Priyamvada rapped on Nandini's room and entered the room. The sitting room was vacant and so was the bedroom. She panicked briefly until she heard the sound of running water from the bathroom.

With any luck, no calls had been made to Shamli in her absence.

She'd not gone far from Nandini's room when good sense had returned to her befuddled brain and she'd grasped the risks associated with summoning any member of the medical staff for Nandini's check-up. She couldn't let anyone whose loyalty was doubtful to get an inkling of the incident until she had spoken to Nandini and done extensive damage control. Or the episode could explode into a huge long-term problem.

So, she had only gone far enough to spot a maid, and she had asked the flustered girl about the older women who took care of health-related maladies among the staff. There were usually at least three or four of those hags in every palace. And they could be trusted to keep their mouths shut. However, in the unlikely event that the girl had any serious injuries, a doctor would have to be summoned.

After sending off the servant with strict instructions, she had hurried back to Nandini's room.

She had to convince the girl to forgive and forget or this mistake was going to cost her, Priyamvada thought miserably. She could feel it in her bones. Was her right hand turning numb? Or was her mind playing tricks...

Priyamvada cursed her frayed nerves as she paced agitatedly in the sitting room. Twenty years ago, she wouldn't have made a mistake like this one. She would have maintained a cool head and dignified behaviour regardless of the circumstances. After all, impulsive actions were unbecoming for a person of her class. But the terror was too deep-rooted, and she knew she would never be free of it.

Aditya would have laughed and teased her mercilessly if she'd expressed such a fear back in the old days.

He had been amused by the superstitions surrounding the Bharadwaj family. The most prevalent of which was that any person who intentionally harmed the family would come to grief sooner or later. At that time, heady with seemingly imperishable happiness and power, she'd shown her contempt for the beliefs. But her husband had surmised rationally that the superstitions were probably the brain-child of well-wishers who had wanted to protect the naïve, altruistic members of the family from unscrupulous individuals.

Then she had learnt in the cruellest way that the old wives' tale was true.

Priyamvada's thin body shuddered in pain. Frantic to distract herself, she tried to think of alternative topics. But the Bharadwajs refused to leave her mind. The least painful subject was the surprising fact that they had allowed Nandini to stay in Aadybhoomi without a chaperone. If she remembered correctly, Siddharth had been paranoid about his daughter's safety, and the entire family had been obsessed with outdated moralities. Had they changed so drastically over the years? Or had they forgotten to inculcate their values in this particular descendant...

The train of thought was interrupted by a discreet tap on the main door. Priyamvada rushed to answer it and felt satisfied on seeing the aged woman who was bowing to her. The portly maid had a creased face, greying hair, and she was dressed in a red and green saree. There was a large red bindi on the forehead and a big old metal box in the wrinkled hands. The woman was a prototype of the 'wise old woman' variety and could be trusted.

Accepting the servant's reverent greetings, Priyamvada formally asked, "What is your name?"

"Your highness, my name is Lata," the woman replied deferentially.

"Come inside, Lata," Priyamvada ordered. And after the maid had obeyed, she shut the door.

Then she looked steadily at Lata and said, "You must have been told what has happened. Nandini fell down the stairs and hurt herself. Do what you can...and let me know if she needs a doctor. And yes...she's a little upset because of the fall. So, do not ask her anything about the incident."

The noise of anklets reached them and then Nandini walked into the sitting room.

Priyamvada appraised her quickly.

The girl had cleaned up her face but the welt on the cheek was darker than before. There was a small cut at the corner of the lower lip, possibly caused by the diamonds on her hands. The eyes were red and moist, and there were extreme forms of many disturbing emotions in those damp eyes. Anguish...wariness...distrust...and was that a shard of something cold?

Smiling as kindly as she could, Priyamvada hastened to Nandini and prompted her to the sofa. When they both were seated, she caringly said, "This maid knows everything about herbal remedies. I felt you might prefer that to western medicine. I've told her how you tripped down the stairs and injured yourself. You don't have to worry about a thing. She will treat you and you will feel better in no time. Lata, don't just stand there. Don't you see her state?" she admonished.

Nandini stared at Priyamvada, astounded at the gaunt woman's performance. Then she looked at the grandmotherly woman named Lata. She desperately needed the comfort of Prithvi's presence, but that wasn't possible. And Kadambari was taking care of Rajeshwari. But it was for the best. She was on her own now onwards...

Lata took over the situation. She walked to the sofa and kept the box down. Her crinkled figures examined Nandini's face very gently, and though a plain understanding glimmered in the wise eyes, she spoke only to enquire compassionately about other injuries and if either of the hands or legs were hurting. Nandini held out her right hand mutely, and the limb was also examined.

Then the medicine box was opened, emitting herbal fragrances that reminded her of Vrindavan and the family shrine. A dab of a cool dark green salve was smeared lightly on her cheek, and a pinch of the same was applied carefully on the corner of her lower lip. Her forearm was treated expertly with a medicinal oil and then it was wrapped with a white cloth.

Priyamvada waited till the cloth was tied properly around Nandini's hand, then she civilly said, "That will be all, Lata. You may leave now."

"Thank you, maaji," Nandini murmured as Lata closed the metal box and lifted it, and received a sympathetic smile and a whispered blessing in reply.

Priyamvada waited till the door was closed and then looked pensively at Nandini. The girl had displayed the sense to go along with the lie, but that annoyingly damp gaze held the same emotions as those of a dying creature that was awaiting the death blow.

"Did you call up your family? Or speak to anyone else about what happened?" Priyamvada asked apprehensively.

Nandini shook her head faintly.

Priyamvada felt relieved. If she could control her sentiments and play her cards right, the situation could be salvaged.

"Nandini, I apologise again for raising my hand on you. Please don't hold a grudge against me," Priyamvada requested, the urgency in her voice increasing steadily despite her efforts to feign serenity. "And under no circumstances should you tell your family about – what happened. As I'd explained, there are some memories associated with Shamli that are tough for me to...that is why I...but it will not happen again. Never again. So, you must not let any resentment linger in your mind."

Priyamvada's words mostly floated past Nandini, not leaving the faintest impression. There were only two thoughts in her head that were vaguely connected to the ongoing situation. The first was that insanity was the least terrifying explanation for the switch in Priyamvada's behaviour. And the second was that, for unfathomable reasons, Priyamvada was afraid of her family.

Her eyes came alive fleetingly only when Priyamvada intently said, "And not just me, you must not harbour any hate or anger for anyone in my family, especially...." she paused and tried to put forth a question without showing revulsion. "Nandini, do you...love my son?"

Flushed, Nandini glanced away.

Correctly interpreting the silence, Priyamvada muttered to herself unhappily, "Good...that's good." While it was abhorrent to associate the word 'love' with the children, any positive sentiments that Nandini harboured for her son would only benefit him. The related complications could be handled with tact.

Priyamvada came out of a contemplative mood and shrewdly assessed Nandini's attitude. The girl was staring at her right hand.

"Did you have breakfast?" she asked considerately.

"No," Nandini mumbled.

"Oh...I'll send a maid with food and will ask her to attend upon you for the rest of the day," Priyamvada assured.

"There is no need for that," Nandini replied distantly.

How should she proceed, Priyamvada mulled in frustration. Ordinarily, she would have brazenly expressed her condolences over Siddharth's demise and made polite enquiries about the family's wellbeing, but there was an indefinable quality in the girl's behaviour that advised her against it. A different approach would have to be used.

Pinning a gracious smile to her face, Priyamvada amiably said, "When I last saw you, you were barely two years old. I don't know how, but you seemed to understand that I was... sad. You would try to cheer me up by bringing me flowers. You didn't know the difference between real flowers and useless weeds. Anything that was bright and pretty would become a part of your bouquet. I didn't mind," Priyamvada said forgivingly. "Because you were delightful to be around. You used to call me 'Priya maa'. No one had told you to call me that. You began doing it on your own. But you couldn't pronounce my name properly. You would call me 'Piya maa'," she smiled with a momentarily real sweetness. "If you wish, you can call me that again."

Nandini dispassionately met Priyamvada's gaze. "No," she said clearly.

Abject fear and irritation suffused Priyamvada's features. She had tried to create an illusion of pleasantness, but it had been obliterated by Nandini's reply. What could she do to erase the incident from the girl's memory...

Staying calm outwardly, Priyamvada said, "Nandini, please understand. A painful memory is associated with Shamli. And that's why -"

"You didn't threaten to destroy the town, you said you would burn my family alive," Nandini reminded quietly. "I know my family....I know they wouldn't have done anything to harm you intentionally. So, why do you hate them?"

"You're misunderstanding me," Priyamvada objected rigidly "I have the highest respect for your family."

The ghost of an acidic smile appeared on Nandini's visage. "You? The woman who couldn't respect the feelings of the son whom she got back after believing him to be dead? The son who worshipped her memory for years, and still loves her more than anything else in the world?"

Caught between fear and fury, Priyamvada's face tautened. Till now, she hadn't given any serious thought to Prithvi's reaction to the incident. He might feel slightly upset. But her main concern was that he would probably assume she was mentally ill. That would be horrendous.

"You don't know anything about me, Nandini," Priyamvada replied tersely. "So, you don't have the right to judge my actions."

"I don't want to judge, I want to understand," Nandini replied without rancour. "Help me do that."

Priyamvada vacillated unhappily, weighing all her options while assessing Nandini astutely. Despite the offensive comments, there really was negligible animosity on the girl's visage...

Aditya had told her once that Siddharth had an unusual way of regarding people - a way that encouraged them to unburden themselves. No such idiocy had entered her mind when she'd met Siddharth, but now she could empathise with those who had divulged their secrets to that pompous friend of her husband. And she could also understand why she had nearly spoken about Aditya to Nandini yesterday.

It was not a quirk of fate that Siddharth's daughter had come into her son's life in this crucial year, Priyamvada reflected with startlingly clear insight. And hadn't Nandini essentially been the one to find her at the exhibition? The children had obviously not met for enacting an inane love story. It must have happened for her sake. Wasn't it possible that life giving her an opportunity for atonement? By seeking Nandini's forgiveness, would she be able to get rid of the curse and gain a fresh start...

The lure of redemption became too powerful to be curbed.

Priyamvada tightly said, "If I tell you the truth, you have to promise you won't tell anyone. Not your family nor mine. You will have to maintain the lie that you fell down stairs and hurt yourself. And even that information can be shared later. It might upset Prithvi unnecessarily. He has to complete a work assignment for a client and I don't want his concentration to be disturbed."

The bafflement on Nandini's features provoked a smile from Priyamvada.

"You didn't know he works in his spare time?" she asked. "Or that he earns a notable sum of money each month? Strange. I suppose I was wrong about the seriousness of your relationship with him." Then leaving the loaded statements in the air, she soberly asked, "So, do I have your word that our conversation will not be shared with anyone else?"

"I will make my decision after listening to you," Nandini replied flatly, forcefully putting aside the astonishing information about Prithvi.

The impudence riled Priyamvada again but she compelled herself to calm down. She could whip the skin off Nandini's back in her head, but in real life, she needed to be endlessly patient and kind with the girl. And if she was going to make a confession, it was imperative to be careful with her words and only reveal what was absolutely necessary. And to make the girl believe that it was her conscience that had made her realise the gravity of her crime.

Priyamvada tentatively asked, "Are you aware that my husband and your father were friends?"

"Yes," Nandini muttered.

It was good that she didn't have to narrate the whole story from scratch, Priyamvada thought with relief. "What else do you know?"

After a brief hesitation, Nandini reluctantly shared a gist of whatever she had learnt from Kedar.

Priyamvada listened without interrupting at any point, and didn't ask any questions. She didn't have any interest in discovering the source of Nandini's knowledge. It was sufficient that the girl knew just a hazy outline of past events.

"Okay then, tell me just one more thing," Priyamvada said in a low voice, staring fixedly at the diamond bracelet on her wrist. "The ancient temple run by your family...is it still closed?"

Mystified by the query, Nandini said, "Yes, it is."

"Do you know why?"

Nandini confusedly asked, "Why are you asking about the temple? What does it have to do with - "

"The temple caused Aditya's death," Priyamvada murmured.

Nandini stared bewilderedly at Priyamvada, stupefied by the allegation.

Not acknowledging the reaction, Priyamvada dully said, "Shortly after our marriage, Aditya invited Siddharth to our house for dinner. We were about to embark on a long foreign tour, and he wanted to meet Siddharth before leaving. Your father did not want to meet us. He had rigid ideas about loyalty to parents, and he believed we had committed a crime by falling in love and getting married," she said stiffly. "Anyway, Aditya convinced him somehow. At some point in the evening, the conversation veered towards children. Your father predicted that Aditya and I would have a son. And Siddharth was sure he would have a daughter. Aditya jested that perhaps the children would end up together, creating an actual bond between the families. It was a joke. Aditya never intended for such a disastrous event to transpire in real life," she clarified categorically to the diamonds. "But your father was highly offended. He said he wouldn't allow any daughter of his to marry the son of two people who had caused so much pain to their families."

"His words hurt Aditya. But my husband was too tough and strong-minded to be affected by anything for long. But I never forgot," Priyamvada rasped. "I wanted to punish Siddharth for saying those things. And I decided that the easiest and harshest way to harm him would be to shut down the temple, because it was at the root of his false pride. So, I hired a man who was supposed to be an expert in the vilest rituals and asked him to desecrate the temple," she shared dully. "Later, certain...odd things happened to him and to the servants who had helped me find the man. One by one, they and their families perished. My life was happy and peaceful till Prithvi's birth. But within just weeks - I lost everything. And as time passed, I felt more and more that Aditya's death was the result of the shrine's desecration."

Priyamvada glanced unpleasantly at Nandini. The girl's face had not had much colour to begin with. Now it had the waxen pallor of a corpse, and the welt on the cheek stood out more brightly.

"No - no," Nandini whispered. "It can't be."

The walls had closed in on her. Her body had turned cold but she was perspiring. She wanted to leave the room but the surroundings were a blur.

Priyamvada frowned as Nandini stood up sluggishly from the chair and walked ahead.

Appearing to be in a stupor, the young girl took a couple of steps in a direction, then seemed to face an invisible block and stopped...only to swivel and repeat the action in another direction. The haphazard movements were reminiscent of a wild animal that finds itself in captivity.

Filled with a surging defensive anger, Priyamvada struggled to quell the urge to launch a rant against the smug, self-righteous fool named Siddharth Bharadwaj. She had unloaded her secret without making a big mess, and she had to leave it at that. But the retelling of that ghastly chapter had acted as a trigger, and the rage that was festering in her heart erupted once more.

"You must have understood why I got upset when you said you were Siddharth's daughter... why I hate your family," Priyamvada said bitterly. "My life was destroyed because of them and the temple they own."

Nandini's frenzied movements ceased and she turned to Priyamvada incredulously.

"None of this would have happened if Siddharth had not insulted Aditya," Priyamvada criticised. "It was his fault. I'm glad he's dead, and I hope he is rotting in hell," she wished spitefully. "He was a silly, judgemental idiot who -"

"If you don't shut up, there will be a mark on your face too," Nandini said roughly. An incontrollable wrath was raging in her red eyes. She'd had lost every trace of affection and respect for Priyamvada after seeing the older woman's hatred for her family. And now...by deriding and abusing her father, Priyamvada had gained her life-long loathing and enmity. Neither age nor relationships mattered to her now...

The outrageous warning stunned Priyamvada into silence for a minute. From the shocking hardness on Nandini's face, it was clear that the girl wasn't making an idle threat. Priyamvada briefly considered endangering everything to savour the satisfaction of suffocating the ill-bred girl to death with her own hands.

Unable to articulate her words properly because of fury, she rose to her feet and furiously said, "You – you have the audacity to -"

"I have the audacity to do anything for my family," Nandini spat. "But you won't understand how that feels. Now get out of my sight."

The women faced each other ferociously, both brimming with a toxic blend of rage and revulsion for the other.

In the end, it was purely fear of the impact on her own life that convinced Priyamvada to turn on her heel and stalk out of the room.

The doors banged shut.

Nandini remained immobile for a long time after Priyamvada's departure.

She had been sliced brutally into two unequal pieces.

One part was seized with an icy fury that demanded vengeance. And the other was burning in the flames of a red-hot pain so excruciating that it seemed to have accumulated over several lifetimes...

********************************

Prithvi absentmindedly took a sip of the coffee and gave a faint grimace. It was well on its way to becoming lukewarm. He kept it back on the table with disgust and looked at the screen of the laptop again.

He'd been working for some time while simultaneously trying to decode the main reason for tension that was whirling at the back of his mind.

The most unsettling factor was one that he did not want to reflect upon at the moment

There was Indrajit, but his step-brother was surely going to flee from the palace as soon as he regained the use of his limbs or even before that. He just had to keep his mother away from Indrajit till then, Prithvi brooded.

There was the fact that his mother was unaware of Rajeshwari's arrival. But he would deal with that problem when it arose.

There was the mildly guilty air around Sumer Singh. The middle-aged man was hiding something from him. But whatever it was, Sumer Singh wasn't worried, which indicated that the matter wasn't crucial.

But there was something else...

The strange restlessness built up steadily as he continued to work, and it eventually increased to a point when it started to interfere with his concentration. To regain its peace, his mind instinctively began to focus on the sweetest face he had seen in his life.

And then he understood what was bothering him.

It was the thought of Nandini being alone in her room, with no one to talk to and nothing to do.

Yes, that had to be the reason he was uneasy about her.

Would she have had breakfast? He'd asked the staff to look after her but that wasn't enough. She would be feeling bored and lonely. He should have taken her to Rajeshwari's room and left her in Kadambari's care before beginning his work. But the scene in Indrajit's room and the subsequent events had distracted him.

It was true to the pattern he had followed unconsciously from the start, Prithvi thought uncomfortably. He'd expected her to be available when he needed her company, but the moment responsibilities had intruded, his focus had drifted away from her. He'd been inattentive for most of the brief time they had spent together and had left for Indrajit's room without thinking about anything else.

Highly irritated with himself, Prithvi locked the laptop screen and stood up from the comfortable leather chair.

As he left his room and headed to hers, he contemplated ruefully that he'd not yet grasped the simplest dos anddon'ts of a relationship. He'd assumed that he had crossed the biggest hurdle when he had accepted his feelings for her. But their last fight had shown him how wrong he was. Months had passed since that unforgettable night when their relationship had begun, but he was still hopeless at expressing himself...at telling her just what she meant to him.

Or maybe he was just incapable of making anyone happy.

Prithvi caught himself quickly. He was not in any state to go down that particular rabbit hole today.

***************************

A flicker of life returned to Nandini's eyes and she was recalled to the present.

Prithvi was somewhere nearby, and he was coming closer.

Propelled by instinct, Nandini walked to the door to open it. But her fingers froze before they could grasp the handle.

Her hand seized the bolt and locked the door.

Nandini retreated in a grief-stricken trance, her bruised face glazed with horror at her own self.

****************************

The swiftness of Prithvi's steps reduced when he entered the corridor that opened to the small green garden.

It was quiet...almost disturbingly so.

Prithvi strolled to his destination with an intentional slowness, waiting for Nandini to come out of the room with a playfully triumphant twinkle in her beautiful eyes, and that would prove that his worry had been unfounded.

The passage in front of him remained vacant.

Wasn't she in her room, Prithvi pondered confusedly. But he couldn't picture her wandering off alone. Perhaps Sumer Singh had already taken her to Rajeshwari's room of his own accord.

Or was she with his mother?

Alarmed at the thought, Prithvi swiftly made his way to her door. He knocked on it and called out her name gently and waited for some moments. He repeated the actions once more. Then he cautiously turned the handle but the door was bolted from the inside.

************************

Rocked by a bottomless despair, Nandini placed a hand over her injured mouth to stifle the scream that threatened to erupt from her distraught soul.

Huge, hot drops of water sped down her face, and the movement of swollen facial muscles caused a spurt of agony. The cut on her lip opened to shed a thin trickle of blood.

There were gentle knocks, and despite the thickness of the wooden door, she heard his voice... calling out to her.

Nandini doubled up and then sank to her knees slowly.

Silent cries crashed against her insides repeatedly like the destructive waves of an angry ocean. But though her body swayed forwards and backwards in a grotesque rhythm, even a whimper did not escape her lips.

*****************************

So, she was inside, Prithvi mused.

But that fact did not help him relax. If anything, his uneasiness increased. He tried to tell himself that she could be in the bathroom, or maybe she had dozed off because of sheer boredom.

He would wait for a while and try again. If she still didn't answer the door, he would employ other ways of getting in touch with her.

It was a gross overreaction, Prithvi reflected with discomfiture. But he wouldn't have peace of mind till he saw that she was fine.

He walked distractedly to the pillar that was closest to her room and leaned against it, intending to wait for as long as it took.

******************************