Till Life Bring Us Together... {COMPLETED}

Chapter 19

  A/N: Vote and Comment.

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    They say time heals all wounds. But how could a wound hurt as if it had been at the time it was given? Time didn't affect it. He brushed it off as guilt but Nadiya had returned still it affected.

He dreaded this day. This day he solely reserved it for mourning for that dreadful day. That dreadful day when his brother had taken advantage of her. That day when he came to her empty chambers.

He rubbed his chest. Suddenly the room seemed claustrophobic. He opened the windows to let the breeze in. It was raining heavily. Seemed like the skies were mourning with him too.

He slumped down to the floor and rested his arms on his knees. Burying his head on inside his arms. He tried to calm his breaths down. But it was getting more and more difficult for him to breathe.

She is back here now. She seems okay now. She is safe now.

He tried consoling himself but it was vain. He knew it was. It happened every year for a decade. Shortness of breath, nausea, all on this day.

He slipped under the covers again, trying to get his body to rest.

***

   Ruh woke up all sweaty that morning despite the chilly weather. Her throat was all dried up. She suddenly felt dizzy and tired. But decided to get out of the bed.

After her bath and morning prayers she heard from Ila that the morning court was cancelled. The Emperor was sick. and he kept himself locked inside his chambers.

It worried her but she stopped herself from going to him. She remembered what he said yesterday. She sighed, the day seemed gloomier now. How could she not worry about him?

***

As it kept getting darker, Ruh's mood was darker too. The usual bickering, the problems in the kitchen irritated her. As if her day couldn't get worse she was informed The Emperor was missing from the palace. She hissed.

"How could he go missing? What were the guards doing then?" The chief minister yelled at the guards. He noticed her and bowed down to pay his respects.

"He's not anywhere inside the palace? What about the gardens and barracks?"

"Nowhere, your highness."

Ruh sighed. Where could he be? "The Pond!" She exclaimed. She picked up her skirts and ran towards the pond. The guards ran behind her.

Winds rushed through her hair, as her feet not stopping for a moment. She reached the pond and her eyes searched for him. But he was nowhere to be found. She looked around frantically. Where could he be? Just then her eyes drifted to the pond, the pond was calm n sterile with no ripples at the surface. But at a part there were bubbles bursting from the surface.

"There! He's drowning! Save him!" She ordered the guards who jumped inside the waters in an instant.

Jellal was laid on the grass. He coughed and spat the water. He seemed intoxicated. The guard helped her to make him sit. Strands of wet hair covered his eyes. She rubbed his back to keep him warm.

"Nadiya..." His voice was coarse.

His eyes were unfocused and his speech was slurred. Ruh frowned, he was drunk. Out of all the things that she hated about him, drinking was on the top.

"Your majesty?" She grabbed the sides of his face, "We have to get inside the palace...."

"No!" He pushed her hands away.

"Why can't you understand? Let us go inside the palace!" She yelled over the pouring rain.

"Why can't you? I deserve this! I deserve much more than this. She...suffered...because...of...me..." Hus breath came out in pants.

"Who? Nadiya? She is back in the palace! Let us go back!"

"No!" He puffed out his voice barely audible.

He had difficulty breathing and she knew not what to do. "What is happening?"

"You! Get Nadiya here, right now! Go!" She ordered a guard.

The guard rushed back to the palace. Apart from his shortness of breath, there was total silence.

Her skin itched. An eerie feeling crept upon her. Someone was watching them. Jellal slumped to the ground laying flat on the slickly ground.

Just then a arrow missed his head. The guards drew their swords surrounding them in a circle. Ruh watched with horror in her eyes the arrows that shot through the bushes.

One by one all guards were struck. She watched them lay in a pool of blood and him defenceless and senseless. When she heard the whizz of an arrow she covered him with herself.

Her head was laid on his chest, listening to his gentle heart beats. Just then at the fourth beat, an arrow struck her, she gasped. At the seventh, another. She clutched his tunic as tightly as she could.

Her vision blurred, with tears or because of blood loss, she didn't know. She closed her eye lids and thought,
If this was her end, she regretted not living to her fullest, she regretted living like a prisoner, loving like a victim but in midst of it she was happy to let go of this world in the arms of her whole universe.

***

  After a while, Nadiya gasped as she found them on the ground. Both of them were in an embrace and looked pale as the moon. She had arrows sticking out her back.

She collapsed to the ground staring blankly at the sight in front of her. The guards rushed to pick up their limp bodies.

Her head spun looking at them. Eventually a guard had to carry her to the palace. Only when she came into his warm contact did her walls break, flooding her with emotions. She sobbed. The guards were teary eyed too. The rain only got heavier. It truly seemed like they were mourning.

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A/N: I went through the worst writer's block ever. Short chapter but I got something out. Please vote and comment! Love you all!