Ruin In Royals (Royal #1: Book 2) | ✔

8

Eid hai, Eidi toh banti hai ✨

-• i don't sleep •-

Rudra

I don't sleep.

I never sleep in the dark.

Night has always been mine to dominate, not submit. I know the perils of it. I've slept through them as they happened around me, on me, from the pair of hands I never found who they belonged to. I never let my guard down.

But I did.

Last night, I did.

How?

I've never felt safe at night to close my eyes. And to feel that around her? What has got into me lately? Why am I forgetting my own reality? Why am I forgetting this is not me, this is not my life? The more I stay around her, the deeper she burrows herself into my subconscious.

"Your heart rate is abnormal, Boss."

I know. I've known that for a long time now. She makes my heart anxious. It beats through my ribcage everytime she's close. She's not healthy for me. I can feel it, the way my body grows rigid, the way her words trap me in my head, make me think through them, as though it's a new language I fail to decipher.

She's everything I'm not made for.

But she is an opportunity.

My ticket to safety.

How can I let go of her? When she's everything I need for a stable future?

But she vexes me so damn much.

Her every breath, every glance, every touch, every fucking word, is forbidden, something that stains my soul with bright colours.

I've never allowed that before. I'm a greedy human, I chew out and spit what I don't like, and consume what I crave. But I never let anyone have what catches my eyes. It's mine to destroy or own, but never anyone else's.

"I didn't have nightmares last night," I mumble distractedly, my thoughts are harmoniously chaotic, a juxtaposition between sane and insane, drowning me in multitudes of screams, each bellowing her name. And the mention of her, even in my own head, makes my skin itchy, as if she's under every layer I've put on to hide my reality from the world, challenging me to find her so she gets me naked, vulnerable and weak.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Yara sounds confused.

"No." I grit out. "I want to remember them, they fuel my vengeance, Yara. I need them to keep me moving. My life has no other meaning. I live for revenge. I can't forget my nightmares. I can't."

"And what after that?"

"What?"

"What after you get your revenge?"

"Then I'll open a tech company, we'll redevelop you and get rid of all the flaws. I'll rewrite your code, and I'll make you stronger, powerful enough that you can't be stolen or manipulated." I grin. "We'll bring a revolution in IT industry, Yara. You'll be known as the most intelligent AI of the time. Rajawat Empire will be mine anyway. I'll be the richest man, the most powerful." I chuckle, there's a strange kind of hunger in my body, it salivates for power.

"You'll have to delete my current progress. I won't be the same Yara."

"I know. And I can't wait to see the new you, the reformed you."

"I'm made for you. Do whatever you want."

I smile.

Technology is so easy to trust. It can be weaponized, humanized, and still be destroyed. I need that kind of control in IT industry, fuck that, on world. Where it will be afraid to make a move without considering my opinion. And Yara is my key to that.