ENCHANTED- BY LOVE (completed)

13

*** Sruthi ***

The queen finally agreed to speak to the king. Honestly, good for her and I am very excited to see where this unravels to. I never expected the king to be this understanding and compassionate. As a matter of fact no one did. Some even took pity on the queen for having to be with a man as quick tempered as him, but King Adinath took the world by surprise.

Perhaps it's love that makes you do wonders......or acts of stupidity....as proven by my actions infront of the general. 

I have no idea why I got so paranoid around him, but if I do meet him again I would most certainly....

"Miss Sruthi!" the general's voice interrupted my thoughts. I turned back to see him walking towards me angrily.

"Greetin-"

"Where in the world were you last night?" he interrupted me before I could even talk.

"Apologies general," I said nervously, "I never abandon the Queen. Yesterday night was an unfortunate mistake on my part."

"UNFORTUNATE MISTAKE!" the general yelled, "The cost of your unfortunate mistake is the state having to continue tolerating a witch."

I did not understand that statement. I understand the reference of Meihu being the witch, of course, but I did not understand how my absence meant tolerating her....I did abandon the queen and it was a mistake...but Naina was around....and her statement could be used against Meihu. Did she not reveal what happened?

I wish to ask these questions to the general but only if he stopped yelling.

"Do not forget that you fall under my direct line of command," he continued. "If I see you abandoning your post again, I will not be kind," he warned before storming off.

So....this is 'Kind'. Threatening, yelling, and storming away without giving complete information or letting the other person speak is 'Kind'.

It is at this moment that I have decided, the general is no longer attractive to me.

If 'The king' could turn into 'Adi' for his queen, I atleast deserve a man who would not use his authority to threaten me.

**** Vaishnavi ****

"The parani (Mahaver) is being applied to your palms, your highness," the maid joked, "Why are your cheeks turning red."

"Were they?" I asked distrated from my thoughts.

"Were you thinking about someone?" the other maid asked. I smiled.

"The king, who else," I replied.

"Then maybe you should meet him, your highness," Pallu suggested.

I signed. "He must be in the court....or his private chambers...or his meeting chambers....busy with the affairs of the state."

"At this time, he will be in the fencing court, your highness," Naina said, "Practicing sword fighting with the general. You can visit him."

"No you must not," said Sruthi, "Your highness, women are forbidden from entering the fencing court."

"I do not want to enter the fencing court," I said, "I just want to have a glimpse of my husband."

"We could do that," said Pallavi and all the ladies, including me, turned their attention towards her.

"The weapons chamber has a window that would open to the corridor on the way to the Queen's private chambers," she explained, "So if the queen commands for the guards on that corridor to evacuate, we could climb in the window, reach the weapons chambers, and look through the second window into the adjacent chambers, which is the fencing court."