Prithvi... [Volume 4]

Chapter 85

A small creak in the background put a premature end to the volley of expletives that was about to explode out of Rajyavardhan Singh. He looked at Ayodhya’s doors and frowned.

Nandini turned quickly.

Sumer Singh was frozen at the threshold of the house. Then a stoic mask fell over his face. “He will not meet you. It is in your best interests to leave before he sees you,” he politely informed the guests, and then regarded the nervous girl in the yard.

“Nandini, don’t talk to these people,” he instructed firmly, and with that, he turned and headed back inside.

Feeling miserable, Nandini shut her eyes for a second. She shouldn’t have spoken to Prithvi’s grandfather after her previous experience…

A gravelly voice wearily said, “I have to meet him.”

She apprehensively faced Rajyavardhan again, telling herself to be strong.

But her resolution dwindled quickly. All hints of anger had vanished from his withered face. He appeared utterly weary and crushed. It could be an act, of course….a very convincing one…

“I have to meet him,” Rajyavardhan repeated slowly, “I will not return without talking to him.”

She could refuse to help point-blank. His hate for her would make it easy. Her anger towards him would lend a hand too. The man had tortured Prithvi when he was a child, and he was also the head of the family that had mistreated her father. For all she knew, he must have been directly responsible for sending those men to beat up her father. Yet, something told her he wasn’t guilty of that.. 

She took a moment to harshly deride her weak nature, then reluctantly said, “I’ll try. ”

Both the men in front of her seemed to expel their breath in relief. But then the man standing behind Rajyavardhan Singh suddenly sprung into attention and gazed with respectful alarm looking over the top of her head. Rajyavardhan Singh too glanced up slightly and turned ashen.

Nandini felt wretchedly sure that blood was draining from her face too as she turned slowly.

The male figure framed on the topmost step outside Ayodhya could easily have termed the most striking and aristocratic executioner of all time.

The brutal coldness in Prithvi’s gaze as he regarded the men outside the gate was petrifying as it is. Then he glanced at her and the cynical anger on his features stunned her.

Too occupied with wondering how to appeal to Prithvi, she hadn’t considered the possibility that he might believe she had prior knowledge of Rajyavardhan Singh’s visit…

Aghast, Nandini approached him in haste as he slowly descended the steps and set foot in the yard.

Sumer Singh, who was hovering uneasily at the threshold of the house, frantically gestured to her to leave the scene.  But she couldn’t leave without offering an explanation, Nandini thought helplessly.