Chapter 41 Choices #3
There was a crunching sound as if someone bit into a fruit. “Oh yes. You kept mentioning something about freeing the Nature Spirits that were trapped there.” The maid couldn’t have sounded less interested if she tried.
Chandra grunted and kept sawing.
“All this is all right,” said the maid again. “But what I really want to know is what he looks like. Is he as fierce as they say?”
“He is quite tall, perhaps a handspan taller than my brother. Well built and extremely good with a sword, but then, he would be, since he is a general in his father’s army.”
“But what does he look like?” persisted Kalpana. “Is he fair or swarthy? Handsome like a nobleman or rugged like a hardened soldier?”
“You sound very interested, Kalpana,” came the princess’s voice, sounding amused once again. “I thought you were in love with someone?”
“But I’m not married yet and there’s no harm in wondering about other things. The people at the fair…you wouldn’t believe the things they say regarding him. It’s like he is a demon or rakshasa to hear them tell of his conquests.”
“He’s just a man, Kalpana. And to answer your question, yes, he’s handsome, and I suspect he knows that too. But a ruder man you’ll not have met. Rude and arrogant and mistrustful and paranoid and…and—”
“And?”
“And so maddeningly perplexing. Every time I thought I figured him out, he would turn my assumption on its head. I thought I could write him off as a brute…but that isn’t all that he is.
He just happens to have his own reasons for doing things.
Reasons that aren’t immediately apparent at a single glance.
He’s kind when it suits him, responsible for the people under him, and not as much of an ogre as everyone fears him to be. Or maybe I am just being naive.”
Veer heard the frustration in her voice, and it echoed what he felt about her. This woman, who had cooked a meal for his men for “protection” and had asked if everyone was safe when she woke up from the enchanted sleep.
“Sounds like he made quite an impression on you, Chandra,” said Kalpana with laughter in her voice. “I’d hate to point this out, Princess, but it sounds like you almost like him.”
“What! I most certainly do not.”
“Then why are you blushing?”
“I’m not! Stop teasing me. It’s hot here and I am doing all the work without any help from my maid, that’s why. Lend me a hand, please.”
“So, you don’t have anyone you like?” asked Kalpana, after some time had passed.
Veer suddenly realized that if they were breaking apart the dam, it would be dangerous to remain on the bridge and risk being swept out into the river.
But he was loath to leave without knowing the answer to Kalpana’s question. He was perhaps more interested than the maid to hear the princess’s answer to that question.
“No. I want to enjoy my status as an unmarried woman for as long as I can. I guess when the time comes, I’ll be given a swayamvara, same as my other sisters were. There is hopefully plenty of time before that happens.”
There was a sudden quiet as footsteps approached through the vegetation.
“I didn’t know you were that eager to get married, sister. I’ll speak to our father to arrange a swayamvara soon so you can get hitched,” said a new voice.
“Brother!”
“What are you doing here, sister mine?” said Bhupathi, the crown prince of Amaravathi.
“Nothing!” said Chandrasena.
“You can stop hiding the axe behind your back. I can see what you’ve been doing,” said Bhupathi sternly.
“Actually, Aswini sent me. This was all her doing,” said the princess, fooling no one with her guilty tone.
“That’s very odd because she’s the one who sent me here too.
She knew what you’re planning and asked me to run interference,” he said dryly.
“Breaking the dam is a worthy job, but not for you, Chandra. Father’s already angry with you after the incident with Prince Veer. Do you want to rouse his ire further?
“And you. I expected better from you, Kalpana. Weren’t you supposed to rein in her worst impulses and here I see you aiding and abetting her.”
“I do so apologize, Prince Bhupathi. It’s my fault she’s here. I should’ve stopped her. Perhaps tie her down or put rocks in her footwear.”
There was a brief pause, and then Bhupathi spoke again. “It’s pretty subtle, Kalpana, but I can still hear the sarcasm.” He didn’t sound angry but rather entertained.
“Are you going to stop us?” demanded Chandrasena.
“Of course, that’s what I am here for,” said Bhupathi.
“But the dam is almost halfway destroyed. If you’d just let us finish—”
“Absolutely not. You’ll not touch another piece of wood from the dam.”
“But—”
“Give me the axe. I’ll do the rest. And if anyone asks, you can put the blame on me. Not like this idea didn’t occur to me a hundred times already. Now you’d better leave.”
It seemed like it was a day of surprises. Veer had assumed Bhupathi was cut from the same mold as Chandraketu, but it turned out, he had a little more in common with his younger sister.
And as for the princess…it became clear to Veer why he was feeling so restless and why it felt like he had given them the wrong name for his bride.
Chandrasena might not like him, but she didn’t hate him either. Her heart was free. And Veer wanted someone who didn’t see them as enemies first and people second.
She was kind, generous, and loyal. Perhaps the other princesses had the same qualities, too, but she had courage as well, and Veer knew that he would prize that quality in his bride.
* * *
Everyone thought he had married Chandra to get his hands on Kalpeet and to bring the war to an end, but the truth was, even if he would admit it only to himself, the princess was the only thing he had ever desired from Amaravathi.
I want to be seen as a person, not a possession to be attained.
Veer winced at the recollection of her words, from that day at the temple pond when he had made clear what exactly he desired from her. He didn’t give her a choice. But then, he didn’t think there was anyone else in her heart, either, so he thought she was fair game.
He didn’t know the first thing to win a woman’s favor.
He only knew how to win wars and keep people safe.
He didn’t know poetry or sweet words. In all his life, he didn’t need it to do the chasing.
Maybe it was his position of power or his passable features, but he had no difficulty coaxing women to his bed.
On the evening of their marriage, it was he who had sent her a letter asking to meet in the gardens.
He had wanted to beg her forgiveness for imprisoning her, and to start their life anew without any misunderstandings.
But finding her with the incriminating dagger in her hands had wiped this detail completely from his mind.
And later, when he realized this, he reasoned that she must’ve run across Virat and in the darkness, mistook him for Veer. A possibility that strengthened at her trail, when she had said as much. Saying nothing in her own defense.
Why didn’t she say anything? All these years?
“Am I supposed to have trusted you? Based on what?”
Veer winced at her words. All these years, his parents and friends, Shota especially, had been cautioning him about the importance of building a reputation.
Veer had deliberately turned a deaf ear to their pleas, believing it was beneath him to engender the goodwill of the people of Saptavarsha, and not until now did he realize how much of an idiot he had been.
His wife had nothing to go on but his reputation and hear-say when making monumental decisions.
How could things have gotten so wrong?
He stared at her peacefully sleeping face and wiped the tear tracks off, trying not to wake her. He wished he could give her the absolution, the trust she craved from him, but the events from the past had left their mark on him.
Realizing that the person he chose among all others—and was halfway to falling in love with—hated him deeply enough to kill him, had left him doubting his own judgment to the point he never quite trusted another person since.
His journey to find Ilavu was as much to numb the pain of losing a friend, as drowning in the depths of desolation he felt at her apparent betrayal.
But now, she had turned things on their head, leaving him reeling and confused.
He owed her more than his life. He owed her, and the people who suffered the most from Virat’s actions, a huge apology.
And when he had confirmation of what he strongly suspected to be the truth, he would set about making reparations for the damage he wrought by allowing Virat to be by his side all those years ago. Even if it took the rest of his life.