Rudraansh

Miraadhha and I were standing in front my my Thakurma, Kakima refused to acknowledge my presence after I imprisoned her husband and kept him in the cells under the dungeons along with Harshadip

I don't plan to kill them- having been seeing my uncle as the father figure I don't have the heart to truly hurt him.
On the other hand Harshadip has been too silent- far too silent for my good.

After knowing Miraadhya's mother was the one who had killed my father I have been avoiding her at any cost, she was in Gauda under Abhijeet's surveillance. I am only keeping my sanity because she is Miraadhya's mother and I would not do anything which causes my women to be in pain.

My father and her mother had a past- both have made their mistakes and I won't let those mistakes hamper my relation with the beautiful women who is standing beside me wearing a breathtaking teal blue saree- her nervous stance make me smile as it makes her look more cute.

Thakurma stares at her with unrecognisable emotions. "Miraadhya come sit beside this old lady" she says and with a jolt she hurries to gingerly sitting beside her.

"When you were small I saw how high spirited you were, those eyes would sparkle with curiosity whenever you looked at something unique or studied a painting ." Thakurma says with a vivid smile- her eyes looked like she was recalling a memory but I see Miraadhya mirroring my expression of shock and confusion.

"Thakurma...what do you mean you saw her when she was little?"

She smiles as if caught in an act and my mouth hungs open in shock.

"The day I saw her I had my doubts but as days passed I knew she was not Sukanya...she was in fact someone else" Thakurma's slight mischievous smile was a shock for both of us, our disbelief making her laugh.

"Aise hi safed nai huye mere baal" she beams and holds Miraadhya's hand.

"Thakurma why didn't you say anything" I step closer to sit beside her knee on the floor, the motherly smell which has always soothed me radiates from her body. I look at my Queen who was too dumbfounded to speak anything- it was almost comical for both of us to be tricked.

"Because the way you would look at her- I saw the smile she had brought in you, my grandson was happy after so long so how could I have said anything?." My heart suddenly swells with love for my beloved Grandma, she saw something which even I had missed recognising earlier- the way Miraadhya was becoming everything to me.

All the instances come back, how Thakurma wanted us to marry, how she has always treated her nicely .

"I am so so sorry Thakurma- I never meant to hurt Rajaji or you." Miraadhya speaks with a heavy voice, her tear stained face making me sad, I almost picked myself up to wipe the tears but stopped when Thakurma engulfed her in a hug.

"I understand you had no choice but you did attack my grandson which will take time for me to come in terms with." The pair of eyes that travels towards my abdomen which bared the mark Miraadhya had left when she stabbed me makes me conscious- I try to hide it internally cringing not wearing a kurta, my upper half only covered with a drape of cloth.

"I am sorry." Her voice is low with guilt and it bothers me- I somehow am proud with this mark that my women was strong enough to attack a king- if not for her love for me she would have easily killed me. I adorn the mark of her bravery.

I never said this to her before but it was also the moment she had attacked me that made her realise she cared about me like I realised I could never hurt her. As dramatic as it was the event changed both of us.

"Now Thakurma don't bully her, she has already heard enough." I interject.

"Dheko, ekhon tike bou er aachol dhore nilo" (In Bengali)

"Dheko, abhi se hi bahu ke aanchal pakad liye" I shut my eyes as I hear Kakima's words booming behind me.
Miraadhya stands abruptly to touch her feet but Kakima hastily removes her feet. The action which greatly annoys me and I only keep my mouth shut because Miraadhya eyes me warily with a warning.

"Are Kusum, how is your health now?" Tharurma asks.

"How it will be after the events?She truly is a bad luck for us- what people are saying is true." Kakima points her fingers animatedly as she seeks pleasure in accusing Miraadhya. I understand the cause of her bitterness but to humiliate the future queen was not acceptable.

"Might I remind you Kakima that it was your husband who had brought the war upon us and who even made your daughter suffer." I say agitated and the tears that come to her eyes makes me a bit empathetic.

"Yes,....now blame me! Now you all will sideline me, bully me ! Because of her my daughter's life is already ruined." She cries now and I press the bridge of my nose in annoyance.

"Your daughter is also our responsibility. Durga is a brave child just like you and she will overcome this hard time. If you want to blame me then you can, but let's not pity Durga, she is a survivor and her life is not ruined- it's anything but ruined." Miraadhya says with utmost confidence and I couldn't help but be see her in pride.

My Queen.

Of course this doesn't sit well with Kakima because her lines become deep with a scowl.

"Aab yeh naachne wali ki beti btayigi mai apne beti ki kaisi parwarish karu?"

Okay that's enough.

"She is the future queen and you will not speak to her like that." I say holding Miraadhya's hand. Thakurma gives me a slight nod and I give her a small smile - my guardian angle.

"Rudraansh...how can you speak to me like this?" She cries more but it doesn't affect me anymore.

"That's a king command Kakima" I don't hesitate even when Miraadhya's holds tighten on my hand with my words. I see the disappointment Kakima has on her face as she huffs in anger and leaves.

"She will bring nothing but havoc to this kingdom!" She shouts before leaving and I heave a heavy sigh.

Miraadhya lips were pursed in a fine line, her mind running in every direction- I can sense it.

"I am here. We will get through this together" I whisper bringing her attention on me.

"Thakurma when is an auspicious day to get married" Grandma also had a vide knowledge in astrology and her instincts were mostly right.

"As far as I know we have an auspicious day two weeks from now, I will once confirm from the Royal pandit and we can fix a date then." She beams with excitement.

"Two weeks" I say in excitement seeing Miraadhya shy smile.

"We should call Miraadhya's mother- there would be rituals that needs to be performed by her"

The mention of her stiffens me and so does Miraadhya, Thakurma didn't know who had killed her son and if she comes to know it will break her heart- it might also spoil her outlook towards Miraadhya. Sometimes a white lie is better than a bitter truth. No mother would want to know that her son has done anything wrong.

"I will send word Thakurma" I say just to move on from this topic, we can deal with this later. For now I wanted to take Miraadhya to a place which I had prepared.

After seeking her blessing I take Miraadhya's hand and I take her towards the small river behind the fort.

"Why are we here?" She breathily asks after I made her run here.

"Turn around" I clasp her shoulders to make her see what I had prepared for her.

The gasp that leaves her mouth and the way her eyes sparkles with joy makes my stomach shake with excitement.

She runs towards it, towards the huge swing which was tied to a thick branch of a huge tree. I had made sure the swing was covered with all kinds of flowers- especially Lilly- her favourite.

"This is so beautiful!!! You prepared this?" She exclaims clapping her hands like a kid and smiles at me - the very same toothy smile which reminds me of her when she was a kid.

"Yes.You liked it?" I approach her while her doe shaped eyes looks at me with deep admiration which greatly inflates my ego.I have made her happy.

"I love it!" She proclaims and with excitement and hugs me, jumping in excitement, I laugh at her antics while holding her and then she looks at me endearingly.

Then I suddenly feel her soft lips on me , a small peck before she moves away, the redness in her cheeks visible in this dim light as well. She must have realised what she did because the quick turn she made before I could hold her back and kiss the life out of her had me smile like an idiot.

"Help me to get up on it" she says seeing the height at which the swing was hung, she wouldn't be able to climb on her own.

"Oh I will help you get up on many things." I say smugly and she cowers more in embarrassment.

"Hold onto me" I say as I pick her up and place her on the swing, she yelps a little when she tries to find her balance while I keep myself busy admiring her.
I move around her to face her back, her luscious hair teasing me.

"Lillies are my favourite" She sees the flowers around her touching them smoothly while I tuck out a flower and place it under her hair.

"You are my favourite." I whisper at her ears, she tilts her head with the sensation and moves her head to face me. She is breathtaking.

"Ready?" I hold the two ropes of the swing ready for the pull and Miraadhya nods in excitement holding them tightly.

I pull her with at most strength and then leave the ropes letting the swing take up its motion, with every move and a slight push from my end Miraadhya laughter surrounds me. Her enjoyment mirroring my joy of being able to provide her with it.

"This is my first time swinging a swing" She shouts with glee and I stare at her in shock that she has never done this before.

What else she has not done? I wonder how her childhood was, was it filled with love from her mother? Has she heard any bedtime stories? Did she had any friends of her own? I wanted her to have all these, I now realise how little I know about her childhood which makes me guilty of not making an effort of asking.

The momentum of the swing slows done and Miraadhya holds me to come down.

"It was wonderful! Thank you " her sweet voice acts as a melody to my ears.

"How was your childhood Shona?" I ask her and take her towards the small flat stone beside the river where we could sit and enjoy the sunset.

"It was normal" she shrugs.

"No like, did you had any childhood friends?"

"Umm...Sukanya is there" she says not understanding my point.

"As a child what did you wanted to become? I remember I wanted to become a fighter like my father." I share the fond memories with her.

She nubs her lips giving it a deep thought.
"I didn't think much that time, most of the time I would just want to know about the things Sukanya was taught about because I was not allowed to."

She says as if it doesn't even matter, like it was completely normal for not being able to get a formal education.

"How did you learn then?" She of course was very intelligent and knew about topics which even I took years to master.

"Umm...Most of the time Sukanya would lend her books and on some occasion I would sneak into the study room where the instructor would come to teach her. I would listen to the teacher and make my own notes" Her animated hands while describing the scenario pleased me, she was indeed very smart.

"Were you not afraid of getting caught?" I ask.

"Umm I was but the thrill of learning something new was much greater than being caught, also getting scolded was something I was used to." She shrugs as her gaze meets the sunset.

Why would she get used to getting scolded?

"Would you get scolded always?" I ask softly not wanting to get her mood down.

"Ohh always! Maa would always find something to scold me even when I was not at fault but she always did it for my own good"

"Scolding a child for no reason cannot be for something good Miraadhya" I voice my opinion not liking how she is not finding this wrong.

"She is my mother Rajaji, she has a right to scold me" Her eyes scrunch.

"Yes but scolding and manipulating is not the way to exercise right" My voice has an edge on it and Miraadhya clearly is not enjoying this conversation.

"She never manipulated me!" She exclaims now standing up and so do I.

"Are you naive? Whatever she did was to take her revenge? She used you for her own little games.!" There I say it, what I have been meaning to say for the past few weeks.

By this point she should have clearly understood how selfish her mother is, how she not only lied, murdered but also used her own daughter.

But she doesn't understand because the way she looks at me angrily makes me more agitated.

"I am going back!" She turns to leave.

"The conversation has not ended!" I demand.

"You can have opinion about my mother as a women who has done many wrong things but don't make opinion on what kind of a mother she is." She says and leaves me more fuelled with agitation.

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