The Crown Prince and His Love

Chapter 27|Lament|

"Anna!" Kundavai shrieked, She ran toward Adithan and tried to snatch away the dagger from him. Adithan stumbled back. Kundavai's heart almost stopped as she saw her brother's bloodshot eyes which were overflowing with tears.

"Let go!" Adithan cried as he tried to snatch back his dagger, Kundavai shook her head desperately and threw it away, the dagger flew out of her hands and fell under the cot.

"You won't let me live, You won't let me die, what else do you want from me?" Adithan asked, all the pain in the world could be found in his voice. "Y--You knew this plan didn't you?" Adithan knelt down to Kundavai's height.

Adithan's eyes were filled with despair and hopelessness. He was broken, She broke him.

Kundavai looked away from Adithan's piercing eyes, unable to see her brother in such a broken state. Her eyes trailed down to Adithan's hands which were bleeding.

"Anna your hands," She said picking his hands up. Adithan pulled his hands away from her, "Anna you're bleeding," Kundavai,"

Adithan let out a painful laugh and sat down on the floor. "My heart is also bleeding, what will you do about it?" Adithan said, disheartened.

"Anna...I didn't--" Kundavai started crying at her brother's hurtful words.

"You didn't do what?" Adithan spat. "Y--You guys sent me to Kanchi so that you can....exile her didn't you?" Adithan rested his head on a pillar and stared blankly at the ceiling. "How dumb I was to trust you guys," Adithan chuckled to himself. "I thought you guys would--" Adithan's voice broke.

Adithan hit himself in the head for his stupidity, he should've let Nandini stay alone in Thanjai, he should've never gone to Kanchi. He was the reason why Nandini has no home now.

"Did she cry for me?" Adithan asked, thinking of Nandini's face, her voice which would've screamed his name, screamed for him when she was being dragged away.

Kundavai sat down beside him. Oh! She would've suffered twice as much as him, or so Adithan thought.

"Anna, they did this for your own good" Kundavai kept her hands on Adithan's shoulder but he shoved it away.

Adithan's head shot up. "Good? To do me good?"

"You guys killed me!" Adithan got up furiously. "You snatched away my life from me!" Adithan started yelling.

"You guys stabbed me in the back!" Adithan shouted as he pushed down the lamps lit up in his room. The metal lamps fell with a thud and rolled on the floor.

"Anna! Stop!"

Kundavai got up and tried to calm her brother down but it was no use, Adithan was furious, he was like a mad elephant. His despair turned into anger with each word Kundavai uttered.

"Anna--"

"Get out," Adithan screamed from the bottom of his throat. "OUT!"

Kundavai refused to move, She shook her head. "Anna you're going to hurt yourself..." Kundavai said with a look of concern. Adithan scoffed.

How much more could he get hurt?

Adithan pulled Kundavai's head and pushed her outside his room. Before Kundavai could protest, Adithan shut the door. That's the last time anyone saw Adithan for the past few days.

****

Adithan laid down on his bed with his hands on his forehead. He stared blankly at the ceiling as he thought about all the lovely moments he had with Nandini. Every memory of their time together brought tears to his eyes, and he felt as though a part of him had been torn away

He touched his cheek, where Nandini used to kiss him, but the moist imprint disappeared just like her.

"Karikalare!"

Nandini's voice stayed fresh in his mind. Her smile. Adithan rolled around and buried his face in the pillow and screamed for Nandini again and again.

The sun in his life had set. Darkness engulfed him.

"Nandini," he whimpered in pain. The blood which was flowing from his hands ceased, but the blood which was flowing from his heart didn't. Every moment without her felt like hell on earth.

His heart ached as if someone was piercing a sword through it.

The castle seemed so desolate and empty without his Kanmani's presence.

The home in which he grew up, Thanjai, felt more and more like hell, everywhere he turned, he saw Nandini. Everything reminded him of her.

The river reminded him of the walks they had. The temple reminded him of Nandini's beautiful voice which used to echo out of it. The flowers reminded him of her, and the clouds which rolled by reminded him of her gentle touch. Whenever he looked up at the moon, it reminded him of his little moon, he could only see Nandini looking down at him with a frown on her beautiful face.

He closed the curtains as a desperate measure to block her out. But no, the memories and her voice haunted him.

"Why did you let me go, Karikalare?"

Adithan forgot how to sleep. He spent the nights roaming alone in the darkness, trembling through his room like a walking dead, begging for Nandini to come back. But no one heard him.

All he wanted to do now was to hold Nandini in his arms in a tight embrace and kiss her and apologize. He wanted nothing else. He wanted to jump on his horse and go in search of Nandini, but where would he go? Who knows where they had dropped her off? Adithan punished himself for his inability to save her.

He could hear his mother outside, calling him to eat something. But the sick feeling in his guts created an aversion to food.

His yearning for Nandini grew more and more as days passed. The wound in his heart stayed fresh, no matter how many days had passed.

His world had stopped moving.

****

"Anna?" Arulmozhi stood in front of Adithan's chambers and knocked on his door. It's been three days since Adithan set foot outside and they were getting worried.

The occasional grunting and the sounds of things being thrown coming out of the chambers were the only things showing that Adithan was still alive.

Arulmozhi frowned, his little face also showed guilt, even though he wasn't responsible for anything that happened.

"You shouldn't have done that," Arulmozhi said sadly. "Nandini Akka was innocent,"

"They didn't ask me before kicking her out," Kundavai said wiping away her tears.

"But you stood there watching, you could've stopped them," Arulmozhi sat down with his back against the door. He rubbed his tired eyes and sighed.

Kundavai bowed her head down, She regretted everything she had done to her brother. Kundavai felt guilty for reducing her brother to such a state.

"Where did they send her?" Arulmozhi asked. "Maybe we could--" Before Arulmozhi could finish his sentence, Kundavai shook her head.

"I don't know...they didn't tell me," Kundavai frowned.

Arulmozhi dropped his head down and sighed. Arulmozhi wanted to help his brother and save him from this distress but didn't know how to. Kundavai sat down with him, Arulmozhi rested his head on her shoulders and looked up at her.

"Anna, will be fine right?" He asked hopefully.

Kundavai pressed her lips into a thin line, surpassing her tears. She nodded just for Arulmozhi's sake. But she knew, she had caused irreparable damage to Adithan's life.

A/N

This chapter was hard to write :( both literally and metaphorically.

Had to write this twice since Wattpad decided to not save my work T_T

thoughts?