Inferno Hearts

Stuck in the Sands of Time

All it takes is for one of my men to enter the breakfast room and offer me a single silent nod to allow me to breathe easy for the first time since I left the ground of Nandini's house last night. She's still here, a mere stone's throw away from me. She has not tried to run. I tip my chin to acknowledge the news that he has just parted with me, right before all hell seems to break loose in the room.

In the blink of an eye, a couple of errand boys, along with a handful of serving girls scurry into the breakfast room, each of their hands laden with a plate that is covered with a metal dome.

"Oh for goodness sake," a male voice calls out from behind the crowd. "Let me through, you imbeciles!" The gathering of people parts to let a shortened round man, who seems to be in his late sixties, to pass through.

"Your Highness." The man says, pulling down at the edges of his coat lapels. Once he's satisfied with the way that his clothes are now hanging on his body, the man drops down into a bow so deep that I can count the folds on his stomach.

"We welcome you to our humble Country Inn." The man says, straightening himself up. "I am the innkeeper here, Mr. Joel." The man stops to wait for my response, with a smile so big plastered across his face that I could use him as my very own candelabra on the darkest of nights. But instead of feeding into Joel's foolishness, I continue to stare at him with indifference, forcing the man to try once again.

"I-I do apologise, Your Highness, for not having come and welcomed you here sooner. The errand boy who gave you your room key last night did not think it was important enough to inform me that His Highness is currently residing with us in our midst."

Clapping his hands together, Joel gestures at the crowd behind him to uncover the dishes that they are holding up. In unison, the lasses and lads cast tendrils of steam all across the room as they reveal the food that they have come bearing.

"Your Highness, I w-was not aware of what you would prefer, and so I ensured there is a dish of everything that a good breakfast can procure in this room, right here, all for you." Joel's words are accompanied by a beaming sense of pride. "Could I offer you anything else as well?"

"Answers," I demand without hesitation.

"P-Pardon me, Your Highness?" Joel stutters. Although I should feel absolutely horrible for destroying this poor man's happiness, in truth, I do not.

"Would you happen to know that child Veer, and his family?" My question brings a fresh smile onto Joel's face and I know at once that I shall receive the answers which I seek.

"Of course, of course, Your Highness." Joel gushes, clasping his hands together. I can tell that he is ecstatic to provide me with the information that I seek. Hell, this man is just waiting to bend backwards, and forwards for me. A moment of silence passes while I wait for the man in front of me to elaborate.

"And?" I prompt, releasing a sigh of resignation at the imbecile who cannot seem to stop grinning at me like a clown.

"And, Your Highness?" Oh for fuck's sake, my hand has never felt a stronger itch to grab ahold of my sword and drive it through someone's stomach.

"And what do you know of the child and his family?" It would be in Joel's best interests if he would stop walking on thin ice with my patience in tow.

"Whatever you would like to know, Your Highness." Joel says, offering me another absolutely useless bow. For crying out loud, I do not wish to dilly dally with mundane formalities; all I seek are the answers to my questions.

"Everything," I spit out the word.

"Right, right," Joel mutters. "Well, of course there is Veer's mother, Sajal. We all absolutely adore her." Joel's words are met with murmurings of agreement. "She's an absolutely lovely lady as you can tell."

"I do not believe we are speaking of the same family." I say, disappointed at the dead end this morning has run into.

"Oh, but of course we are, Your Highness." Joel insists, glancing around at the crowd in an attempt to seek their support. Everyone nods their head in unison.

"I believe not because Veer's mother is not Sajal." I say, getting ready to get up and continue my search at another place.

"Y-Your Highness, if I am not mistaken, you are speaking of the family that lives in the house by the woods, right?" Joel's words halt my actions at once. I offer him the smallest of nods. "That lady is most definitely Sajal, Your Highness."

"Y-Yes, she is, Your Highness." A timid voice speaks up from the crowd behind Joel. Sajal. I toss the name around in my mind. It doesn't suit, Nandini, I decide. My wife's name is Nandini Malhotra, or occasionally, Princess.

As this thought subsides, a haunting one takes its place, instead. Am I such a grave threat to my wife that she not only had to escape from her own home, but she felt forced to change her name as well? To get away from me, Nandini let go of her entire identity.

"What else do you know about them?" I probe further, refusing to let my mind delve into utter chaos at the news that I have just received.

"Sajal mostly keeps Veer and her business confined to the walls of her home." Joel sounds absolutely heartbroken that Nandini is not worthy of more gossip. "But perhaps a lady must take such measures when she's responsible for a bastard in her home."

"Watch your tongue," I warn Joel. A shudder runs through the innkeeper's body.

"I do beg your pardon, Your Highness, but the lad's father is unknown." My chest tightens at the thought of Nandini carrying another man's child. "Sajal came here a few years ago, and soon after, she was with child."

"So Pr...Sajal is not in wedlock?" I ask, the frantic beating of my heart in my ears blocking out all the other sounds in the room.

"Unfortunately not, Your Highness. There are some rumours, however, about who could have fathered the babe." And just like that my entire mouth dries up at Joel's words.

"Is that all?" I ask, and Joel nods in agreement.

"I hope Veer and Sajal aren't in any trouble, Your Highness? They really are quite adored by our entire town," Joel says, and I watch every head behind him nod in unison. Of course they all dote on Nandini; it is her, after all.

"No trouble at all," I murmur, putting one foot in front of the other, and standing up. The walls of this breakfast room seem to be closing in around me. Nandini wasted no time in finding herself another. And soon after, she was with child.

She wasted no time at all. Hell, did she even mourn the loss of our child? Am I that repulsive in her eyes that she did not even grieve the loss of a life that we created, simply because the babe was a part of me too?

I'm still unsure of what my crime truly was all those years ago, but I doubt that my crimes are to be forgiven with an apology, now that I know what Nandini truly feels for me. I can get down on my knees in front of her, grovel, plead, and pray for her forgiveness, but she will not budge an inch. Especially not when she felt the need to start her life from scratch, merely because she wished to get away from me.

As I navigate my way up to my bedchambers, I realise that I have lost the capability to feel any kind of anger towards my wife. There is no rage towards what she did all those years ago, and there is no loathing towards Veer either, from my end. Alas, I cannot suppress the pain that is stabbing at my chest like a hundred tiny needles; a heart shattered like glass. While I am still standing stuck in time, right where Nandini left me, when she has long before walked away from there.