hai Ma sahab, aaj aap ko ma bulane mein sharam aaraha hai humein."

His words have a final ring to them, Veer does not intend to drag this conversation any further. He was done, tired of this woman's everyday torments.

Suddenly, with Amrit's closeness and comfort he was beginning to realize how destructive a presence she was; the rotten core of his being.

"Oh? Toh tod dijiye yeh aahkri rishta bhi - aazaad kar dijiye humein -"

"Nahi." Veer's lips crack into a rueful smile. "Aap ne bhi toh humein aazaad nahi ki. Jab ki gunah humse hua hi nahi. Prem zinda hai. You have ruined two decades of my life for no reason.

"You will have to live with that knowledge. Hum jo bhi hai - jaanvar, darinda, shaitaan - jo bhi - aap hi ka banaya hai. Aap ka hi paap hai. Aap ko aazadi nahi milengi. Aap ko sukoon nahi milenga. Pata hai kiyun? Kiyun ki aapne humein maaf karna kabhi sekhaya hi nahi. Aur ab hum aapse aur seekhna nahi chahte."

He turns away.

"Humari Amrit se door rahiye."

"Is that it? Your game - your rules? Is that what you think?"

This time when she laughs Veer feels nothing but a chill in his bones. Something is wrong. He has missed something.

"If this is your last stand Veer, if you choose to make it against me, side with my enemies - you leave me no choice. Aaj taq hum chup rahe, aap ke nakrein sehethe rahe. Ab aur nahi. Bacha lijiye joh bachana hai - aap ki jaan ki dori humari haaton mein hai."

**
Ah another week comes to an end. Next week has some nice things in store. A bit of plotting, some old characters returning and lots of romance in the air.
Please do vote and comment. I miss few of my regular readers who haven't been around much last couple of chapters. Hopefully I'll hear from you?
Thanks for reading! Much love!