Blood and Crown

Chapter-18

Rajyashri

The celebration had officially begun making it difficult for me to even breathe. Since morning I had been running here and there to help Mani even though I was only assigned to serve the youngest Prince of the land, Jay

Jay!

My heart jolted at the very name while my lips curled into a soft smile recalling last night. I could still feel his lingering breath on my skin, the sensation of his rough hand on my ankle and the vibration of his voice. I had not seen him since then and the fact I was disappointed about it was driving me crazy.

"Shri, Darling could you please take these clothes to Princess Dhritika's room?" Mayi's voice brought me out of my stupor and I looked up to see her holding bunch of clothes barely managing them.

I immediately left the sandal wood I was making paste out of and rushed to take over the clothes "Sure Mayi but why did you bother yourself?" I frowned looking at her as she massaged her back wincing in pain.

"Despite having end number of maids, this palace can't function without me" She chuckled and I remained silent realising the truth in her words

"Don't worry, I will quickly go and do the needful" I assured before turning around and proceeding towards the Princess' mansion.

As I walked through the hallway of the royal garden that attached all the mansions of the palace, I became alert. There were too many people clearly of royal race, chatting with each other. Despite my resistance my eyes started roving around earnestly untill they spotted what it was craving for as my pace ceased.

There he was, the man that was messing with my mind and soul like nothing else. The man I couldn't stand yet couldn't get out of my concussion even for a second.

He was speaking with two men occasionally running his fingers through his shoulder length curly hair, his face was as stern as they could be even while having a casual conversation. Suddenly, almost as if sensing my gaze on him, he side glanced at me making me avert my eyes immediately

I could feel the heat rushing into my cheeks as my hold on the clothes tightened before peering at him again and found him looking at me intently while the other men kept talking.

I didn't know if it was my dense heart but I swear I could sense the sudden sparkle in them as if he finally found someone he knew for ages amongst strangers as if it was me he was waiting for, as if—

My trance came to an abrupt halt when someone walked past me, bumping my shoulder. Startled, my hold on the clothes loosened.

"Hey Kanha" Covering my mouth with my palm, I looked down only to found the clothes scattered all over the floor. A faint sense of guilt wrapped my heart as I knew these were quite expensive and had been designed exclusively for the Princess.

"What is wrong with these people"

A loud shriek made my my gaze drift from the clothes to the person standing before me. The woman was quite tall and lean, her big eyes looking down at me with abhorrence flickering across them while her brows were joined in a scorn

I opened my mouth to apologise while she continued "How dare you touch me with your sweaty, stinking body? I would never understand why these kind of inefficient girls are even hired by the Aryanka royal family"

Excuse me?

I stared at her incredulously trying to comprehend how could a person be so disgustingly rude. And it was not even a proper bump or something that could hurt her. I immediately thank Kanha for not letting me apologise to her.

"Don't tell me you're mute on top of being blind" She let out a sarcastic scoff turning toward the women who appeared like her handmaiden.

"Your voice is loud enough even for a mute person to hear, My Lady" My lips formed a faint smile as I watched the disgust turning into fury.

"What did you just say?" She took a step closer.

Who is the deaf now?

I controlled my tongue from blunting out my thoughts and remained silent watching her gritting her teeth to tame her temper as she threatened "You've no idea who I am hence you're still standing on your feet but another word from your filthy mouth and this sharp tongue of yours will be gone"

I was oddly unstirred by her threat despite knowing she might have the power to do exactly what she just said as I stared into her eyes defiantly not moving an inch from my place.

"What's going on, Shalini?"

I looked up to see a quite familiar man standing behind the woman or Shalini as I just got to know. Backing away a little, Shalini turned around to face him "Bhrata, I really need to speak to Bhabhi about the kind of maids her family is hiring. Neither they've any class nor any manners"

"Calm down" The weirdly familiar man placed his arms around her shoulder "You're tired from the journey anyways, just take some rest"

"But—"

"No buts"

I averted my eyes not willing to watch the brother-sister drama and sat down to pick up the clothes. Moments like these make me realise what I was and what I had became and I never knew changes could actually be so hard to accept.

Collecting the clothes, I drew in a sharp breath to ensure the tears that were threatening to come out were gone and stood up. As I tried taking a step, Shalini's brother's body blocked my path, assuming it to be a coincident, I moved away but he again came right in front of me.

I looked up to see his dark eyes gazing down at me and I was quite aware of the kind of gaze his eyes exhibited and then it clicked, I knew him, King Shubham. The man who tried to make me his...

I forced my thoughts to stop and averted my eyes from his face before fixing it on the ground "If you give me some space, I need to take these clothes to the Princess' mansion, Maharaj"

"Sure but first let me apologise on behalf of my sister" His words came out in seething whisper and I had to force myself not to gag from the smell of liquor so I took a step back, clutching the clothes closer to my body not daring to look up.

"She shouldn't have uttered those harsh words for a beautiful lady like you" He took another step close and I took another backward. A cold hand of fear clawed up my throat and this time I could feel the tears burn the back of my eyes as he loomed over "Let me make up for my fool of a sister"

Suddenly I was pulled back on someone's chest from backward and the now familiar touch made me look up at the person, Jay. He was staring at Shubham who had already taken few steps back. Jay pushed me behind him before advancing toward him before his usual calm voice broke the eerie silence "How about you first make up for your unethical behaviour, King Shubham"

"Jay, you do know I am your sister's husband" Shubham hissed "You can not speak to me like this all the goddamn time"

"And my sister is the reason you're still here, barking on my face" Jay jeered and I could feel the suppressed fury in his voice which otherwise appeared very normal and I watched Shubham's eyes darkening as he took a step close to Jay. I immediately touched Jay's elbow and made him look at me before shaking my head negatively to stop him

He teared his eyes off of me and looked back at Shubham "This celebration is one of the most important events for Aryanka, Don't force me to do something that would turn this joyous event into something painful for my sister"

And without waiting for another word Jay grabbed my elbow and almost hauled me along away from Shubham.

____