"You can at least try to speak things out with her," Rihit suggested as he blocked Vihaan's sword.
Vihaan was panting with sweat forming on his face. He glared at him. He stepped aside and swung his blade again which Rihit, again, blocked.
"You seem to be on her side more than on mine. What's the matter? Traitor." Vihaan replied as they went on with a series of attacks and parries.
"Well..." Rihit hesitated to answer.
Vihaan didn't know what he should have understood at that moment. What he should do. He had to choose between his mother and Aradhya. And the rumours of Aradhya were also getting to him. Moreover, Aradhya speaking back to Rajmata was concerning.
Both Vihaan and Rihit ended their session of duelling. Vihaan wasn't done yet but Rihit was overly exhausted. Staying watch on the borders of the kingdom in the middle of the night was getting to him.
Both of them were distracted by the footsteps walking into the arena. Aradhya stood there with a calm face. A peace-filled composure. Vihaan rolled his eyes and stretched his arms to his side letting out a grunt.
"I want to talk to you, Vihaan," Aradhya spoke to which she didn't get a reply back. Vihaan evidently was ignoring her.
"I am serious about this. I want to clear out every tiff between us. And I won't be able to do that if you ignore me."
Rihit stood up and walked over to her. He put the sword in her hand and pushed her to the arena.
"The only way he's going to listen to you is if you defeat him in a duel," Rihit stated.
"What?..." Aradhya raised her brow.
"Yes, that is the only way he goes for. I have gone through it too." Rihit smiled almost teasingly and pushed her further into the arena where Vihaan admired his sword not heeding Aradhya.
A mild smirk spread on Aradhya's face. She flipped the sword in her hand and pushed the veil off of her head and into a cast for her hair.
"Well, okay. If I lose you don't have to talk to me, if you lose then you'll at least listen to what I have to say. After that speaking, or not is up to you."
Vihaan cocked his brow and nodded. He just saw that as an opportunity to practise more.
"Bad move, Vihaan. You better prepare yourself." Rihit hyped the match up from the sidelines. Vihaan scowled at him again.
Vihaan met Aradhya's eyes and was almost intimidated by the amount of confidence she held. He gripped his sword tighter and stood up straight. He immediately noticed both of them were the ones who chose defence as the first choice. He knew Aradhya wouldn't attack.
He raised his sword and pulled for an attack, making it easy on her but he was in for a bit of a surprise. As he forwarded to attack, Aradhya smirked at him and attacked back. Vihaan was taken aback. He turned around and swung his sword at her as Aradhya pushed it back with little to no strength.
Aradhya dramatically swung her sword by her side. Vihaan again attacked. Aradhya put her sword against his and leaned in pushing him back a couple of feet.
"My turn."
Aradhya stood her ground and jumped up raining attacks on Vihaan with her secondary strength. Vihaan found it more than difficult to block or even parry her attacks. He dodged out of the way but barely.
The power and enthusiasm that Aradhya showed made her more attractive. Vihaan noticed Aradhya always going for an upward swing of her sword. Vihaan noticed his opening.
He pushed the sword towards Aradhya's shoulder knowing he would cut. Aradhya blocked it again and sighed at him.
"Don't believe everything I'm doing. Tricks are a second nature of mine." Aradhya said and pushed his sword away again.
Vihaan was more than in shock by her strength. Her mildest of attempts had so much power. He wanted to clap back to her but his ego held him back from talking.
Aradhya ever so casually dodged and swerved away from his most powerful of attacks. She was successful in bringing him to his knees. She stood mountaining over him with her sword aimed at him.
Vihaan was losing. He knew it. He picked up a fistful of sand and blasted it at Aradhya's face enough for him to get up. But shiver went down his spine when he saw Aradhya already covering her eyes with a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
"I've lost count of how many times Vikram attempted that," Aradhya spoke.
"I never knew don't play fair, Vihaan." Rihit's voice resounded from the other end of the arena.
"How do you know about your brother's weakness," Vihaan asked. Aradhya smirked and lunged at him again, pushing him back with every strike of hers. Vihaan was pushed back even with his mightiest effort.
Vihaan's back struck the wall of the arena while Aradhya stood just inches away from him with her sword right at his neck ready to draw blood whenever she wanted to. She looked him in the eyes.
"Who do you think taught my brother?" Aradhya didn't move from her position. They both stood panting against each other. The one's breath fanning the other's.
Vihaan traced the sweat dripping down Aradhya's face. He found the smirk and the confidence in her face ten times more attractive than before. He knew for sure he underestimated her.
Both of them stood staring at each other's faces only to be brought back to reality by Rihit clearing his throat. Aradhya pulled away.
"I told you to be prepared. It was pathetic seeing you lose..." Rihit chuckled at him while Vihaan just sighed.
"Yes, thank you and now, get out. I and my wife have something to talk about." Vihaan ordered folding his hands over his chest.
"Yeah, you and your wife..." Rihit quietly left.
.  .  .  .
"Tell me what you have to say quickly. I have things to do." Vihaan spoke and walked to one of the seats on the sidelines of the arena.
"I'm sorry. I know you are angry about me talking to your mother the way I did."
"The question is not what you did. It is why you did it. Why were you so upset at Ma?"
"It was just that you all believed Tamasvini more than you all did me. You believed what she said in an instant."
"Why should we not? Was she wrong?"
"Do you really think I would do that to her? To anyone?"
"Now, I can't answer that because I do not know what you were like before I married you. I don't know what you were like before I knew you."
Aradhya drew a breath at his words. She didn't expect him to not trust her.
"If I tell you everything about me and her...will you believe me then?"
"Depends. Go on."
"In Shiladhika I didn't have any importance. I didn't even exist to the people of my kingdom. I was only used to having the ministers and my family and even a few maids call me a concubine's daughter."
"Get to the point" Vihaan tried to sound rude.
"I bore all that without any effort but Tamasvini and Maharani Chaya we're the worst of all to me. They used to invite royal guests over and used to portray me as a maid. They used to make me clean the place sometimes. All that was also not as painful. It was painful when they used to tell the guests who I was really while they were leaving. And I always thought, I was the one bringing shame to my mother."
Aradhya's voice cracked. She tried her best to hold back her weakness but she couldn't. But the most unusual part was that she let her weakness showcase before Vihaan.
Vihaan stood up and walked over to where Aradhya stood. He just looked at her. Just taking in her state. Just her eyes told him that she wasn't lying. They told him that she was indeed mistreated.
"And you know, when I came here, even though I initially hated it, I found myself here. I was happy with everyone. I was-"
"You still are happy. What has changed?"
"That's easy for you to say. Maybe you were right. Love is a weakness. I fear losing you all. And Tamasvini knows exactly how to use my weakness."
"So, me marrying Tamasvini is a problem to you?"
"No...it's not a problem. It's just that...I don't want to go through what I went through again. I don't want to be mistreated," Aradhya barely spoke, "She...Tamasvini makes me feel uncomfortable. This makes me insecure."
There was a still moment of silence. A good few moments before a lone tear dropped down Aradhya's eye which she frantically tried to hide.
Aradhya felt Vihaan pull her into the warmest embrace she had felt after Vikram's. She sunk into his affection. Vihaan cradled her head while placing his other hand on her shoulder. Vihaan gently whispered in Aradhya's ears.
"I'll make sure you don't. I promise to make you feel the most secure in this place."
.  .  .  .
Tamasvini sat in her room with closed doors. A light feather in her hand with a bowl of stain. She filled up the scroll before her with one word after another as she occasionally looked at the map of the place of Ashokdahr. She wrote as quickly as possible, expecting someone to walk into the room.
At last, she wrote,
"Maharani Chaya."
.  .  .  .
"Well, your daughter seems pretty handy, Maharani Chaya" Amar spoke loudly as Aagneya and Chaya sat before him.
"Is it not too early to strike?" Aagneya suggested.
"Well, Maharaj. We are not going to do anything. Everything is going to be done by Tamasvini."
"How is that possibly going to work?" Chaya questioned.
Amar stood up admiring Tamasvini's letter. He traced his fingers over the words written in red. He leaned over the table with a grimace on his face.
"A kingdom destroyed by its enemies can rise again, but one which crumbles from within... it is just next to dead."
.  .  .  .
A week passed just like a fly. Just as quickly and Ashokdhar didn't remain the same. Ashokdhar...
Everyone in the royal family looked over the burning pile of wood with raging flames erupting into nothing. Everyone's eyes filled with the heaviest tears and hearts, carrying the biggest of pains.
Vihaan stood before the burning pile of lumber staring into the fire. His eyes burned with a fire uncomparably huger than the fire that burned her corpse.
ð¡ï¸
Hello. Again I would like to thank you all for getting Aradhya to 1k reads.
Let me know what you think about the chapter. How was everything? And also let me know what you think about Amar's plan
That is all. I hope you all will continue to be here with me. And thank you again.
Until next time.
With Love
â¤ï¸