ONC 2022 Longlist / Top 25 The Historical Award 2022 & 2023 hosted by @HistoricalFiction / Featured by multiple profiles
In the tyrannical kingdom of Aratta, a young widowed mother returns alive from the den of a mysterious king where women go only...
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I have had enough.
He is just a shadow of the past. A ghost living in a body I had long forgotten.
And yet he chases me, my son, everything I hold dear.
Tomorrow is a new moon night.
The needle pricks my finger. I lick it lightly.
Who will be his next victim?
"I have some things to ask, Sitara."
I put down my knitting work and look at Estella. I pat the ground beside me, welcoming her. "The day is not so sunny. The shade of this banyan provides cool."
She doesn't look like the Estella I know. The kohl is smudged, the eyes are watery and her lips quiver. She is a mess. "What happened?"
"I hope you will be honest," Estella whispers.
Things have turned bitter since Borzou met Yama, and then Rakshita spewing venom. Estella didn't talk much with me since that day. She kept avoiding me like many other women.
I wonder if she believed in those rumours.
I won't blame her. "I will."
Let's settle this for now.
"Did the king tell you something?" I ask.
She gulps, lifting up her chin to look more fearsome. I sympathise with this act. Her clenched fists just make me softer and more comfortable.
Yet, the truth is vulnerable. It can sabotage me. It already has.
"He was acting too sweetly with Yama, you know," Estella spits through gritted teeth. "Then I heard things again, specially from the Kandake, which has made me question what all I have thought about you. The act by Rakshita was the ultimate that triggered me."
Maybe I am at the edge of losing a friend.
"Did I defend you for nothing, Sitara?"
"I am sorry."
Her eyes widen. She stumbles back, holding onto the bark of the banyan tree. She stares at the sky in shock until the sunbeams almost blind her.
"I tell you again, Sitara, did I defend you for nothing?"
I shut my eyes. How do I even make her believe that I had never been as daring as her? The only risk I ever took was to love when destiny called it forbidden. I craved for warmth, for companionship, for something more than just a contract signed by clans.
Borzou had given it all to me. And then one day, fate thrust us asunder.
"I would have respected a confession Sitara. I would have protected your truth."
