LEGACY ||Indian Historical Fiction||

42|| THE KING AND I

"You busy?" Darsh asked.

"Are you?" Chavi asked walking up to him.

"Definitely not." Darsh said and held his arms open. Chavi simply slid into his embrace, pressing her forehead against his shoulder and wrapping a hand around his torso. Darsh held the back of her head with one of his hands while leaning into her embrace.

There was comfort in their silence as well, in fact they preferred it. But all communication couldn't happen through silence, could they?

"Can I ask you something?" Chavi asked, speaking into his chest, not looking up at him.

"Ask me anything. After being deprived of your voice for four whole months, I can listen to you all day." He said kissing her forehead.

"Did you ever hate me? For leaving you?"

"I know I said I'd listen to you, but I won't answer stupid questions."

"You're deflecting."

"..." Darsh thought for a few seconds and pulled away from the hug, "so we're having this conversation?"

"I don't want to continue without a firm communication between both of us." Chavi said picking at a loose thread on his upper garment.

"Okay then," Darsh said and bent down picking her up, "I figure we should have a seat for it. It's going to be long."

He set her down on the bed and sat facing her after giving her a warm blanket. He took her hands in his.

"To answer your question," Darsh began, "I didn't hate you. I was perplexed. Confused as to why you left. Then I gave up trying to justify why you left."

"Why?"

"Well, you'd asked something of me. I had to work for it. So tell me, dear wife, did I become the best king I could be?"

"My standards for -best- are questionable."

"I value no other standard more." Darsh said bringing up her hand to kiss her palm.

"You've become quite expressive."

"I always was. You didn't notice it enough."

"You aren't adding to this conversation, Maharaj."

"I don't want to know the answers to my question. Having you with me now is entirely enough for me."

"But it won't be enough for our relationship, yes?" Chavi kept pushing him to clear his thoughts. Darsh sighed and scooted closer to her.

"Well...why did you run?"

"I- This might sound absurd but at the time, living a royal life wasn't exactly my favourite."

"You didn't tell me that."

"I didn't want to, to be honest I thought you knew. After the night where we made the promises, I feared that the royalty had stuck to me."

"You should have told me, Chavi. I would have done something. At that point of time, I would have forsaken the throne for you."

"That is exactly why I didn't want to tell you. You are Pitaji's sole heir. His entire kingdom is your responsibility. I cannot make you choose between me and your kingdom."

"I'm grateful for your fore thought. But still, you should have told me."

"It's okay, Darsh. You are a royal, by blood. Me trying to pull you away from it would be like trying to take light away from the sun. Utterly foolish. But, now that I'm your Queen, I realize that royalty is not something I can stay away from. It's my responsibility as well."