Vaidehi | ✎

[22]

dedicated to itssukm

Maneka. (Unedited)

The throes of the war depleted everything.  Not just the treasury but also the life and peace of the people.
For the first five days, the war had continued day and night, there was not even a temporary respite and then when more than half of Talya's army had given up their lives, the attack suddenly stopped.

The Sultan's third oldest son who was in charge of this entire attack, who had commanded his army to destroy Talya in the last three days, sent a letter to my husband.
He was willing to offer peace but he wanted to discuss some important negotiations first. It wasn't a surprise what he would ask in the negotiations, and neither my husband nor his father were willing to make that sacrifice just yet, so he planned something. Accept the peace offering and join the Sultan's afterparty and infiltrate  their bounds to slit his throat whenever the chance offers itself.

Except he hadn't expected the enemy to treat him with immense respect and the negotiations were extremely reasonable.  The prince didn't want anything except the daughter of Talya to be married to him and a certain amount of taxes to be paid by the Talya army every month. Other than that Talya will be left alone. The king knew this was their best option considering the situation. He could either agree with the conditions or ask for help from another kingdom. He needed time to think, so he told the Mughal prince to give him also a chance to cater to him in his palace before they sign the negotiation.
The prince agreed and my father in law returned in a fairly good mood.

My husband went crazy though the second he heard of the negotiation conditions. He couldn't believe his dad was actually considering giving in to the devil. He wasn't going to allow his youngest and only unmarried sister to be wed off to a mughal prince. His sister was merely sixteen afterall. But mughals had wedded younger girls, so it wasn't a big deal among them. The delhi sultan himself had six wives, three of them were daughters of kingdoms he had slayed, and his next in line son had recently married a twelve year old princess from a kingdom they already had in their control.

"When he comes to the palace, I will talk to him and you can keep your damn mouth shut." Samay had screamed that night. That was the first time I had heard him talk to his father like that. I don't blame him though.
The next day I heard that a letter had been sent to Mewar. Samay had made his father ask for help.

It doesn't go with the mood of the kingdom to say this, I am aware, but I was ecstatic when I heard the king of Mewar had replied back. Raghavendra was going to attend to us as soon as possible. I was finally going to see him after years. The last time I saw him he was just a boy of nineteen and I was seventeen. My memories are blur. But they will finally be renewed. At that moment, I loved my husband. Truly loved him for giving me this gift.

Today morning Raghavendra had already arrived. All the men had been huddled in the king's study from the minute he was done freshening up. Samay hadn't even introduced us yet. But i had already waited for so many years, what was a few more.

The call finally came at dinner time. Samay had sent for me to make acquaintance with the Yuvraj of Mewar.
I was dressed in a red saree, my hair loosely braided with flowers sewn along the braid. My face glowed and my bangles and anklets jingled with every step I took. I felt beautiful and I felt happy. But I had to tone it down, nobody could get suspicious. I don't remember descending the stairs, all I remember is the butterflies in my stomach. And when I reached the dinning hall, the curtains were opened in the slowest of motion.