Ekta sat on her balcony looking at the town downhill.
The whole palace was quiet like every afternoon.
The men of the house were out and the women mostly slept. Since Shefali's marriage, they would sometimes sit here and talk but today Shefali was not quite well so Rani-sa had given strict instructions not to overdo chores and to rest all afternoon.
Even the maids were not seen roaming about anymore.
Ekta liked this time of the day, especially because this was the only time her heart kept watching out for a certain someone who'd suddenly appear and leave with the same haste.
Ekta yawned while the pair of birds flew by the palace's side.
She could see a group of children running on the distant fields. Although she could not hear their laughter she could feel it.
She rested her head on the wall behind her and smiled at the scene.
Only if I could go out too... she wished.
Just when her eyes were dozing off to sleep, she heard a familiar gentle tune from a flute.
She stood up immediately and a silly smile took over her gorgeous face.
She turned around and slowly walked down the palace stairs making sure she didn't wake anyone up.
As soon as her feet touched the cold floor of the hall, she ran towards the door holding her dupatta in place.
Ekta stopped just behind the door frame and peeked to see if someone was there, as always, the passage was empty.
She ran out onto the paved path, surpassing Eshant's mansion which was too quiet to be suspected.
She stood against the old palace wall on the back breathlessly.
The flute sang briefly again.
Her cheeks had now flushed into a deeper red.
She made a sound with bangles and almost immediately a paper carefully tied to a stone fell inside.
She stood there picking up the paper, hearing the footsteps on the other side vanish away slowly.
Ekta walked away sincerely but her heart skipped a beat when she saw Shefali sitting on the balcony, watching her in surprise.
Ekta panicked and waved her to quickly walk down. Shefali vanished away in her room after a while.
It did not occur to her earlier that it had been easier to do her business here because neither did Eshant stay here most of the time, nor did he let anyone else enter his mansion. Unlike now that Shefali was here too.
Ekta walked into the little mansion, holding the paper in her hand.
Shefali was halfway down the stairs when Ekta stepped into the hall.
Shefali's steps were slower as Ekta sat on the second stair, silently.
Shefali sat beside her.
"How is your health now?"
Ekta dodged the awkwardness already.
"Alright, just a bit dizzy at times"
Shefali says playing with her fingers.
"Did you see everything?"
Ekta asked shortly.
"I did not intend to... I just happened to. The tune was too beautiful to resist looking out"
YOU ARE READING
𝟏𝟓𝟐𝟗: 𝐀 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐚𝐣𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐚| Indian Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 Ⅰ 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐀𝐉𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐈-𝐁𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐀 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘 Shefali Roy had lost her parents in a pandemic when she was just one year old. That was the first time she was orphaned. The next time she was orphaned was when she was seventeen. The army of...
