THE CONQUEROR'S CAPTIVE

PRANAHITA

Surabhi's POV

Tears welled up my eyes as soon as his words fell on my ears. My brother had given up. He had lost hope in finding me. It felt like a hard slap across my face when I registered what he had just told me. "And if you plan on going back to your kingdom now, think again. Who will accept you? Sita Mata who was the definition of purity was questioned about her loyalty towards her husband after her stay in Lanka. Who will accept you after all this time? Maybe your family will. They love you and will assume that you are still pure. But what about the people. What about your marriage? Who will marry you? You will have to live with your brother as he dies everyday inside to see his sister live unmarried and alone. Don't you think this is better than that?"

"I do not care about what the society thinks about me. My family will accept me and that is enough for me", I argued through the tears.

"How long will that be enough for you? At one point in your life, you will feel ashamed of yourself for hurting your brother. I am sure he is in pain for losing you. But with time, it will all fade. Just imagine seeing you live like a broken person everyday. That pain will never heal. You have the choice. Will you make your brother suffer for just a few years and stay away from him for his happiness or will you go there and kill his peace and happiness everyday. Let me know what you think by tomorrow. If you still think you should go back, I'll ask Bhargav to make arrangements for your journey back to Ratnagarbha".

He turned around and walked away. I looked at the view from the corridor and saw how the palace was on a mountain. I had no idea I lived on a mountain for such a long time. But living here for the rest of my life was the choice in front of me. I decided to think about it later and walked back to the royal court where Janaki's parents were at the saints feet crying loudly while scolding their son. "You don't know how he has saved our whole kingdom. This is the time for you to support him. The whole kingdom being against him is enough for him. Give him some peace at least now", the saint advised.

"Just ask him to return our house. We will forget that we had a son and live without cursing him. Please, that is my only request", the father cried. The king looked defeated and turned to look at some soldier who quickly ran away as if to get something. He came back with some scrolls and got the king's signatures on it. He gave it to the saint and he handed it over to the old man. "There you go, your home. Now bless him. After all, you are his parents", the old couple did not even look at him. "Just do good to the kingdom. That is all we want", they said and walked away with their daughters.

All eyes were on them as they walked away and then they were on me. "Bhargav, this is Pranahita. She will be your personal guard from today", he looked at me while his eyebrows knitted and said, "But Guruji, I don't think there is any need-", he was cut off by the saint. "There is need, Bhargav. She has good skill and at this moment, she feels like the only person who can defend you against any enemy. It is tough times we are in. Just listen to me and do as I say", he then called for some attendees and asked them to help me freshen up.

I was taken to a huge chamber, much bigger than the one I had at Ratnagarbha and I was taken to the bathing area. The attendees helped me undress and enter into the pool filled with rose petals. The first touch of water on my skin after a long time felt unreal. I could see the water slowly turn dirty as the attendees scrubbed my skin with some paste. "Where were you all these days, dear?", an attendee asked. I turned to look at a woman maybe in her late thirties, in a white saree rubbing my skin with a paste which I guessed to be made from sandalwood. "In the prison", I replied. My voice was dead with no emotion. 

"Don't worry. I'm sure you will be treated better by the new king", she said.

"So, you think that the last one was a bad king for this kingdom?", I asked.