'Bhanu!'- he warmly breathed, elevating her relief.
It had been a long time since she had faced her friend thus, in solitude.
The last time she had been standing, face-to-face with him was-
-Much before that baleful Game of Dice.
Such was the manner in which time had chosen to work.
-'Radheya!'- she repeated, as if assuring herself of his presence.
-'Yes, my queen.'- he spoke, with a beatific smile on his heavenly countenance. -'It is me. None else.'
Who else could it be?, she wondered.
Who else could bear that preternatural gait?
Who else had the privilege of carrying that superhuman radiance?
Who else could bear the Sun in his bearing?
She smiled at him, entreating yet another smile from him.
-'Couldn't sleep, could you?' he asked her, while gesturing her to take a seat on the bench beside him.
-'You're no less a nocturnal than I am.' replied she.
-'You never answer my questions in a straightforward manner, do you, Bhanu?'
-'The King of Anga is expected to possess enough intellect to decode the most cryptic of strategies,'- Bhanumati deliberately stretched the conversation further, in a manner of tergiversation from the murky premonitions that kept looming within her. -'my statements are of a much lesser degree.'
This time, Vasusena nodded his head, in a manner of finality, acknowledging his defeat. He was never possessed of a garrulous disposition, and that always made him have a much lesser advantage in a pointless conversation with Bhanumati.
'You're still the same.' he said, sounding amused.
She breathed another breath of relief.
-'Where have you been?' she asked him.
-'I went to my parents' place.'- Vasusena said, -'Sometimes, rags and thatched roofs provide greater comfort than padded silks and engraved ceilings.'
He kept his hands on his knees, while lowering his eyes from her face. Bhanumati noticed his eyebrows gather into a cloud.
'What bothers you?' she inquired, concerned.
Vasusena didn't seem to listen. Yet, his facial muscles seemed to clench, in a manner Bhanumati couldn't decipher.
The clouds on his face darkened further, as if shadowing the darkness of the night in his face that usually bore a very uncanny semblance to the sun.
His eyes still hadn't met hers.
She detected a ghost of a deep-seated grief in them.
YOU ARE READING
Love That Lay in Ruins
Fiksi SejarahIt all started when they humiliated the one sired by Fire itself. When one is blinded by an insane lust of an infernal nature, particularly one pertaining to power, all his merits stand nullified, and emasculated in such vicious intoxication. This t...
