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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Sitara has been drinking to her pleasure in her room while Yama is away with the Kandake. As much as I want to rebuke her for this addiction, I know the dizziness gives her some time to not delve into real life.
So I stand in the terrace and stargaze. Stars are so beautiful– fiery bright balls of light which burn to show way to others. I am a star, Sitara is one, even Vivasvat. And all three live up to our names in our own ways.
"If you lost the way, I want to remind you it's my room."
I twirl a lock of hair, smirking at the man. Yes, I am enjoying the ambience of Vivasvat's terrace. "I haven't. I have come here with a purpose."
I circle him with a complacent attitude. He fidgets in his place, stammering about everything being inappropriate and blushing. "Easy, easy. I am not here for things you men usually think at night. I am here to share a secret."
He puffs up like a frog. "Not all men are indecent. And I am not going to listen to–"
"It's about those two, you know."
All the colour fades from his face.
Maybe what I am doing is wrong. Maybe I am breaking a promise, being disloyal, but sometimes being the villain serves well. Sitara doesn't have the courage nor the position to tell Vivasvat the truth, so I must. He can't always be in the dark. "How long have you seen Sitara?"
He grips my arm and pulls me closer. I gasp as his narrowed eyes rove over me. "Come to the point."
I yank away my arm. "I must ask you some questions before I can be sure. I know you have been kept in the dark for long and before confiding in you, establishing the fact that yes you have been fooled– " Surprised eyes welcome me. "Yes, you," I emphasise. "And by both of them. Not out of malice, but fear and circumstances."
He blinks, walking with a clumsy gait to the bed and sits down with his head hung low. "Estella, I can handle Borzou betraying me. He has been a bad friend. But Sitara, she is like my sister. Did she use me too?"
His thin tone and quavery voice scares me. I approach him on tiptoes and gently pat his head. "No, umm, it's actually not like that. No one except me and your late brother knows this. The Kandake knows too, but no one else."
"So basically everyone close to Sitara except me."
I purse my lips. "She didn't do anything willingly. She was afraid for her life. Their lives."
"For God's sake Estella what else is left to be revealed!"
Vivasvat grabs me by the shoulder and shakes me. I look into his enlarged, watery eyes, desperately trying to find a shore.
