THE RULERS OF RISHABHAPRIYA

Fear

Surabhi's POV

It had been a week since the coronation and the weather was very stormy. Loud thunders and lightening struck the cloudy, dark sky making me enjoy my hot soup while sitting on a rocking chair near the balcony of my chamber. It was almost midnight and I had just retired from a whole day's of work leaving me very tired and sleepy. But for some unknown reason, I couldn't fall asleep.

A bright light shone across the sky making it look like it was early in the morning and a loud boom thundered just a few seconds after it. I chuckled remembering how scared I was of thundering before I got kidnapped. I remembered the day me, Bhabhi and Padmini were attacked by the then king of Agnisena and how scared I was that night because of the loud thundering. That was the reason we had asked Bhabhi if I could sleep beside her that night. I wondered what would have happened if we hadn't done that. What would have happened if we had fallen asleep and the attackers had found us first.

The first time it had rained in the dungeons of Rishabhapriya, my cries and screams had resonated on the old, dusty rocks but it fell on deaf ears. I remember curling up into a ball and hiding in a corner while rain poured heavily making me cry in fear. But gradually, I realized there were more scary things in life and grew out of that fear. I heard a knock on the door of my chamber and I asked them to come in. My eyes fell on the king himself walking in with his little sister in his arms while carrying her. He looked around and when he saw me, he spoke, "She is scared of thundering. And she said she wanted Janaki. She is with my parents right now so I thought you could help".

I nodded and walked towards the bed and sat on it while he walked to the other side and laid her down in the center of the huge bed and sat beside her. I placed her head gently on the pillow and caressed her hair slowly. I wiped her tears and asked softly, "Is my little princess scared?", she nodded while her lips turned down into a sad face and she cried harder. 

"Ahh! Don't cry, baby. I'm right here. I'll make sure nothing happens to you. Okay?", she nodded and closed her eyes. I guessed she was sleepy because in no time she was fast asleep and was snoring softly making me chuckle. "You are good with kids", I heard him say. I nodded and folded my leg to place it beneath the other one while I pulled away from the little girl and said, "I used to take care of my cousins' babies back in Rat-", I coughed and tried to cover up the huge mistake I was about to do. "I mean before the war, when I lived with my family, I used to take care of them", he nodded.

I asked him what I wanted to ask all week, "This is none of my business but I'm just curious. Is Radhika your real sister?", he looked at me surprised. "I mean there is a huge age difference in between you, Janaki and her. You are almost twenty years older than her. You don't have to answer if you don't want to", I said and regretted even talking to him in the first place. I heard him sigh and get up and my eyes travelled to him as he walked towards my side. He gestured me to stand up and he walked to the balcony and stood leaning against the wall on the ground. 

I stood on the other side of the huge door frame and crossed my hands across my chest. We looked at the heavy rain pouring in front of us and did not talk for a few moments until he broke the silence. "Janaki had always wanted to learn medicine and even though my parents were against it, she followed her passion and got a job in the clinic near our home. When she brought a good name to the family, my parents accepted her and started treating her like a goddess. Even when I told them that it was time for her to get married, they did not listen to me and let her work. Then, one day a couple and their baby were brought to the clinic and the parents were pronounced dead due to high amount of poison in their blood. Everyone thought that the baby would also die, but she was a fighter", he looked back towards the bed where Radhika slept peacefully. 

"When she woke up, we had no one to pass her to. No guardians, no relatives, no one. Janaki took care of her for a whole week and when it was time to find some adoptive parents for her, no one wanted her when they found out that there was poison in her blood even then. She had already accepted Janaki as her mother. So she decided to adopt her herself. And that is when all hell broke lose". 

"Let me guess. Your parents feared what the society would call her if she took care of a baby and feared no one would marry her because of that"

He nodded and continued, "And that's why we convinced them to adopt her and now she is a part of our family", he said as he looked at me. It was the first time since we both had met for the first time in the dungeons, we had talked so calmly. The whole week, I had been around him and made sure to keep the talking to the minimum. He did not need a lot of protection. He was a well built man who knew how to fight. I had seen him fight in the training grounds and I knew he was a good warrior. It felt as if he was specially trained to become a king. To everyone, he was just a brahmin and the next day, he is a conqueror. I wondered if he had been trained to become a king. 

"What is your story?", he asked me making my eyebrows shoot up in surprise. I asked while braiding my hair, "So you want to be my friend now? Don't forget that you are a king now. Are you sure?", he looked away annoyed, "Forget I ever asked you that", his eyes were on the storm going on in the background while I looked at him. Lightening struck brightly again reminding the first time I had seen him in the dungeons, bathed in the dead king's blood. He looked animalistic that night. Nothing like the calm and composed man who was sitting across me now. 

"I had two loving parents, a protective brother, a beautiful sister-in-law, a sister and a lot of friends", he turned to look at me and asked, "Had?", I nodded and continued, "I lost them in the war", he nodded and kept staring at me as if asking me to continue. But I had nothing else to say. Actually, I had a lot to say. But I couldn't say it to him. He was not trust worthy at the moment and I doubted he ever would be. Sensing me silence, he asked, "Did they die or-"

I shook my head and said, "I hope they are fine. I was kidnapped by the bastard you killed. I was with them for a moment and then I wasn't the next. It- it just happened so quickly, to this day I don't remember what had happened that day", I looked away unable to hold eye contact with him. I felt weakness sprout in me the second I remembered that day. He stood up and said, "I will be in my chamber. Will it be okay if she-"

I nodded and watched him walk out of the chamber after placing a warm kiss on his sister's forehead. "Only if he knew that he was just talking to Rajkumari Surabhi who was also terrified of storms just like his sister a long time ago", I chuckled to myself and wiped the tear that rolled down my cheeks.

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If I could marry a fruit I would have married mangoes. 

They are the only reason I live through summer each year.

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