The Crown Prince and His Love

Chapter 31|Dreams and despair|

Not all dreams come true.

The peak of midnight is not the ideal time to go hunting, but the young prince decided otherwise. Adithan rode his horse through the dense forest, hoping to spot an animal worthy of taking his arrow to its chest.

As brave and courageous as Adithan was, the same couldn't be said for his horse. It trembled and twined as he kicked its muscles, ordering it to move forward. Adithan furrowed his brow as his horse refused to move at his command.

"What are you scared of?" He asked running his hands through the horse's spine. The horse shook his head and shivered. "It'll be fun," Adithan said, trying to cheer the horse up, but no, she was in no mood to listen. Before Adithan could bring his horse to listen, a loud, ugly whine tore through the thick forest. Adithan's horse kicked its legs and trotted at the ear-piercing scream. "God! calm dow--" Before he could finish his sentence, he found himself lying on his back on the ground.

"Coward!" Adithan shouted at his horse, who was galloping away from him. He got up and dusted the dirt off his hands. As Adithan turned back to leave, he heard the jingling of anklets behind him, he swiftly turned his head towards the noise. The grip around his bow tightened.

"Whose there?" Adithan gulped as he made his way toward the noise, but no reply came.

ghost!

Adithan has heard enough ghost stories to conclude his assumption that these are the works of a spirit, ominous jingling of anklets? check, screaming and whining? check.

But curiosity got the best of Adithan and he decided to investigate the mystery behind these sounds.

Adithan carefully walked towards an opening where the noise seems to have originated from. He peaked his head through the bushes. His jaw was on the floor as his eyes fell on a girl, who was as beautiful as the sculptures of Andal crafted by expert sculptors.

Adithan shook his head and pinched himself in the arm to confirm if it was not a dream, and sure enough, it wasn't. He was truly seeing the human embodiment of the great goddess.

Her hair shined against the minimal moonlight which escaped through the dense canopy overhead. Her sharp eyes gleamed brighter than the moon.

His eyes trailed down to her lap, which held a baby deer, a hurt one. An arrow was plunged through one of its hooves.

She gently caressed the deer behind its ears, trying to calm it down. The deer whined quietly in her lap, rubbing its face against her flower-like hands. She kissed the deer on its forehead and said that everything would be okay. The deer whimpered and rested its head against Nandini's chest.

She looked around frantically trying to find something that would ease its pain.

Even more than her beauty, he was drawn to the pure compassion and kindness she was showing to the deer, so much so that he wished he was in the deer's place, on her lap, enjoying all the love she was pouring in to make the deer feel better.

He felt the ground under him turn upside down as her sea-blue eyes turned towards him. His breath hitched as they made eye contact. Her fish-like eyes sent an arrow through Adithan's chest.

At that moment he knew she was the one, if he was going to lead a life, it would be with her...

But before he could approach her the ground rumbled, and a huge crack erupted between them tearing them apart, he could only see utter fear in Nandini's eyes. Adithan could only scream and cry helplessly as he was pulled down to the deep pits of hell with the fear in her eyes and her screamings haunting him forever.

****

"Nandini!" Adithan woke up with a start, he looked around frantically hoping that he would find himself in the body of his thirteen-year-old self who fell in love before even knowing what love was. But no, he was still the same broken Karikalan, who was not able to protect his loved one.

A lone sweat broke out of his forehead and trailed down to his face slowly, making its way to his neck. He sighed, disappointment was not an alien feeling to him anymore. He felt it every day, as he woke up from similar nightmares like this day after day, month after month, hoping to find Nandini by his side.

He rubbed his tired eyes and groaned as he massaged his temples. He felt like someone dropped a rock on his head, the extra booze he had last night didn't help his cause either.

and tried to get up, but he felt something heavy on his stomach, preventing him from getting up. He turned to his side to meet Arulmozhi's innocent face, hugging him by his left side, with one leg on his stomach.

A small smile bloomed on Adithan's face as he watched Arulmozhi suck his fingers while sleeping, his black locks brushing his face gently. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, without any worries, without any guilt.

Adithan could only wish to sleep as peacefully as him now.

Kid must've had a nightmare Adithan thought. Arulmozhi can come running up to his brother when he has a nightmare, but where will Adithan go?

"Anna?" He heard his sister's sweet voice from his right.

"Hmm?" Adithan hummed not turning back to her. Kundavai frowned and placed her bangle-laden hand on his shoulders.

"Are you still mad at me?" Kundavai asked sadly sitting next to Adithan. He gently pushed away Arulmozhi's leg off of him and sat up.

Adithan shook his head and turned toward her. "No,"

"I'm so sorry," Kundavai said hugging her brother. "I shouldn't have did this to you," She said burying her face into his shoulders. Adithan could feel Kundavai's tears drenching his top.

"It's...fine," Adithan said, but Kundavai shook her head.

"Seriously, Kundavai? This is not the young tigress I knew," Adithan pulled back Kundavai and drew on a smile on his face, so she would stop crying. Kundavai looked up and sniffled, Karikalan sighed and wiped away her tears.

"You did this thinking it was good for me only no? Unfortunately it back fired, but... You're still my little sister, I could never stay mad at you, Kundavai," Karikalan tried his best to console Kundavai. Adithan would be lying if he said these words were coming from the bottom of his heart. He still has a small grudge against Kundavai for playing a role in tearing apart his and Nandini's life.

But as a big brother, he had to do what he had to do.

"What would you do...they would've kicked her out regardless," Adithan muttered. Kundavai sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulders. Adithan looked at her and raised a brow.

"Alright, why is your love for me over flowing today?" Adithan asked.

"You're going to war no? God knows how long it would take for us to meet again?" Kundavai said. "I just wanted to mend things up," Kundavai said blinking away her tears.

Adithan bit his lower lips and looked down at the ground. It would take a looong time...

Adithan had no idea of returning to Thanjai after this war, he was waiting for the perfect moment to escape this hell and this war provided the perfect opportunity for it.

Every moment here without Nandini was like standing on fire. The only way to escape this pain was to leave Thanjai all together.

The memories this place carried was getting too painful to bear. Even these few months were unbearable, Adithan drowned himself in booze and wine to take his mind off of her, but no, his dreams and hallucinations just got more and more real. It did nothing to heal his heart.

Adithan was not ready to face this pain for a lifetime. No, leaving Thanjai was the best idea.

"Please come back as soon as the war's over," Kundavai pleaded.

Adithan simply nodded. "Yea...I'll try,"

A/N

A short chapter I guess.

I love writing about the Chola siblings more than I love writing romance lol.