Chapter 20
___________

"No, my lady," the maid shook her head. "It just isn't happening. Please work your magic."

Suruchi put away the scroll in her hand and sighed. "I'll be there."

A short while later, her shadowy form spawned at a doorway. Her steps were leaves floating atop an undisturbed lake. Her skillful hands lifted a copper jug from the table into the air. She shook her head slowly. This had to be done. Suruchi swiftly turned the jug upside down letting the ice-cold water slam into the sleeping figure.

The maid at the doorway let out an audible gasp at the nerve of her, slapping a hand over her mouth. She felt her throat move as a nervous lump traveled down her throat and quickly left the scene. The figure let out a sharp yelp at the impact of the coldness of the water. The once sleeping figure now was up drenched in water from head to torso.

She fearfully met the eyes of the princess, water dripping from her black locks into her flaming eyes and dripping all over her physique. She was breathing heavily, partly from the short period of suffocation from the water and the other part because she was enraged. She raised a threatening finger towards her guiltily smiling sister. "You... you will-"

"I will?" Suruchi prompted, almost in a whisper.

To her surprise, the princess's face broke out into a smile. Wait, was she seeing that right? Is it truly a smile?

"Not bear the brunt of my anger."

"I won't?" her brows drew together in confusion, but relaxed again in relief.

She shook her head. "Nor will you have to suffer my silent treatment."

"Aha! So you admit that you give silent treatments! On silver platters, no less."

The monarch narrowed her eyes. "Would you rather I give it to you now?"

"No!" she answered quickly. That was for the best. Trust me, no one would want to get on the wrong side of the princess- er, queen. You'd get such infuriating ignorance from her that you'd go mad! She shuddered at the thought.

"Good," she smiled. "I have something to tell you, something exciting!"

"Pray tell me the reason behind your hyper-active-good mood?" her sarcastic reply was further emphasized by the dramatic roll of her eyes and crossing of her arms.

Revati sent a disapproving frown her way but continued anyway, "This is highly confidential and probably beneficial too. Listen closely-"

"Your highness!" a female voice interrupted them. She bent her head sideways to see who it was. A maidservant.

Revati managed a polite smile. "Yes?"

"Good morning your highness, would you like breakfast in bed?"

"Suprabhātham to you too, and no."

"Oh,"

"Yes, and now would you please go away?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"So, Suruchi, back to the topic-"

"Your highness, shall I get some new set of clothes for you to change out of?" Another maid?

"Not now!" she almost barked out, turning to Suruchi. "What I wanted to tell you is that I've-"

"My queen!" Ugh! yet another one!

"Yes?" Revati questioned the maid, her patience wearing thin. The polite smile on her face was now strained and tight.

"Your majesty, Uh... Prince Dipankar has requested to meet you at lunch today."

At this her smile dropped in an instant, making Suruchi question if it was ever there, all emotion drained out of her face. For a fleeting moment she had forgotten about him, but her brother had come back. And it had been weeks since his arrival. She got up and informed the maid that she would be there shortly.

"Now, what about that secret of yours?"

"Later," Revati said with a grim expression, ushering her sister out, closing the door on her.

* * *

The mid-day meal:

"Good afternoon Rev-Your Majesty," he corrected himself. "Did you have a good day? Today morning, that is."

"Good afternoon, yes quite a normal one," she answered dryly.

She sat down on the cushion, crossing her legs. "Do take a seat. Suruchi, you too."

Suruchi sat beside her to the left and Dipankar to her right a few seats away. Revati clapped her hands as servants filed in, laying a few dishes on the floor in front of them. There were much lesser dishes than what a royal would have. These were equivalent to a servant's meal. Only a handful of vessels: a few large, two small ones, and a pitcher with water. At the swish of Revati's hand, they all neatly dispersed, closing the doors.

"Help yourself," Revati offered, gesturing to the dishes with a raise of her eyebrows.

"This is... quite tasty. All this for the appetizer?" he questioned. "Do you not think it'll be too heavy to have the next courses?"

"This is the first and last course. There's not enough food for the second, much less the third."

His eyes softened. "I didn't know it had gotten this bad even for you. I'm sorry."

"There are a lot many things you didn't know." Dipankar flinched at her words. She felt a pang of remorse for her brother. Am I being too harsh on him?

"I know." He replied quietly, taking a bite of the fried chili.

A tense silence followed. Suruchi, who was eating her roti quietly, seemed unaffected by it. Revati broke the silence by clearing her throat, "So, what exactly happened when you got there?" her tone was much softer, much warmer than before.

Dipankar swallowed his piece as he narrated everything to them. Revati remained impassive, not letting even an ounce of emotion leaking out. Suruchi was the same too, but the only thing she showed on her face was a hint of trust. Maybe. Dipankar on the other hand was being the polar opposite. Or trying to be at least.

"To summarise, you blindly followed your wife like a puppy, got thrown to the side like trash, escaped from there, and came here in hopes of forgiveness. And you escaped from some discarded, forgotten tunnel that you found on the other side of the dungeon wall. Correct?"

"Er, when you put it like that, it sounds bad... But uh, yes. That was it." He confirmed. The next few moments were quiet, except for the sloshing of water poured into a tumbler.

"Well, I have some interesting news as well," Revati announced, her voice blowing away clouds of discomfiture, with a quick glance at Suruchi. "You have a sister."

"Er... I already knew that. You're right here." Dipankar said, confusion seeping from his words. He had stopped eating, right hand hovering above the plate. An elbow rested on his knee, eyes baffled.

"No, another sister I mean." Revati clarified.

His eyes widened. "When did mother get pregnant?"

Suruchi cleared her throat loudly as Revati suddenly choked on what she was eating. She downed gulps of water to calm down.

"No, like an elder half-sister."

"I... I don't understand, it makes no sense." He licked his lips.

"The thing is..." Revati paused, taking a look at her hands briefly. "Father sired a 'bastard'. Another child apart from us."

Dipankar tried to maintain a straight face but his shock was showing through. He never liked his father, yes. But he never thought the man was capable of such a despicable deed.

"He, or his actions, is the reason why mother became cold and distant. Also, her character was molded by grief because of her grandmother's death around the time. And those... made her become what she is now. She was a different woman before, a lively, cheerful one."

"Father kept us from having an elder sibling?" he whispered, hurt and regret dripping from his voice.

Revati's expression grew a bit soft. "Yes," she whispered back. "You two have met, but not knowing who she was- is. Meet Suruchi Verma, our elder sister. Suruchi, meet your Anujaha." She nodded shakily at her sister.

Dipankar sucked in a deep breath, his face more shocked, if that was even possible. "I-you- you were Revati's m-maid. H-how could father... he didn't know all this while?"

"Father knew of it, alright. He was the one who appointed her to serve me, denying her rightful place. He wanted to be a king who never knew or have faced humiliation. He wanted to save his reputation, keep it from being tainted. He wanted to be the sinless king in the eyes of his people." Revati said, bitterness creeping into her voice.

"How- how could he..? Did he ever truly love us, you?"

"Oh yes, he did. But he never loved his other child whom he considered a disgrace. He talked about being kind, generous, serving others no matter what... but look at what crime he himself committed. But know this, I consider her my sister regardless of the mixed-blood she bears."

He turned to Suruchi, a lump traveling down his throat as he now saw her in a new light. "Namo Namah, Agrajaa Suruchi."

"Namo Namah, Anujaha Dipankaraha." She kept her voice steady, not allowing it to crack. She forced her eyes to meet his appalled gaze briefly before looking away.

He faced his younger sister. "But why keep her as your royal trainer when you can restore her position?"

"It was my wish," Suruchi spoke aloud for the first time since she had been with him. "I'd rather be a respected trainer than a disgraced bastard of the late king. It would ruin your father's image and possibly even Revati's reign."

"Oh, good point... Agrajaa." He mumbled.

"Call me Suruchi. Else it might slip up in public, so it's best to keep to safety at all times."

The atmosphere was a silent one until they finished eating. But this was a kind of comfortable silence. The type of quiet which allows you to think over things that you haven't allowed yourself to think about in a long time.

"I must tell you both something very important later on. Brathah, I trust you now but haven't fully forgiven you. You can go... catch up with mother. Meanwhile, I have a few state matters to attend. I'll talk to you two in the afternoon tomorrow." With that, Revati got up and left.

Dipankar stared after her. "I was blinded by my own greed to let myself see that this is who Vaibhavgarh needed." He mumbled in regret.

"But you have now." Suruchi voiced as she too excused herself.

* * *

"Done." Dipankar looked up to see a stack of scrolls piled in front of him. A hand swept them aside, revealing a seated princess.

She looked around. "Where is Suruchi?"

"Here," a voice rose from the shadows. "Just done patrolling the fighting arena. Now please do tell us what you were dying to say from yesterday."

"Or what you were dying to hear from yesterday," she retorted. "Anyways," her fingers produced the pendant of NavaRatna and set it on the table. She glanced at Dipankar secretly, and to her relief, he was staring at it with admiration and not greed. "I thought of something yesterday night. And it might be true.

"Look here, there are eight gems on the pendant of NavaRatna."

"They're supposed to be nine, right?" Dipankar asked.

"Precisely. But they're not. One gem at the bottom is missing!"

Suruchi studied the pendant. "Then why are you so excited? You should be replacing it with... let's see, jade, ruby, diamond, yes with a diamond stone."

Revati shook her head. "Look closer, sister and brother of mine, look closer."

"I still see a missing gem, Revati-your highness."

Revati waved her hand in annoyance. "It's fine, Bharatah, call me by my name. No, don't get your hopes high. You're not forgiven yet."

"Revati, the gem hasn't magically appeared yet, how long do you want us to stare at it?" Suruchi sang sarcastically.

"Tch. I mean, think. Think harder. Why would someone take it out?"

"For no reason at all. It would've fallen off on its own." Her sister declared, crossing her arms and leaning back into her chair.

"Then father would've fixed it, it is such a precious heirloom, after all. It wasn't there when he presented it to me."

"Was it because the stolen gem was priceless? I mean, so are the others but, maybe this was of more value? And somebody stole it?"

"Good points Brataha, but highly unlikely. There's no way anyone would've found the vault of Rahasya, much less broken into it and stolen the gem. Only father has acc-had," her face fell for a brief moment. "I forgot for a moment there. Back to this. I know who has taken it out."

"Who is it?" Dipankar asked.

"Shall I tell you?"

Suruchi gave her a look. 'Obviously!'

"Alright, alright. It was... father, the late king."

____

The rocks broke down and become one: soil.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glossary:
'Sitting on the floor to eat?' = Yes, this was and still is a traditional Hindu (or Indian) custom along with the use of one's right hand to eat food.
Roti - a type of flatbread that is roasted once flattened out.
Namo Namaha - A way of greeting (like Pranam, Namaskar, Namaste, etc.)
Agrajaa - elder sister in Sanskrit
Anujaha - younger brother in Sanskrit
[Dipankar] + aha - addition to most Indian male names in Sanskrit.
Suprabhātham - Good Morning
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vote and Comment if you liked the chapter.
I love your honest suggestions and feedbacks and your constructive criticism!
Feel free to drop some down.

Take care❤️
-Chinmayi, 14.