A game of chess

White king

Arjun pov~

I looked at the room full of flowers of every size, colour and variety as servants bowed in front of me before taking them for decorating the palace for the grand celebration. The celebration to welcome back the royal princes back.

Honestly, something that I am not looking forward to. A night full of jaw-aching fake smiles while greeting two-faced or seven-faced ones politely. The shrill fake voices of the princesses had already sent waves down my backbone as I recalled my meeting with Dusala's friend, Princess Surmilli. The way she spoke felt like the first time I dragged chalk across my slate. Honestly, I pity my sister for her choice of friends but then who else does she have for the company when royalty is all about fakeness?

The Royal pristine palace has a grandeur look on the outside and is thought to be as serene as the moonlight falling on the vast ocean but the truth is the ocean is not a tamed water holder but endless storms of red liquid flowing through the veins. Every word spoken here has to be cross-checked before embedding the news in the memory. Every closed one has to go through unsaid, unknown tests before being believed. Every time one speaks he has to go through the words and syllables for the nth time before setting it out through his lips.

Because this is what royalty is. Pretty aesthetic on the outside and aesthetically ugly on the inside. Covered in gold while carrying an ugly green in the heart.

This is all it is about when one lives among those who hate them. When one is hated by one's cousins and the king is anything but righteous.

I walked near the flowers kept to welcome us and picked up a peachy dahlia, so simple yet so gorgeous, symbolizing forever. Forever in a ever committed relationship. I sniffed it a bit, trying to differentiate its fragnance from the rest of the soft and soothing ones around me. When to my surprise, a different fragnance hit my nose, not that of a dahlia but that of a lotus, the blue lotus to be precise. Waves of fragrance of the blue lotus had been taking over the other fragrance of the room and pleasantly tickling my nose.But there was no blue lotus here considering how unique they were and not found on the lands of Hastinapur and the reason why they were my favourites. I had a liking for unique and complicated things. I closed my eyes in bliss trying to figure out the direction when I felt a presence behind me.

"Pranipaat Rajkumar."

I broke off my reverie as I looked over my back. A woman cladded in serene blue and jeweled in bronze was bending down a bit to pay her respect for me. Her head was bowed down but there was something unique about her. People don't smell like blue lotus and a daasi smelling like one was something else.

"Pranipaat Dassi. Who are you?" I questioned her. She slowly raised her eyes to meet mine. And honestly, I gasped a bit. She had the most gorgeous pair of cerulean blue eyes I had ever seen. And whole in all, she was a sight to behold with her wavy bluish black hair and her dark like blue lotus skin tone. Each feature sharp against the flawless skin and a bewitching smile on her face. She was quite tall too. Tall enough to reach my chest which seemed till now as an impossible task considering I tower over everyone except bhrata bheem and my Madhav. Madhav and I had the same height almost but he was the most handsome man ever, leaving me behind by miles with a single lift of his lips just like the woman before me.

The woman who seemed the embodiment of my Madhav. Whose one smile was enough to soothe the very heart and make you smile almost subconsciously.

"I identify as a maid of Queen Mother. I hailed from the kingdom of Dwarka as the lord of lands, seas and the heaven bestowed me upon her as a gift to his beloved aunt, O Kaunteya."

"So Madhav sent you here? What is your name?" Arjun asked the woman sent by his beloved cousin. Madhav had a habit of presenting his dearest cousins and Aunt but not a daasi and never such a peculiar one. If she hadn't adorned herself with a simple cotton saree and simple bronze jewels, he would have considered her a royalty. And it's not for her beauty for sure. The way she talked and the grace pouring from every pore of her cells screamed Elegance and royal upbringing.