I know that I am very, very, VERY late. And I am sorry. Honestly, I had given up on this one..
All thanks to Saiyyu to MAKE me write it! And if you think its crappy, you know whom to blame now! 😛 😆
||Part 6||
"This is for you, my lady. . ." Anjali heard, and she turned to see Shyam standing there with a sugary sweet smile, which seemed to dazzle her, and she looked at the bouquet of her favorite champa flowers. And though the flowers were haphazardly arranged, she felt her heart melt for the gesture behind it. Chiding herself for being so immature about this situation, she blinked her surprise off her face, turned to see whether her overprotective family was around and when she was sure that she was not being watched, she said in a polite manner, "I am sorry, but I think we hardly know each other to exchange gifts now."
"Perhaps that is the exact reason why I may be giving this to you?" Shyam replied, feigning nervousness. Anjali stared for one-sixtieth of a minute, before she smiled shyly, and put out a trembling hand to accept his gift. Shyam mentally snorted in derision. Such easy preys! They never tend to excite me! Now that fiery eyed Khushi. . . . How I wish to ravage her. . . . His thoughts were broken, when Anjali called him for the answer for some puerile question of hers. Sighing internally, and cursing his fate, he turned his attention to the woman walking next to him, a false-honeyed smile in place.
~*~*~*~
Having continued this act for a few days now, Shyam had decided that he had had enough of this drama. He had to lure Anjali into a trap and marry her, before Arnav and Khushi decided it was time for them to step up to the throne. "My lady. . . Will you do me the honor of being mine forever and be my wife?" he asked, in a voice that he knew that she could never resist and heard her gasp and without batting her eyelashes, she said, "You know I would, my Prince. But first, you will have to talk to my father about this."
Shyam faked a hurt mien as he sighed and said in a dejected tone, "Your parents would want my uncle to be involved too. My uncle would never allow me to marry you, my lady. For he despises me and me being old enough to marry would mean that he will have to step down the throne. And then your brother would have to face the wrath too, for everybody knows that he is going to be the ruler one day."
Anjali had never known the king to be so deceitful. But she also thought that Shyam would know his uncle better. Did she love Shyam to the extent to elope with him and marry him? Yes!! answered her infatuated mind, and she nodded shyly. Shyam kissed her breathless before he seated her on his steed and rode towards the Bodhi vriksh, where all the wedding ceremonies of Jnaana Kshetra took place.
Anjali felt elated, as she stood under the sacred tree and waited for the bonding to happen. Her eyes darted wearily around her, when nothing happened even after waiting for a few minutes.
Weddings in Jnaana Kshetra was a sacred affair. Just like everywhere else. But the people could witness the bond that would be created between the two souls when they united in holy matrimony, thus exchanging a few behavioral traits amongst the newly wedded couple. If either the bride or the groom had been blessed by any special powers at his/her birth, their spouse would inherit most of it too. Anjali knew all this as she had witnessed so many marriages here. The groom and his bride needed to just hold their right hand at an auspicious time and a glowing, rope like structure would encircle their hands and would fade after a minute or two, thus indicating the wedding was complete and the participants were man and wife thereafter. But she felt her hands go clammy as no such thing seemed to happen now. Is the procedure lost, now that Sage Chaitanya had died? But the procedure had been the same even before Sage Chaitanya, as far as I know! She thought, and she started to pray to the divine soul of the sage.
'I am holding back the bond on purpose. Do not do this, child. This is not a befitting future that you could choose for yourself.' A sad voice sounded in her mind, and she was sure it was the sage's. She must be imagining all this, she thought, but went ahead with a small prayer in her mind. 'Oh, great sage! I am eternally grateful to you. We never thought for once, that you might leave us like this. And we also knew that you would always be with us. You tell that I do not deserve this? I know that. Master Shyam's love is something which I will never deserve. But I am selfish enough to accept that I crave for it. And I would not differ on this opinion of mine for the rest of my life. . . .'
'But, child. . .'
'Please, Sire! I beg of you, oh, divine soul! Please grant me this one wish!'
She felt the dissatisfied sigh from the sacred tree, and she heard the voice one last time, 'Sear through his heart and you will end your miseries.' Before she could make sense of what this meant, she felt a feather light touch at her right hand and opened her eyes to see that the bond had started to form. A rope of bright light started to form around their hands. She smiled in glee and looked up to Shyam's face to see that his face had a lecherous sneer. But he changed it into a more suitable smile when he saw her looking at him with scared eyes.
The marriage, as expected, caused a commotion in the Raizada and the Gupta households, though nothing unbearable, for they found Shyam to be acceptable to plain eyes, though everybody felt that flash of strange uneasiness in their gut, they chose to hide it for Anjali's sake. Arnav was the most difficult to deal with. If he did love her, why marry her in so much secrecy. 'He tells that his uncle would not let him live in peace, then he must have fought against him until he receded. How can I trust him with my sister when he behaves in so much of an. . . . unmanly manner?!' he had argued, and it took all of Khushi's patience and too much of her soothing words to calm him down. Those words, that Khushi uttered with not much of conviction herself. But it was necessary to maintain the calm in the house. And she believed herself to protect Anjali if something were to happen.
Shyam persisted that he wanted to go to the royal palace at the earliest. He claimed that he had taken away the opportunity of a proper wedding from Anjali, and he did not want to snatch her title away from her. She was now, officially, a princess, and it was time she started living like one. Hearing to such exuberant talks of Shyam Manohar, Khushi did doubt his intents even more. And so did Akash, though he did not know how to let this know to everybody else. 'If he was scared to marry Anjali Di in front of his uncle, where did that fear, all of a sudden, vanish to?? So persistent about taking Di away?!' he thought and shook his head at Payal when she had seen his worry and asked him what the matter was with her questioning eyes.
And hence Anjali was sent to the palace, amidst tears and advises to bear a happy married life. Little did they know that what she would be made to endure could hardly be categorized as life. Let alone a happy one.
~*~*~*~
Anjali sat on the floor, in the corner of her room, hugging her knees to herself, tears continuously flowing down her eyes. No, she was not crying because her husband, like the beast that he was, had ravaged her, uncaring about her virginity and least bothered about being gentle with her. Though she had been terrified for life, she had decided to forgive him for that. He is a very passionate man!! She had foolishly thought and that thought, now made her to snort in the most unladylike manner, making Shyam stir in his sleep. Anjali held her breath, scared that the animal might again arise. But when he slept on, turning to the other side, she remembered his dream which had flowed to her while she was about to fall asleep herself, as she slept next to him, waiting for sleep to claim her. He had dreamed of the mangled bodies of Khushi and her dearest brother. Her Chotey! How dare he?! Her eyes were now oceans of contempt and fury, She had not understood why Shyam would crave for Khushi and Arnav's death so much that he started dreaming about it. But then a flickering image of Shyam sitting on the throne flashed in his sleepy mind and it was then that Anjali realized.
The throne!
Of course that would matter to him. After all he was the next heir. But Sage Chaitanya's prophecy said otherwise. And hence he wanted Arnav and Khushi out of his way. Then why marry me?! Her mind screamed and cried in absolute despair, even as another part of her mind became cold and emotionless. If she was to suffer under him, damned would she be, if she gave him the satisfaction of seeing her weak and helpless. Fight, she would. Until the last breath left her body. She was from one of the bravest warrior families, after all!
Shyam chose that moment to wake up and summoned her with the movement of one finger, and a contemptuous look on his face. Drawing in all her strength and concentrating on building a cold wall around her heart, so that she would be numb to all that he would throw at her, she walked towards the creature which laid on the bed, and speechlessly allowed him to do whatever he wanted to do with her. Again.
~*~*~*~
"I do not know why, Khushi, but I still do not trust that man." Arnav murmured as he laid there in her arms, his head against her bosom, as she tried comforting his troubled mind. Khushi wanted to tell him that she felt the exact same thing too, but she stopped herself. Her motive, for now, was to soothe him. "She will be alright, my lord. She has us, after all, and she knows it."
Arnav sighed, and after awhile he said, "You are right, Khushi."
"Of course, I am right!" teased Khushi, making him lift his head off her chest and grin indulgently at her, before he gave a quick peck on her lips. "Nevertheless, just to be sure. . . Would you go and talk to her? Women share everything with their friends, I have heard. Do you do it too?"
Khushi smiled at that question of his and she reassured, "We do prefer our lady friends to know our current predicaments, yes, though I myself do not follow it to greater extents. I shall talk to her at the earliest. You should quit worrying."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do let me know what you thought about the update... Even a few words of encouragement will do, though I definitely do not object when it comes to longer comments!! 😉 😃
PMs shall be sent soon.. 😳
Edited by -_-harsh42 - 13 years ago
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