She is so strong yet so naive,  that the demon himself descended as her knight in shining armour.

~ hehe, remember
anything??

§ § §

13 | She loves him, she loves him not |

§ ~~~ §

Gauri was waiting at the tower of the king's bedchamber. The days had been going on just fine, just some rogues rebelling here and there.

They say, an empty brain is a warehouse of devils. These days, Gauri understood the proverb to her bones. Sitting on the railing of the balcony surrounding the pyramidal roof, she hugged herself. Chilly wintry breeze whistled past her, running out of the pine forest behind the castle. Winter was yet to arrive, the maple and rhododendron trees had gone bald already, covering the little castle town with a cloak of fiery orange-red leaves.

It might because of the increasing heat these days, the king has started taking more women in his bed. He played with them till late night and wake up later than usual in the morning. The ministers and officials were displeased with his wayward behaviour, but no one had the courage to speak up. Thus, the days passed like the calm surface of a stagnant lake, him making his women happy, as he was now able to play with all of them.

This lack of events clogged the wheels of Gauri's brain too. She was now mulling over trivial thoughts like why his majesty was very attentive of Ishaana now-a-days. She was his majesty's favourite, and it was as true as the fact that the Sun rises in the East. But, yet —

Right after the assassination attempt, his majesty started to prefer petite women. But those poor little creatures were not able to withhold his vigour and had to be escorted back immediately. After getting two nights ruined, he stopped for about a week, and then Ishaana got the ticket to enter his bedchamber every night till this day. Although she got dismissed right at the dawn, as his majesty woke up, he started keeping tabs on her routine. Like just a few days ago, some bolts of velvet came from the Southern Province. He as usual kept them for making his capes, but suddenly he changed his mind and gave away a beautiful pink bolt for Ishaana. The woman was so ecstatic that she immediately made a cloak out of it lined with white wolf fur. Right after the cloak was ready to be draped, she ran into his majesty's garden of roses. As he was returning to his chambers after the court, she 'ran' into him 'accidentally'.

"Your majesty, Ishaana bids you a good afternoon!"

He looked at the brightly smiling woman standing in front of the pink rose bushes, looking as a fairy under the setting sun that descended to make the roses behind her bloom. He tilted his head aside, no ripple of emotion in his empty eyes or cold face. Ishaana was feeling restless thinking if he punished her for showing up here, and his lack of response made her even more uneasy.

"Hm."

With that said, he picked up a rose from behind her and put it in her hair, just upon her left ear.

"Pink suits you. This garden is my personal space. No one is to enter except the gardener and my aides who accompany me. You are excused."

As soon as Ishaana went out of his sight, he lifted his right hand up to his eye level, as the bluish darkness of dusk made the blood trickling down from his injured fingers almost black. He stared at a far corner of the garden, where under a shed, crouched a small, carefully reared red rose plant, it's petals so dark that it resembled the sky of a cloudy night, tore off by occasional strikes of thunder.

Gauri hiding behind the little bushy plant paled in fear when the looked looked at her way with an expression hanging between rage and pining. Suddenly,  a chilling smile tugged at his lips as he slowly licked the blood from his finger. Making sure his fingers were licked clean, he turned around and left, leaving his bodyguards baffled.

Gauri felt the chilling at her spine still now,  whenever she recalled that smile of his. It was far worse than his face being rigid as a block of wood.

A distant rustle woke her up from her musing. Someone was within the vicinity of the king's quarter. Gauri clicked her tongue hard. It was impossible for her to attack them without alarming the guards, and this happened all thanks to her absentmindedness. It might be better to watch them if they could brush off the guards stationed around the tower somehow, and then she would take care of them once they reveal their intentions.

As expected, it was a ruggedly clothed man who had covered his face except his eyes. He nimbly rode the vines surrounding the window pane of the king's bedchamber. A sharp knife with a crooked edge glinted in his tight grip. He tiptoed beside a sleeping Omkara and glared at him menacingly while lifting the knife.

Omkara shot up on his bed as an owl shrieked sharply through the silent night, and came face to face with an ugly glare from a man who had a knife raised in his hands. Before he could pull out the knife from under his bed, he saw a long knife had itself impelled through his neck, horizontally, passing through his windpipe.

"Your majesty!",  Ishaana clutched his shoulder in fear as soon as her sleepiness dispelled.

Omkara paid no need to her and gazed sharply at the small figure leaning by the window. It's eyes blazed green, like a panther in hunt. Ignoring the clutch at his shoulder, the dead man fallen on the ground by his bed, he lunged at the figure.

Gauri was stunned for a moment when she saw those dark eyes of a vicious carnivore.

"Hey wait!", he missed the tiny shoulder by a hair as the figure scooted away from the window.

Gauri mentally huffed, you're not a cat, I'm not a mouse, you just got saved from an assassination attempt, aren't your reactions too abnormal?

But Omkara kept on trying to catch her. She regretted showing up in front of him now. Would it had been better if I didn't show up and saved him unscratched? She shuddered at her thoughts. But for a moment she felt that it was better if he wasn't so obsessed with her identity. Would anyone really mind if I punch him in the face and knock him unconscious?

As soon as the thought came to her mind, she jabbed his shoulder enough,  so that he stops moving his hand and jumped out of the window.

Omkara clutched his stiff shoulder and turned at the guards frozen at the doorway and a panicky Ishaana.

"Useless! Clean these up!", he turned at Ishaana, " You are dismissed. Maid!"

Even after her little stunt pulled at the rose garden, he didn't stop sending her gifts. Thus, she thought she could help him relax. She got down from the bed covered in the blanked as soon as the guards left with the body and caressed his jabbed shoulder blade from behind. But he gripped her wrist firmly and shoved her at her waiting maid. His chilling look saying his displeasure all.

§ Side Theatre§

After the room was cleaned up:
Omkara caressed the skin where Gauri landed her punch, his gaze complicated.
"Little one, thank you again. And, I guess General should get his salary for six month deduced. "

*****

Bonjour!
Missed me? Heck nah! 😁
My exams are almost done, last one is on this Tuesday and then Holidaaaaaaaaaaaa.. Y!! 🌠🌠🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊. So, give me some votes 🌟 and comments💬 while you're at it, no?? 
Pweash!! 🤩🤩

PS: I got a new account where I will be posting stories only,  reading recommendations should be limited to yagnaseni_writes whose cover shop is always open. Do give it a try!!
And the other account is XiaoXiaoBao, here I will be posting from July, if everything works out well, I hope. And, do visit the profile to know more please please please😫🙏🙏💓

~ happy reading!
With love,
Sarani.