Fuck you...Your Majesty!

13

Galloping at the speed of wind, my horse finally managed to shake off the remaining assassins who had attempted to attack me as soon as I left the capital. They claimed they were there to avenge the fallen minister, and truth be told, it didn't come as a surprise to me. I had an inkling that such nonsense would follow. It would have been easier not to fight back and die at their hands, but something in me just would not let me die without meeting my family one last time, without apologizing to them one last time.

Trotting on my horse through the damned forest, tears had already blurred my vision. All my memories with my beloved came rushing to haunt me. I don't know what time of day it was when I finally reached the scorched ground where the unfortunate accident had happened-the place where Salil was burned alive.

I tried getting off my horse, but it felt like my limbs had lost all their strength. Still, I attempted to dismount. I wanted to feel the last of Salil's moments very desperately.

I don't know how I reached the place. Maybe I fell off the horse. Maybe there was pain surging throughout my body. Maybe I broke a few of my bones. Maybe there was some blood. I don't know, or I didn't care. All I remember is crying my eyes out at the place, screaming and begging for the heavens to return my love to me. It was hard to breathe. Without Salil in my life, it was hard to live, so I did what I had done in my previous life: end my painful existence at the same place where my beloved and child lay.

I just hope I meet them in heaven and they accept me.

*******

Four months into his pregnancy, Salil had become a cranky mess. The backaches, the shortness of breath, the heartburn, and the frequent nasal swelling made him want to cry. He wanted his suffering to end already, but what he did not resent was the subtle fluttering that assured him of the excellent health of his growing child. He was happy to have decided to escape Antharv. Had he still been there, his worst nightmares would have come true. Just the thought of being in Antharv triggered all the gut-wrenching memories of his past life.

"Salil... Are you awake, my child?" His mother's sweet voice broke Salil from the deep, depressing thoughts he was about to spiral into.

"Hm, Maa... couldn't sleep..." said Salil as he got up from the rocking chair near the window of his room. The Queen gave a sad smile and walked towards her son. She knew how much her son had suffered in the land of Antharv and for all the pain and suffering they gave him, she wanted the kingdom of Antharv to pay with their blood, but her son was against this decision of hers. He was still protecting the land, which gave him nothing but pain, tears, and humiliation. Sometimes it was just difficult to understand what went on in the heart of her son.

But how did she know about her 'dead' son still being alive? Well, let us just say that the biweekly hunting trips and frequent, sudden disappearance of King Samartha after his return from seclusion in the mountains of Kaveri raised suspicion in the hearts of his father and mother, the old King and Queen. They wanted to know what happened on these trips to make their stoic-faced son smile so much. Was there a lover involved? If so, then they needed to check whether the person was worthy of being their son's partner and the Queen of the kingdom of Kaveri.

And thus, on one such 'hunting trips' King Samartha was secretly followed by the best warrior of Kaveri, the Old King Hrishikesh Malvan himself.

The old King was a bit surprised to see his son walking in the territory of the Garo tribe deep in the Ujvali hills. Greeting his cousins and sparing with them. But what made him fall off the high tree branch he had been sitting on was the appearance of his supposedly dead son, 'Salil' who was busy fusing over his still-recovering brother, King Samartha.

The sound from the Old King's fall was loud enough to attract the attention of the bickering siblings. And it took just one look at the trembling form of the Old King, standing not very far from them, for the siblings to know how much big of trouble they had just landed in.

Long story short, the secret plan for Salil's great escape was revealed. The Old King and Queen were reunited with their beloved son, Salil, while King Samartha got his ass kicked for hiding the truth from his parents.

"Come here, lie down for a while and let me tell my grandson about his mother and uncle Samartha's childhood." said the Queen as she helped Salil to his bed. She knew it was the nightmares that kept her son awake at night. Though she wanted to know the reason behind these nightmares, she was helpless as her beloved son refused to talk about it.

Salil couldn't help the soft smile that bloomed on his face as his mother reminisced about the old days, gently caressing his hair all the while. He knew it was all to distract him from the abyss of overthinking his mind was about to dive into. Every day, he thanked the heavens for giving him a second chance and for helping him escape the horrible fate that waited for him in the palace of Antharv. There were days when a small thing or a bickering couple in the tribe would remind him of a certain someone. His heart would long for a certain someone, but that thought would only last mere seconds before reality slapped him hard in the face. The cruelty of that certain someone would erase all his longing for him.

He was learning to live without that certain someone. Not knowing that certain someone was dying without him in his life.

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