The Cursed Princess of Suryagarh: Book 1

36. An immortal

Shreya's yells went unheard during the vicious attack on the immortal, and though her eyes widened in shock and her lips parted in surprise, a small part of her heart was relieved. The man was dead, lying in a pool of very murky liquid that couldn't even be called blood. Once the initial shock died, she realized she was a panting and wheezing mess, drops of perspiration cascading down the sides of her temple, and the throbbing agony was back all over her body. She whimpered but also discerned that she was free from any ethereal bindings Adhyayan had placed on her. Soon, the lantern hanging in midair also vanished with a pop, and everything around her was dark again. Rolling her lips inward, letting the tears cascade down her cheeks, she was attempting to stand up.

"Don't," Aarush murmured and hunkered next to her, his palm coming around her uninjured forearm in a bid to prevent her from getting on her feet.

She gulped and gave up her endeavour, letting her eyes adjust to the luminescence from the moon. "He is dead. He is finally dead."

He didn't meet her gaze and instead used his clean handkerchief to wipe away the dried driblets of her blood from her ankle. "He is an immortal," he muttered. "He will be back right up. You have to leave before he is alive again."

She perceived the lines of angst and frustration on his profile, and she also noticed his adamancy of not looking at her. His face had surely lost all colour, and the feebly pulsating vein on his forehead provided her with a sense of protection and reassurance. He was worried. He was troubled. Because of her. "What happened, though? What was... that... that fire... that..." She hissed when his hands went to the laceration on her arm. Wincing, she said, "Where did it come from?"

His lips quivered for a moment before he shook his head. "Don't know." He recanted his hand from the injured area and instead went to prodding her ankle. "Sprain," he mumbled. "It will hurt just a bit." He twisted the ankle to the right, earning a violent shriek from her. "All good now. You can walk."

She shuddered and let out a ragged breath when the pain subsided. "Bad Princey!"

He had to fight really hard to prevent the smile from appearing on his lips. "The high priest will get you medical attention. Take this narrow path out of the clearing, turn right. That's where the fort's main road meets a dead-end. A car is parked there. Take it. Reverse. Keep driving straight until you reach Agni Bhawan. Do not stop anywhere."

She frowned at him. "Aren't you coming with me?"

"No."

His quick and curt response bothered her. So did his obstinacy to not meet her eyes despite her trying to catch his gaze quite a few times now. Instead, he was gaping at the bruise on her arm, occasionally wiping off blood and appearing so sickened by it that she had to take matters into her own hands. Her palms went to rest against the stubble on his cheek. "What happened, Princey?"

"Why are you wasting your time?" he snapped and jerked her hand away. "I asked you to go. Why do you always make me repeat things?"

She heaved a sigh. "It's not your fault. He just—"

"It is my fault," he muttered. "You were not supposed to sustain a single scratch," he chuckled humorlessly, "and look at you right now!"

"We will go together. I am not leaving you alone here."

He scowled at the stubbornness in her cadence, and his eyes finally locked with hers. Under the lively luminescence of the moon, her attractive features were more well-defined than ever before, and he chided himself for not looking away, but he couldn't. The anguish in her visage didn't let him.

His searing gaze touched her skin, roaming over her battered face in such a languid fashion that she was frozen to the spot. She wanted to say something, tell him that she was never going to go back on her word of helping him save his sister. She yearned to apprise him that she would ensure a means to end Adhyayan once and for all even if it could potentially lead to her extending the stay in Suryagarh and lying further to her family. She desired to articulate how warm and safe she felt in his vicinity despite the viciousness of his temper, for she knew he would never harm her. But then she was unable to speak up. He hadn't stopped peering at her in that impassioned, fiery manner—unblinking, scalding her skin, firing up her entire existence.