Grow along with me, the best is yet to be. -Robert Browning TO MEET AND GREET'Ah!' Catching herself in time, she steadied up, holding the rosewood almirah by the entrance as a large troop of woman bustled inside, shoving her as they went."Excuse me!" She frowned as almost 20 ladies gathered around her and her husband's bed. 'What is happening?' Her temper was slowly flaring as she watched her privacy being breached and her words being disregarded as if, she hadn't spoken at all."Excuse me!" She reiterated this time with a raucous loud tone of voice. "Now that all of you had already barged inside my personal chamber, may I have the privilege to hear what you all have to say....?""And then....get out? Maybe?" Devika didn't bother masking the displeasure on her features. She may not be a royal by birth but she was one now as the wife of the prince of this empire and even as the sole heiress of Raichand, she wouldn't let a few vain women to trample upon her in this manner."Get out,
People prefer the certainty of misery than the misery of uncertainty.-John Bradshaw It hurt and it agonized and left her crushed, yet and still Devika didn't express any of it. She crumpled the bed sheets instead to stop her fingers that itched to get hold of him. Bit the quivering lips to stop them from begging him to stay and not leave her like this....and sucked in a deep breath to stop the tears from flowing free that would reveal her suffering. But if she had to be honest with herself, she will have to accept that, more than misery and mere hurt to be abandoned by her husband on the dawn after their first night of intimacy. 'It was something else that bothered her even more. Much-much more.''Fear!' Indeed, she had put on the facade of bravado when that condescending queen had descended upon her to tear her flesh off. Yes, she had instead left the vulture scraped and wounded for now but she knew it was just for the time being and now that her only amour, her refuge, her husban
It's hard to wake up from a nightmare if you aren't even asleep.- j.sDevika staggered back with darkness that came to overshadow every other sense that she possessed. She went numb against the loud chattering of people around her followed by a round of applause and then the series of congratulations and good wishes showered upon both the king and queen for securing another holy bond of matrimony between their families. The queen smiled brightly.... the king nodded, enthusiasm and triumph in his eyes and none bothered to look upon the poor soul torn down by the truth and lies. None except one. Roopak."Come on sister let us get out of here." His soft tone snapped her out of the stupor but the darkness barely receded. It was horrendous....the pain that rippled through her body and soul but it did not ache as much as she expected, rather settled inside her in an all too familiar fashion like an old friend. After all this time she had gotten used to it anyway since there was barely anyt
 It is indifferent to me, where I am to begin, for there shall I return again. -Parmenidies Devika was thankful that she was left in relative peace for the whole day and though there was very little assurance in what Roopak hard said, somewhere in her subconscious mind she knew what he said was the rational thing to do. 'Wait until he comes back?' 'And then what? What if he repeats the same thing the Queen had said?' She will then have two choices, either to brave that utter humiliation for the rest of her life here or to go back to her father to face yet another kind of degradation, forever. And if she is doomed either way, she will rather have her eyes plucked out by her father than watch the man who had betrayed her for the rest of her life spending a joyous time. 'But for now, she will have to wait.' 'Oh! How does this wait tormented her sanity!' The orange evening glow of sun lay spreaded throughout the land of Maniteek and her eye lids were heavy with the lack of rest a
A small shiver ran down her spine in the fear of unknown, the warm night seemingly turning frost with every moment that passed. Never had she felt this alarmed of stillness. The seemingly endless stretch of placid tranquility stifled her senses and the cold air of garden felt tempting. 'But it isn't the time for that.' With this untimely arrival of Chandra all her plans and strategies hence fell down and crumpled like a palace of cards as a result leaving her open in vulnerability. Moving in the darkness, she gripped the handle of water jug from her bedstead, treating herself with a massive gulp of water. 'Yes, she had lied but it wasn't as simple as that, was it? She had lied right in front of the whole court and that meant just one thing, a crime against the throne. ' And after all that, her purpose still as unaccomplished as it had always been. Her ears strained to listen to the in growing sound of foot steps towards her chamber and for a moment she stopped breathing. '
"At last!" Sneered the king. "At last." Sniggered the courtiers as the queen stopped right in front of the thrown. "Where's your sister? Wasn't my message clear enough, that I want both of you here?" Sunayna stayed silent, not daring to speak let alone to put forth the fact that it was she who had told her sister to not to show up in court, that she could handle and maneuver it on her own. 'And she will!' "Send someone to fetch her now and if she dare show any resistance drag her here by her hair, it is an order!" Sunayna's heart skept some beats and some more thereafter as the guard left to follow up the order. 'No!' She wanted to scream but if anything it would make her situation even worse, so downing yet another bitter pill tonight she tried a gentler approach instead. "My Lord!" She finally spoke. "If I may..." But none listened. The silence prevailed, getting thicker with every passing moment so much so that it became a tangible presence amongst them. Devika didn't say a
The closing hours of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped.-Cesare Pavese"My lord!" Her voice sounded hoarse as she entered, her body trembling with anxiety as she looked at the man in front of her. With those eyes filled in nauseating and despicable kind of appetite for erotism that all she wanted to do was to abscond and flee before the lecherous old man can put his hands on her.But he will, she knew. And that nothing can stop him now that she was here alone in his presence. She closed her eyes as soon as the last lamp was dosed, she knew what was coming next and she was right!With the room enveloped in utter darkness, all Sunayna was left with were her senses and she could feel his warm breath behind her back, sucking in a deep breath, she waited in silence."Where's your sister?""Coming in a moment." Oh! How did that statement left her throat with a sickening rancidity and her body with abhorrent and horrid ache. 'No, she sister wasn't coming
All pain is punishment and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice. -Joseph De Maistre"Arrest him!"There was no necessity to repeat the command. The very loyal lords and soldiers of the former king marched forward with blood in their eyes and nothing or nobody was able to stop them. They didn't stop at thousand and one orders from Roopak, as the heir to the throne .....since until his official coronation, he held on real power and until then the queen will remain as the chief of the kingdom and its people.They didn't stop or even flinch at Chandra's very explicit threatening, that they were making a mistake neither did they paid any heed to his petite wife who continued to holler the fact aloud that he could not have possibly murdered his father since he was in his chamber the whole time.But it was all futile. He was lead away with a hundred blades at his throat through the darkest corridors and tunnels of the palace and thrown into a muddy underground dunge