"People are going to despise you, Amar. What would you do that?" Aradhya grumbled while believing Amar's intentions to wed her. Amar laid a hand on her shoulder and stopped her bickering.
"I don't see why people would hate me. I am marrying royalty after all. Your people only care about their sufficiency, Aradhya." Amar believably said.
Aradhya was shaking to the core when she heard Amar announce her name in the court. The whole court seemed somewhat okay with the fact. Guess they just wanted an alliance with the Dharini kingdom. By what ways? Any of them.
Though Aradhya felt the same about Amar, she never really pictured marrying a prince. Now that, Aagneya with his acceptance was ready to wed the two was really a display of his desperation. Aradhya still felt like none of it was real. She was all but sad.
"Why?," Aradhya asked, "why do you want to marry me?"
"Maybe because I need a capable queen beside me, not an avaricious diva."
"No seriously, Amar. Why?"
"...You may see me as a friend but I feel deeply about you. You are one of my greatest friends from when I was seven. And I'd rather spend my life with a person who understands me than someone who just wants to be a king."
Aradhya looked touched. Amar smirked inwardly. His devious plan was already in process. He was already winning. He wasn't planning an alliance with Shiladhika but rather a plan to ambush Aagneya.
. . . .
Through all his facade, Aagneya cared deeply for his daughter. He played the members of the royal council into thinking that Aradhya meant nothing to him. She was his daughter from the woman he loved the most in the world. He wouldn't let opinions make him loathe his daughter. He sure failed to show affection but the one who rather witnessed his love for Aradhya was Maharani Aadrika.
Aadrika looked at her king from the distance, willingly taking part in arrangements in the wedding. She had come across instances where she was there with Aagneya at times when he hated himself for treating Aradhya the way he did. Aadrika bounced her child on her hip and placed a peck at his temple.
"Go back to sleep, Abhik. I've got things to do, you know."
. . . .
Aradhya sat on the merely raised wooden seat at a gallery of the palace. Everyone had smiles stitched to their faces. They didn't want to give Amar the wrong impression.
Aradhya paid no mind to what happened around her. Her eyes fixed on nothing. Her face was moist with Haldi and her hands and legs were warm from the sunlight that shone through the open walls of Shiladhika. The light made her face glow. Her murky brown eyes were of so much emotion. She sat there with a pastel yellow draped around her frame.
She wondered if it was really happening with no idea as to what actually was happening. She believed in Amar way too much to be fazed. She believed all that Amar said. After all, he was the one who saved her from a fall.
-Little Aradhya stood on the bannister of a high floor of the palace, contemplating a fall. She was just openly abused and insulted by Tamasvini and Chaya. Her eyes were overly blurry while she tried her hardest to hold on to the wall nearby. She didn't really think about why she wanted to fall or possibly die while she for sure knew that no one would be utterly devastated at her mishap. Aradhya opened her eyes while her tears rolled down and took in the sight of the kingdom that seemed so beautiful and yet was so pitiful.
She let go of the wall beside her and left sweat stains on the wall while she wiped them against her little green drape. She closed her eyes bidding farewell to the place. She took a step forward and leaned in to embrace the rocky floor a good eighteen feet below. But all that she felt was a strong grip around her waist pulling her back with surreal pace and a carpeted floor of the palace of Shiladhika. She looked at her person and stared only into his eyes ignoring the little bruises on his face. Though the prince was young he seemed to look older than her. A couple of years older.-
Aradhya remembered his words that told her to think about even one person that cared for her would go through their darkest of times because of her. Because of her reckless actions.
Aradhya still felt warm at his actions of that day. She felt like the prince she knew was still the same but little did she know, time and circumstances had changed the prince in unprecedented ways. Little did she know what her state would be after she married the person she thought the prince was and he turned out to be someone else.
. . . .
"You aren't allowed to see her until the day of your wedding that is how the rituals are." The king of the Dharini kingdom uttered, "do you like her so much?"
"Please, father. She may be a little confused at my act. I need to talk to her and make my actions seem believable." Amar sighed in frustration.
"So you really don't want to marry the Rajkumari?"
"No, father. Though I want to marry her for political purposes, like gaining an upper hand on Aagneya, I still want to marry her."
"So you love her?"
"...no. Just because I want to marry her first mean I love her. It just means that she has some benefits of her own. Some benefits I might enjoy."
The King almost directly sensed the lust and evil in his boy's words. Though not a supporter of his deed he kept quiet for he wanted Shiladhika to collapse into his.
. . . .
"Your face is glowing, dear sister," Vikram spoke as Aradhya dried her hair sitting in front of her mirror.
"Of course, it will. Every face glows after Haldi." Bahiravi uttered as she brought a burning bowl of coal from which a faint burnt smell of smoke burst out, below Aradhya's hair.
"Bhairavi Ma, you look happier than usual, why?" Vikram walked in.
"Seeing Aradhya get married reminds me of her mother. Reminds me of how she used to get ready for Maharaj." Bhairavi let down Aradhya's hair and sat down. Curiosity filled both Vikram and Aradhya. They sat down by her feet and listened to her.
"What was she like?" Vikram asked.
"She was a beautiful woman. The most beautiful in the brothel. She had eyes as dark as the night. The entirety of the kingdom talked about her beauty but sadly, she was a concubine, " Bhairavi continued, "She was one of the bravest people I knew. The reason she got noticed by the king was because she talked back to him. She almost made the king red with humiliation."
"Now, that's a love story I like to hear." Vikram scoffed and Aradhya rolled her eyes.
"Maharaj wasn't even that mad at your mother. He, factually speaking, was impressed by her. Your mother, however, wasn't that interested in the king. But they grew closer over time and your mother was stoned for luring, as they said it, the king into her traps."
Aradhya rested her head on Vikram's shoulder. She pictured her mother happy with the king ignoring the part where Bhairavi also mentioned the disrespect she had to go through. She smiled to herself.
She smiled as if she strongly believed that she would have the same life with Amar too. Tough not respected by others. I think it's safe to say now that all that will always be her dreams.
. . . .
The new morning dawned over Shiladhika and people ever so graciously pulled on their facades of being happy for Aradhya.
Through the dignity and respect of the kingdom Chaya and Tamasvini never really had a chance of humiliating Aradhya. They had to stay put but their souls almost burned in the fire of revenge they tamed for Aradhya.
Both the bride and groom were sat across the room. The groom in his fully majestic clothing and Aradhya dressed in simple but royal clothes. Two women sat at her side each one holding each of her arms.
Aagneya sat beside the king of the Dharini kingdom and looked fondly at Aradhya. The smile on her face, more genuine than she ever seemed in all the years she knew to remember. To Aagneya's eyes, Aradhya seemed like his lost love sitting at the scene with her hands ready to be adorned with henna. The sparkle in her eyes was very charming and her face lit up by the light of the day. Like the gold glistening in the sun.
"Maharaj, can we proceed with the ritual?" One of the ladies who fat by Aradhya asked as Aagneya nodded with teary eyes. Aadrika gave his shoulder a quick squeeze.
Just as the ladies picked up the henna, a deafening blare erupted outside making everyone in the room jump. Vikram and Aagneya sprang up from their seats and related their hands on the hilts of their swords.
"We are under attack. Get the king." The soldiers shouted.
Aradhya's heart skipped a beat as she hurried down the raised platform and ran to the balcony. Her eyes grew wide. An army in striking reds. An army that seemed as though it would defeat her's in no time. But even if she didn't know a thing about her father she knew that he wasn't the one who would accept surrederance.
She took in the sight of the army. The whole of the army in a systematic march.
The Army of Ashokdhar.
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